Disclaimer: I don't claim nor have any rights to Harry Potter or any of the characters within or associated with the series. I'm just borrowing the characters for a bit to entertain and enjoy.

Prologue

It was a strange event, a masquerade, an idea created from the awe-inspiring Dumbledore. It was an elaborate plan devised to leave everyone in the dark until the last day, the last day of school that is. The students were strictly forbidden to make any plans other then makeup and such. No one knew what they were to be or who they were to go with. Orders were strictly: "leave all the mindless and petty trivial matters to me."

A ball was no trivial matter of course but it was set. It might as well have been written in stone. Even the staff was out of the loop in which only Dumbledore himself resides in. Dumbledore had a plan to make everyone wait until the last possible moment before he told the students. This last possible moment was the day of the ball.

After having nearly half of the student population came in to the Great Hall at breakfast and demand that some course of action be taken behalf of the ball, the Headmaster finally revealed something.

Two groups of mainly girls marched up to Dumbledore once he had settled down to have a glass of orange juice. The groups were split into Slytherin students and all the rest of houses. Pansy Parkinson, a petit girl with a pixie like face and haircut, came forward to stand in front of the group and addressed herself to the headmaster.

"Professor, if I may I'd like to ask you a question." At his nod she continued. "It's quite important that the specifics of this ball are disclosed. We all have been waiting patiently but if you haven't been able to come across a calendar recently professor, I would like to remind you that the day of the ball is close."

Upon hearing a few snorts at her comment Pansy turned to glare at the group before her dared any of them to argue with her. Despite of her reputation Pansy was in fact an impressive leader. She cleared her throat and turned to continue her speech. "Actually sir, the day of the ball is today."

When no response came out of Dumbledore two girls from the second group came forward. "Professor, you have to tell us something!" complained Lavender Brown.

"Yes, how can we possibly get ready in such little time?" Padma Patil chimed in. "I need to do my hair and get my nails done and what if I need to have adjustments made to the costume?"

Soon all the students were talking at once each one trying to make them heard to the headmaster. The crescendo of their joined voices was deafening.

"That's enough!" Dumbledore stood up. Everyone stood quite staring up at the headmaster. He looked ready to take points off of the next student who spoke, not that it mattered to them anyway.

"It has come to my concern that some students are worried about the ball that is to take place tonight." He smiled at the looks of criticism he received from all the students before him. His eyes twinkled as he spoke, "I am happy to inform everyone that all the items you need for the ball are in your dorms as we speak. If you have any other concerns please ask once I am done with breakfast." But the last of his sentence was left unheard as all of those crusading students ran back to their rooms to look at their surprise.

The students forgetting breakfast altogether rushed back into their rooms to find that, true to his word, there were packages waiting, dutifully placed at the foot of the bed by handy house elves, which contained the students costume and accessories. Dumbledore even went as far as pairing up the students via the sorting hat, putting another spin on sorting.

The sorting hat had chosen costumes for each student and paired each couple up so Romeo was with Juliet and Cinderella with Prince Charming. Every student was paired up by compatibility. Compatibility is a relatively simple word but nothing is simple when it comes to Dumbledore. Houses didn't matter neither did blood, maybe it was that simple.

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Thanks for reading. I really hope that you enjoyed the small preview. The second chapter will be up soon. It is being reviewed as I type.

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Ciao!