A/N: I keep forgetting to put in an authors note before publishing my stories so my lovely beta Sad eyed Lady of The Low Life doesn't get half as much credit as she deserves! Not only is she a fantabulous beta but her fics are brilliant too, go and read them! This is very different from my usual style of writing so let me know what you think, whether it's bad or good, all constructive criticism is welcome.

Characters are owned by J.K. Rowling and I've borrowed heavily from Jane Austen when it comes to everything else. Enjoy!


It is a common misconception that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. This is absolute rubbish. A single man in possession of any amount of money is generally in need of a good smack across the back of the head. Having been pandered to most of their lives, rich young men tend to be conceited, arrogant and selfish, none more so than one Severus Snape.


"Arthur? Arthur where are you? Oh there you are dear, you'll never guess what news I have!"

Mrs. Weasley was a kind matronly sort of woman, the sort of Lady that would never be heard blackening any of her neighbours names and yet was the unofficial Queen of gossip. Mr. Weasley on the other hand was a quite serious man. That's not to say he wasn't as kind as his wife, he simply had to deal with the pressures and stresses of managing such a large household on such a small income. You see Mr. Weasley, or Arthur as his wife called him, fell pray to a very unusual circumstance of a marriage that was based on love (a very uncommon occurrence at the time, when marriage was a convenient means to provide better circumstances or to simply ensure the continuation of your family name) and the number of their children attested to such a fact. So with five boys and one girl to provide for and to worry about it is understandable the Mr. Weasley was not as quick to frivolity as his wife.

Despite Mr. Weasley's already strained purse his kind heart did however allow for the adoption of a young orphan. The young boy in question was the only child of a young couple who had been close friends of Arthur's during his youth and between the tragic circumstances of their death and other sad fatalities within his extended family, young Harry Potter found himself with no legal guardian and dependent upon the charity of the Weasley's when he was but two years old.

"Correct my dear, I probably shall never guess what new excitement has caught your attention so why not put me out of my misery?" replied a bemused Arthur Weasley.

"Don't tease me Arthur I'm in no mood for it. Besides when you hear my news I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I." Not leaving her husband time to express his doubts Mrs. Weasley continued on "Netherfield Hall has been let!" Arthur floundered slightly at the expectant look his wife shot him, "and this shall put me out of my misery how?"

Molly Weasley sighed in exasperation. Her husband obviously needed to check his priorities. While he may handle the finances and provide for his children's immediate needs, she knew to look to the future, and what her children needed were secure futures with either a well to do wife or contacts to help them find good employment.

"Arthur, dearest, reflect on what may happen should our new neighbour bring his companions with him. I'm sure Mr. Black has a large number of well to do single young ladies in his acquaintance and I've no doubt my handsome boys will turn their heads, and before you protest Arthur, Sirius Black is well known for his impeccable business practices, surely he'll know of some opportunities for our boys should they not wish to marry. I've thought this out and decided it's best for everyone that you go and welcome Mr. Black to the neighbourhood, Winky has put together a welcome basket and Dobby has the carriage and horses ready now off you go Arthur." With that Molly shooed her husband out the door proving that while she may be flighty at times, she was still a formidable woman.


The reason for the severe depletion of wizards and witches in the British Isles was no longer in living memory which made debating the sudden decimation of the once powerful wizarding nation a favourite pastime of older wizards and included large quantities of brandy, comfortable chairs and clubs where their wives could not get in and nag them. Whatever the reason may have been it was no longer important, all you needed to know was that without a large enough population to support a once thriving infrastructure the wizarding community was forced to adapt. Private wizarding towns slowly disappeared or expanded and changed to include muggle families. Becoming all but indistinguishable from their neighbours was relatively easy for the common wizarding family, the only signs being slightly whiter washing or a roof that didn't leak as much.


Mr. Weasley had of course followed his wife's direction and paid a visit to his new neighbour. Following a rather brief but enjoyable chat with Mr. Sirius Black, he carried on to the Bennett's, a local muggle family who due to the rather large size of their house threw most of the local dances and events. Satisfied that his wife would be pleased with the invitation he'd secured to a welcome dance for Mr. Black Mr. Weasley carried on home.


Remus Lupin had always been a slightly mysterious figure to young Harry. While he would count the tutor as close a friend as to be family, the fact that the quiet, almost shy man turned into a deadly creature of the night once a month was almost incomprehensible. Add that to the fact that despite this seeming crippling social disability Mr. Lupin had attended Hogwarts for the full seven years and graduated top of nearly every subject. Yet despite these glowing credentials very few would hire a known werewolf which is how the sandy haired man ended up teaching the Weasley children for what little they could pay him plus bed and board. While he was undoubtedly intelligent enough to teach at any wizarding institution Remus was in fact very happy with the Weasleys, he had taught all the Weasley children save for Bill and while some of them may have been 'trying' to teach the satisfaction was a job well done and the friendships he had developed with each. All of this added up to an external demeanour of a quiet mild mannered and extremely polite young man, which is why Harry was more than a little confused when Remus discreetly bolted from the room upon the arrival of Mr. Black and his party.

