Full summary: Hermione is about start her new career as the Charms Professor at Hogwarts when her friends insist on a celebratory night out using the charm she invented during her charms mastery. Under it's influence, the charm disguises physical features allowing them to remain anonymous. She meets a man with whom she instantly connects but realizes he's used her charm as well. But Hermione makes a mistake, one that will potentially change both their lives forever, but will she be able to find him again? Adding to her emotional confusion are her emerging feelings for her employer, Headmaster Severus Snape.
Hermione looked herself over in the full-length mirror hanging over her bathroom door; it was one of the last items left unpacked in her now-desolate London flat. Smoothing her hands down the sides of her low-cut, black dress with straps so small they couldn't possibly be supporting anything, she turned sideways and fidgeted uncomfortably as she thought about the evening ahead.
It was her last night in the city, having accepted the position of Charms Professor at Hogwarts after Flitwick retired earlier in the year, and her friends were determined to spend a night on the town celebrating with her. Hermione would have much preferred a quiet dinner at home followed by an evening engrossed in whatever tome she was currently reading. Her friends, however, would not be dissuaded, so here she was gearing up for an evening of drinks and dancing when she really should probably finish her packing and turn in early. It wouldn't do to show up on her first day hungover and exhausted.
She sat tentatively on the edge of her bed, and pulled on her black, peep-toe pumps and felt thoroughly uncomfortable in the ensemble Ginny and Lavender has chosen for her days earlier. She'd voiced her displeasure in their selection at the time only to be met with insistence from Ginny that she wouldn't have the chance to 'get some action for eons' as her red-headed friend had phrased it where the only shag-able person was arguably the dour headmaster who was considered to be emotionally unavailable.
Deciding she needed a pre-party drink, Hermione took a few wobbly steps toward the kitchen before spelling her shoes to wear like her much more comfortable flats. When she reached the kitchen, she carefully pulled a glass from her beaded handbag, cautious so to not disrupt the contents of her entire flat which were currently packed neatly inside. Pouring herself a generous helping of firewhisky, her fireplace sprung to life as Ginny and Harry arrived while she downed the glass in one gulp.
"Hermione, you look STUNNING!" exclaimed Ginny as she crossed the room to hug her friend. Pulling back to look her over more carefully, Ginny twirled her around to examine her ensemble before turning to Harry. "Harry, doesn't she look fantastic?!"
"You look beautiful, as always, Hermione," said Harry smirking at his best friend. Hermione knew Harry could tell just how uncomfortable she was in her outfit, but knowing Ginny's role in selecting it, he wasn't about to go against his wife's opinion of how Hermione should be dressed for a night on the town.
"At least nobody will realize it's me in this ridiculous get-up," said Hermione as she poured herself another helping of firewhisky. In the years following the war, those most closely involved with Voldemort's defeat had taken to using a special glamour to disguise themselves in public. They hoped to enjoy the anonymity of an evening out without having to deal with the machinations of The Daily Prophet, and they'd grown weary of the frequent interruptions by well-meaning supporters wishing to thank them for their efforts. Hermione had developed the charm herself as her capstone project when finishing her charms mastery. It served to disguise any distinguishing features, which would make a person unrecognizable but without altering his or her general physical characteristics.
It had taken years of experimentation to get right, but it was important to Hermione that the charm wouldn't deceive the men she'd met while under it's influence by making her slimmer, taller, or prettier and instead only disguise the fact that she was a celebrity to the majority of the wizarding world. That way if she ever met the right person, she could reveal herself without worrying the glamour had ultimately contributed to a suitor's desire for her. To date, she'd never reached an appropriate level of comfort with anyone to expose her true identity.
Flourishing her wand and applying the glamour to the three of them as she finished her second drink of the evening, Hermione asked, "Alright you two, where are we meeting everyone?"
"We're going to a new club George recommended," replied Ginny. "According to him the night scene is a little more relaxed, so hopefully even with your disdain for bar-hopping and the usual club atmosphere, you can still enjoy yourself!" she smirked.
"Well if I'm putting a damper on your evening, I can always stay behind and..."
"Oh no you don't, Hermione." Harry said, grabbing her arm. "We found a babysitter for Jamie and everything! I need a few hours of adult only conversation that doesn't revolve around work or the consistency of my baby's diapers..." he chuckled.
Putting her hands up in surrender, Hermione walked toward the floo. "Alright you two, I'm going, but if I embarrass myself this evening, you two are entirely to blame." She picked up a handful of floo powder and in a flash of green flames she was off to Diagon Alley.
