Prologue

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing! Except the plot… that's mine!

Summary: End of summer after the gang's 6th year and into/through their seventh. Hermione volunteers to be a pen pal to a complete stranger at the request of Dumbledore. However, this stranger isn't as strange as she thinks. Although, in some ways he is even stranger than she ever imagined. What will happen when she finds out who her anonymous friend is?

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Hermione stood in the kitchen of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, when she was approached by Albus Dumbledore.

"Hermione," he said, with a somber expression on his face, "I wonder if I might have a word."

"Of course, Professor," she replied, sitting across from him at the table.

"I would have first asked Harry or Ron to complete this task for me, but as soon as I started thinking about it, I realized that you were clearly the best candidate," he said.

"Excuse me, sir, but candidate for what?" she asked.

"Ah! Yes, that…" he said smiling, "Do you remember the survey I had all of the Heads of House pass out to the students?"

"Yes," she said.

"That particular survey was used to match the best possible pen pals," he said, his eyes twinkling brilliantly.

"Pen pals, sir?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, it's a popular Muggle custom- but I'm sure you know all about that! The point is that the ministry doesn't believe it to be necessary," he explained, "I think that an anonymous pen pal program would aid in the proliferation of inter-house relations. However, the ministry won't even listen to me until I have proof that it works. So, I'm being allowed to choose two candidates- of my liking- to be my… lab rats, so to speak. Only for this year. And there were certain requirements. For instance, both had to be seventh years of different houses."

"And you want me to be one of them, right?" she said.

"Yes, I do," he replied, "If you agree, I will match your survey with one that will compliment your personality quite nicely."

"But- I thought the surveys were anonymous," she said, "How will you know which one is mine?"

"You are so set in your school-book ways, Miss Granger, that you put your name in the upper, right hand corner of your survey."

"Oh… oops?" she said, smiling sheepishly.

"Do you accept?" he asked.

"Er… of course, Professor," she replied with more confidence than she felt.

He handed her a brightly colored piece of paper. "This should be used to seal all letters. It will not only let you know that it is from your pen pal, but it also lets the owls know where to go, as well as making the letters untraceable. Remember to always use this… at least until you find a more… convenient way to converse."

"Thank you. I'll write my first letter tonight," she said.

"Good," he said, standing up and walking out, "See you at the commencement feast."

'Pen pals… this should be interesting…' she thought, grinning, 'Very interesting…'

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Okay… short, yeah, but it's just a prologue! Review review review!