Hermione brushed her tangled hair as she got ready for bed. She knew that a lot had changed since the year before.

She hoped that the things that had changed would revert. Such as her recent fight with Ron. A really bad one too.

Ginny was no good for advice, since she and Harry were probably off snogging in a corridor somewhere. Hermione couldn't help the smile that slid onto her face as she thought of her two friends.

She couldn't talk to Harry, because he was clueless when it came to relationships.

Then who could she talk to?

She concluded that she'd just have to wish extra hard.

She sighed and grabbed her favorite Muggle book. A rewrite of Cinderella.

As she read, she felt her eyes grow heavier and, with a long yawn, she fell straight to sleep.
::::

"GRANGER!" A familiar voice called. "You did not clean the fireplace, Cinderella!" She screamed.

Hermione bolted straight up and looked at her surroundings with wide eyes. She was sitting in a beautifully decorated room, complete with fluffy black couches, and long curtains that swayed in the breeze.

She looked to the expansive door to see the face of her least favorite teacher from Muggle school. Ms Delaware.

"Ms Delaware?" She asked, rising off the couch and looking down at her tattered creme colored dress.

"STEPMOTHER!" She bellowed, stomping into the room, her boxy glasses bouncing on her thin nose. "You will clean before the Ball, Pansy and Lavender are to be completely avoided by you unless called. You'll make their complexion go green" She snarled, turning on her heel and making her way to the marble stairs on the left side.

Hermione blinked. What was happening? As she slowly made her way to the kitchen, a name caught her attention.

"Cinderella! Cinderella!" The voice she knew all too well filled her ears. Hermione clenched her teeth and turned to see Lavender patting on her makeup and swishing a dress around in the mirror. "I want this dress to be laundered by my date with Prince Won Won" She said, shoving a brilliantly pink dress into Hermiones arms. "Then I want you to wash the one on my bed for the Ball tomorrow, I want to make a good impression on my Won Won" She said, plumping her lips.

Hermione let out a low string of rather, colorful, words that would earn her a detention from any teacher with ears and made her way to the laundry room. She knew she was in a dream, but she could remember loads of things. Her parents and friends.

She smiled as she remember Harry and Ginny were in here too. She quickly washed the clothes and did he rest of the chores on her mental to do list.

As she neared the door, she checked behind her shoulder then sprinted as fast as she could to a stone wall that bordered the forest and the road. She saw a man sitting there, with messy black hair, green eyes, and glasses. Harry was wearing a dirty white poofy shirt that he would never wear in real life, grey pants that were also covered in dirt and dust, black boots that looked almost brown, and a wide smile.

He hugged Hermione as she neared, giving her another smile while he jumped back up on the wall and continued to watch down the road.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, wringing her hands.

"Yes, Hermione?" He said, still watching the road.

"Do you ever have dreams that are so real, you can touch and feel everything, you have emotions..." She asked, trailing off at the end. He looked over to her before shrugging and letting his eyes flick back to the road.

"Are you talking about this one?" He asked. She looked up to him in shock, but he didn't notice and continued. "No, not really. I'm not real, I'm part of this wish you made" He explained. She blinked and realized what he was saying.

"So this is going to show me how to get over Ron?" She asked. He turned to look at her and shook his head.

"No, it's going to show you-" His eyes drifted the where a beautiful girl was walking, more like sneaking, over to them. She was dressed in a lilac gown, with flats on her feet. As she neared, she kept pulling on the sleeves of her gown, showing she hated every second she was wearing it. Her red hair was pulled up into a tight bun, and her brown eyes glistened with annoyance.

Harry jumped off the wall, and rushed over, getting on one knee and kissing her hand before standing and bowing.

"Princess Ginny" He said with a smile. She laughed lightly and curtsied. They both looked around, checking if anyone was watching, before Harry kissed her quickly.

They both came back to the wall and Ginny hugged Hermione "Hey 'Mione" She said with a grin, all trace of annoyance wiped from her eyes.

"How did you sneak out so close to the Ball, love?" Harry asked, sitting on the wall and pulling her up to sit beside him. He swiftly pulled the clip out of her hair and let it flow free out of the painful looking bun.