At 4:30 am a thoroughly disheveled Hermione reappeared in her flat. She wandlessly cast a tempus charm already knowing she had precious little time to finish packing and right herself before she was due at Hogwarts by 7:30 am for the start-of-term staff breakfast and inaugural staff meeting for the year. Deciding a shower was the first order of business, she peeled her dress and her pumps off her body as she ran the water and allowed it to heat up to an acceptable temperature that wouldn't lull her to sleep as she bathed. Taking down her now-mangled french twist, she stepped into the shower and sighed as she considered the events of the prior evening.
As promised, they had met a large group of their friends at the club, and she was pleasantly surprised to find Ginny had been right about the overall atmosphere. Rather than blaring music, strobe lights, and a mass of sweating, grinding witches and wizards, Hermione found a relatively well-lit atmosphere with a live band playing a variety of music from modern pop to smooth jazz. The group proceeded to order drinks and appetizers to munch on throughout the evening, and Hermione started to enjoy the celebrations with the group that had shown up to send Hermione to Hogwarts along with their well-wishes. In addition to Harry and Ginny, Neville had been waiting in the club with his fiance Hannah, along with Luna and her boyfriend Rolf, George Weasley, and the Patil sisters. Ron had arrived later with his girlfriend Lavender, with whom he'd reconnected earlier in the year at a conference he'd been attending in his role assisting his brother's business. They'd hit it off and swiftly rekindled their Hogwarts romance, about which Hermione was pleased after she'd spent the better part of two years feeling guilty for breaking things off with Ron midway through her mastery program.
Already two drinks in when she arrived, it didn't take Hermione long lose her inhibitions and start to enjoy her time with her friends. A few hours into their frivolity and somewhat tired from her exertions on the dance floor, Hermione approached the bar and requested a glass of water to take the edge off her buzz, which was teetering on the edge of full-blown drunkenness after sweating out what little hydration had been left in her body at the start of the evening. Sitting momentarily to sip the beverage, she glanced around and made eye contact with another gentleman sitting across the bar. He was somewhat older than Hermione, she would have guessed 15-20 years her senior, tall and lanky with dark hair and eyes. Noticing her gaze, he arched an eyebrow in appreciation as her lips quirked into a closed-lipped smile and she blushed slightly as she glanced down to covertly to check her appearance.
Chancing another look at him, when their eyes met he arose from his seat and moved gracefully around the bar into the chair next to hers. He reminded her of someone, though in her drunken state she couldn't quite place who, but she found herself immeasurably attracted to the man. As the water cascaded over her shoulders, Hermione struggled to remember what they had talked about as they sat beside each other at the bar, but she remembered that conversation flowed easily between them and she felt relieved to have finally met someone from whom she didn't feel the need to hide her intellect. Before she realized, the bartenders were signalling last call, and as she rose to say goodbye to the man and rejoin her friends, he asked if she might fancy a coffee with him at his home in Cokeworth.
Hermione, eager to accept his invitation, excused herself momentarily to say goodbye to her friends and let them know she'd find her own way home for the evening. Ginny and Lavender were quick to offer a wink and encouragement to rejoin her new companion while Harry and Neville insisted she keep her wand at the ready at all times and send a patronus if she found herself in any trouble. Hermione bit her lip and nodded before turning back to grasp the hand of the man at the bar and allowed him to apparate her to his residence.
Neither of them really seemed to know who initiated it, but nearly as soon as they'd entered the house their lips had found each others' and they were tearing at each other's clothes like hormonal fourth-years. One thing led to another, and they ended the evening naked and asleep in each others' arms on the rug in front of a roaring fire. When Hermione woke a few hours later hungover and sticky with the dried evidence of their exertions, she quietly collected her clothes and glanced back at the man who had pleasured her thoroughly the night before. She briefly considered leaving a note until she noticed the familiar evidence of her glamour charm. Realizing, like her, he likely wanted a no-strings-attached dalliance when he'd gone out the preceding evening, she decided it would be hypocritical and inappropriate to ask for more from the man.
Now as she emerged from the shower and toweled herself dry, she wondered whether she would ever cross paths with the man again. Then, remembering she was pressed for time, she downed a hangover potion and turned her attentions back to finishing her packing and preparing for her first day in her new role as a Hogwarts professor.
A/N: Does anyone else have dreams that inspire ideas for a story? That's what happened here and I haven't been able to stop writing all day. More chapters to come soon!