Hello all! I've decided to start a story! Hopefully I will update once a week, most likely Saturday or Sunday. I love reviews, especially constructive criticism!

Chapter One: Invitation

Hermione, as much as she enjoyed her work as a professor at Hogwarts, did not enjoy the hours. More specifically the waking up at five-thirty every weekday. It was a rather unfortunate drawback of her dream job, but, being Hermione Granger, she never showed any discontent.

Of course, if she were to be woken up five minutes early by an obnoxious owl tapping on the glass to her quarters, she would be a quite unhappy Hermione.

"Ruddy birds..." she muttered to herself as she crawled out of her nice, warm, fluffy sheets to set her feet upon the cold, hard stone floor of her bedroom. "Damn things need to learn to stop waking me up exactly five minutes before I'm supposed to." She lit her wand, walked over to the window (still pitch black outside, she noticed with a grimace), lifted the latch, and opened the glass to let the bloody bird into the room. Though she was scowling at it, she noticed it was a rather beautiful bird; it had black feathers, but they shone a strangely wonderful green when the light of her wand hit them. The owl held an envelope in its beak, so she snatched it away and shooed the thing back out before it asked for a treat. Hermione tried to see where it flew to, but it being a black bird flying into the utter blackness before sunrise, she quickly realized it was rather foolish to do so.

The envelope, she observed, was silver, and read "To Miss Hermione Granger" in beautiful script, and in violet ink, and there were violet curlicues drawn in the corners. Just as she turned it around to break the pretty purple wax seal, her wand started to play music and vibrate. Her alarm. Bloody good it did me today, she thought. She silenced the alarm and flicked her wand to illuminate the candles in her room.

She managed to break the seal and pull out the creamy white paper inside before she got the floo call.

Cursing to herself, she set the envelope and paper on her nightstand and stomped to the fireplace in her living room to answer the call.

It was Ginny's head that popped up. "What could you possibly want at this ungodly hour?" growled Hermione.

"Did you get one too? Isn't it exciting? Hogwart's hasn't seen anything like this since the Yule Ball!" Ginny was obviously unaffected by mornings.

"What are you talking about, Gin?"

"Didn't you receive an invitation this morning?"

"I received an envelope this morning, but I have yet to read it because I seem to keep getting interrupted."

"Well go read it! I'll wait right here. No wait! Read it in front of me. I want to see your reaction."

"Ginny, I highly doubt that anything could get any sort of reaction other than annoyed or pissed off out of me this morning. But fine, I'll be right back."

Hermione walked into her room and grabbed the envelope and letter. She huffed and harrumphed her way back to the living room, looked at the floo to make sure Ginny was still there, and began to read:

Dear Miss Granger,

We at the Ministry would like to cordially invite you to the 1st Annual Celebration Masquerade Ball. The Ministry of Magic wishes to commemorate the second anniversary of the end of the Second Wizarding War with a grand party. This is a black-tie event, and masks will be required. The Celebration Masquerade Ball will take place on May the Second, 2000, in the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We sincerely hope you will be able to attend. Please RSVP by April the Second by sending a response to the Ministry.

Warmest regards,

Kingsley Shacklebolt

Minister of Magic

As Hermione read, her face lit up. A ball! A real masquerade ball! With ball gowns and waltzing with mysterious men and wonder at who everyone is! Oh this is just marvelous! If anything could fix Hermione's morning mood (besides tea), this is it!

"I told you! It's absolutely wonderful, isn't it?" exclaimed Ginny.

"Ginny, this is great! Oh my gods, I need to find a gown! Perhaps I should find the mask first, then the gown, it may be easier to match. Then I need shoes, and of course jewelery, and—"

"Hermione, take a breath!" She didn't realize that she hadn't taken one yet. She was quite breathless at the moment, actually. "We have two months to plan out everything, Hermione. Stop being such a worry-wart!" Ginny reasoned.

"Can't help it, Gin. It's what made me who I am today," Hermione said with a large smile on her face.

"What, you mean a lonely Transfiguration professor?"

"Yes—I mean—no, wait—oh, shut it Gin! Just because you scored the-boy-who-lived, who just so happens to be the boy you've been in love with since you were ten, does not mean you have any right to poke fun at your forever single best friend," Hermione said.

"'Course it does. It's in the code. Anyway, I have to go. Harry's waking up, and he's taking me out to breakfast, for once. Bye, Hermione!" Ginny said.

"Bye, Ginny." Ginny's head disappeared from the floo, so Hermione traveled to her kitchen to make herself some toast and tea before she had to get ready for the day. She could go to the Great Hall with all of the other teachers, but, as it has been said, Hermione hates mornings, and she didn't really want to scare her students. Plus her hair was still a rat's nest from sleeping on it the night before.

As she was about to dig in to her toast with raspberry jelly, a steaming mug of Earl Grey beside her plate, she heard more bloody tapping from her bedroom window.

"I'm will start murdering every stupid owl that taps its stupid beak on my stupid window before seven," she muttered as she flopped her feet to the bedroom.

This owl was white, but it had strange black eyes that seemed to know everything about you with just one look. In it's beak was a simple white envelope, addressed "Hermione". It was probably from Ron, requesting to go to the masquerade with her. He really needs to stop, thought Hermione. I wish he could take a hint. I've only denied him about fifteen times.

She took the envelope and the discontenting bird flew from her windowsill. As she went to open it, she had a feeling that it wasn't from Ron. He normally uses plain parchment when he writes to her to ask her out, but this was very fine paper with rich black ink. Hermione didn't recognize the handwriting either; it was rather pretty, whereas Ron's was like chicken-scratch. She broke the simple black seal, and was surprised to find only this:

I loved someone just like you once.

I threw her away from me.

I've been given a second chance.

This I can clearly see.

What was this? Who was this from? She had never had a secret admirer before. Or maybe it was a stalker...

Hermione pondered for a moment, but suddenly noticed the time, and forgot. She had eight minutes to prepare herself for her classes.

Oh bloody hell.

I'm trying to decide if I should make it known in the next chapter who her admirer is. Leave a review with your thoughts :D