"It took some convincing, help from the twins, and a lot of bribes before I could even step foot out of my room. Then I got called for a stupid dress fitting while Ron went on about his 'Lav Lav' and-" she stopped short when she realized Hermione was still there and gave her a sympathetic look. "He's a git Hermione"

"Oh! The Princess shall not have to use that language m'lady." Harry said with a fake bow. "He's a git Hermione" Harry repeated, barely holding back laughter. Ginny swatted his arm, but she couldn't help laughing lightly. Hermione simply smiled and looked at her two best friends.

She remembered that Ginny was the Princess, the only one in several generations of the Weasleys rule, and that Harry was a servant to his Aunt and Uncle. The Dursleys. He was much like her, denied the life that he should have had. The life where he didn't have to sneak around to see his love.

The Potters were a wealthy family, one of the richest and most intuned with the throne. But Harrys parents were kind, and gentle. This brought them to their deaths as they saved him from a raving lunatic one night. He was handed over to the Dursleys after his Godfather was thrown in jail for their murder, along with several other peoples, and his fathers other best friend, Remus, the owner of the pub down the street, turned ill and had no money to take care of Harry while still keeping his pub running, and his health in check.

The Dursleys were awful, and you could see it in Harrys eyes. Hermione felt grateful that she had Ms Delaware instead of the Dursleys. The bruises on Harrys arms were testament to that.

It wasn't that they hit him or anything. They were too high to do that. They had Dudley beat him up. Ginny offered to take him out of there. But Harry refused, knowing that knowledge of her loving a peasant wouldn't go down well.

Hermione sighed as she watched her friends. Ginny was in the middle of a story of how Percy humiliated himself, and how Fredrick and George set a prank off on her.

Hermione smiled at them and hopped off the wall, knowing that Lavender would want her room cleaned by the time the Ball was over.

"You promise you'll come?" Ginny asked, wiping some hair out of Harrys eyes. He smiled and nodded.

"Even if I have to sneak out, I'll do anything you wish" He said, smiling still.

Hermione couldn't help but wish Ron would speak to her like that. She knew him, kind of, they had talked some. And he was friends with Harry, but he had stopped hanging out with him after Lavender. He never spared Hermione a second glance. Not that she actually tried to get him to notice her.

She bid her friends goodbye and made her way back to Delaware mansion. She breathed in and rushed through the door, pretending to be busy cleaning when Ms Delaware came in.

Time sped up and soon, Lavender and Pansy were out the door and on their way to the Ball. Hermione watched the carriage leave, and make its way down the road. She also saw Harry, decked out in slightly formal attire, though he couldn't afford more than a red coat of his fathers, a black cloak, and a dress shirt. He also wore his regular pants, grey, and his dirty shoes. She smiled at his small act of love; going all the way to the castle on foot, humiliating himself in front of everyone because of his attire, just to see Ginny.

She sighed and turned back. Her room was in the attic, with one cot pushed against the wall, a dresser, and a bunch of trunks of her mothers. She glanced at one specific trunk, one that held several gowns. She smiled at her idea and got dressed.
::::
Hermione walked down to the main hall, sneaking to the door before a sound caught her attention. A floor board had creaked under her foot.

Her stepmother came in, and chewed her out. She ripped her dress, and shoved her out the door. Hermione ran as fast as she could, knowing she had crossed the line. She collapsed at the wall she sat at with her friends and sobbed, knowing that she'd never be able to go to the Ball.

There was a
Pop
And Hermione turned to see the face of... He blinked at he vibrant shade of pink. Tonks.

The girl turned and beamed at her before holding out her hand.

"Tonks?" She asked. Tonks laughed and nodded, pulling Hermione off the ground. "You're my fairy godmother?"

"Yup!" Tonks said, pulling Hermione into the woods and circling her "You know about all of this so lets skip the explaining and get to work." She said, waving her wand.

Hermione soon stood in a periwinkle dress that flowed to the floor, sparkles accented her hair that was pulled into a messy bun. She also had the famous glass slippers. Tonks smiled before sending her on her way. Hermione looked around for the carriage, which made Tonks roll her eyes.

"Apparate" She said, shooing Hermione off, who turned on her heel and appeared in front of Hogwarts.

"This is going to be a good night" Hermione whispered, looking into the expansive Great Hall that was decorated like the Yule Ball. She noticed everyone, including Ron, was staring at her face. Which was covered with a beautiful white mask.

"A really good night" She added as Ron made his way over, a red fox mask on his face.