Unfortunately for Harry his chance to follow his friend and squeeze what information he could from him was thwarted as Mr. Bennett introduced their new neighbour and his three companions.

Less than half an hour into the dance Harry had come to the conclusion that while Mr. Black was one of the nicest, most agreeable men he had ever met, his friends were far from his equal. While the two ladies, a Mrs. Malfoy and a Miss Black (cousins of Sirius) were incredibly beautiful and dressed in the finest of fashions both were viciously two faced snobs. As they walked the room complimenting their hostess Harry could see the not quite hidden disdainful looks and sneers directed and (at) everyone and everything in their sight. Hoping the women were only going to be occasional guests at Netherfield Harry turned his attention to the tall dark haired man next to Sirius Black. Severus Snape was a harder character to judge, while physically impressive and quite handsome (in Harry's opinion anyway) his blank face and lack of conversation left him with a slightly mysterious aura (again this was only Harry's opinion but he currently didn't care whether anyone agreed with him or not, caught up in some rather innocent but far from pure thoughts as he was). Casually wandering to a spot closer to the intriguing Mr. Snape Harry perked his ears up at the sound of Snape's dark velvety voice. Harry might not have been so keen had he known he was the dubious topic of conversation


"Come on Severus, if you won't dance at least join a conversation! There's many a witty man here who'd surely keep your attention! Look there's one of Mr. Weasley's boys, I believe his name is Harry, he looks like he could keep your attention Severus."

Sirius apparently had made a severe error in judgement in pointing out the one man Snape had in fact been watching. Turning his frustration on his friend, Severus let his ire at being dragged to such a dismal little gathering (and discovering that the one interesting individual present could never travel in the same circles as himself) out in a speech he would normally have been ashamed to say, in company at least.

"It appears Sirius that your powers of observation have suffered a severe, debilitating blow. There is no sign of intelligence in any of the 'persons' present here. As for the young man, or should I say child you believe would 'hold my attention' going by the example set by his family I have no doubt that he is of the same shallow mind and tedious wit as the rest of them." Seeing that he had upset his friend Severus carried on in an attempt to explain while still saving face. "Come now Sirius look at them! The mother hasn't stopped gossiping since she arrived, and I'd bet a hundred pounds that it's you and your fortune that's the topic of conversation. The two twins have already jinxed several young ladies skirts with what I believe are peeping charms and caused more than one young man to embarrass himself with tripping jinxes. The other young son has spent the night attempting to make himself look impressive with his loud obnoxious boasting, something the father is aware of but chooses to ignore in favour of his card game and the young girl, well, I'd be surprised if she didn't already know contraceptive charms at the rate she's 'charming' all the young men here!"

Both men paused in their discussion to watch a white faced Harry leave the room.

"You don't think he heard us do you Severus? I do hope not, he is quite a charming, kind young man, if you simply got down off your high horse and got to know him for his own sake I'm sure you'd find yourself in good company. I saw you watching him Severus, don't deny it! Just as you know me better than my own mother, I know you better than any man living, is it just his form you're interested in or more I wonder?" With a smirk that would've caused Harry to re-evaluate his opinion of him Sirius left Snape to his thoughts.


In a mixture of fury and humiliation Harry began to scour the house for Remus, hoping for the werewolf's help in re-gaining his composure. Harry was furious at Snape's insults no doubt about that but what had hurt and shamed him was the fact that Snape was right. Molly was talking about the Black fortune and how exactly her daughter would be suited to being the mistress of Netherfield, or indeed one of her sons (though she only confided this to fellow witches as muggles simply weren't as accepting). The twins pranks, while hardly gentlemanly were far from harmful so Harry felt no shame at their actions, especially as no-one but themselves were aware of their game but Ron was being obnoxious and Ginny, well Harry was going to have to talk to his father about Ginny, she was practically throwing herself at every single man there.

Harry also couldn't ignore the hurt he had felt at hearing Snape disparage him. He'd felt a small thrill at being pointed out to Snape only to have his excitement crushed. "Well" he thought to himself "at least I know how he feels!"

Remus eventually showed up in a small empty library off the main hall, well nearly empty. The sight of his friend's blush while a delighted looking Sirius talked to him in hushed tones left Harry with a smile and the strength to get through the rest of the night filled with Snapes speculative stares.