Intolerable

When Elizabeth Bennett steps off the Hogwarts train, a rush of excitement fills her stomach.

"We're back," she whispers, clasping her older sister's hand in hers and squeezing with all the strength her fifteen-year-old muscles can muster.

Jane squeezes back. "D'you think Lydia will be okay?" she asks, peering toward the mass of First Years moving toward the boats.

"She'll be fine." Elizabeth is on her toes, craning her neck toward the carriages. "Where's Bingley?"

"Lizzie!" Jane has turned slightly pink. "For Heaven's sake, give the man five minute's peace."

Elizabeth throws back her head and lets out a cackle that draws the attention of the students surrounding them. "He's had an entire summer of peace," she says. "I'll bet he's missed you."

"I hope he has," Jane says quietly, and she's still blushing but there's a small smile on her face as she squeezes Elizabeth's hand again. "There's Charlotte," she says, pointing out her sister's best friend. "With Lovegood and Collins. Why don't you go say hi?"

Elizabeth lets out a snort. "Please, Jane, you cannot hope to get rid of me that easily."

Jane shakes her head, smirk deepening. "I had to try, didn't I?" She gazes toward the lake, where the First Years have begun clambering into boats. Lydia is sharing with Penelope Longbottom and a pair of boys who must be Weasleys. They all have varying degrees of fright and amusement on their faces as the youngest Bennet sister stands up in their boat to wave across the lake to someone. "Where do you suppose Lydia will end up? She strikes me as a Gryffindor, but—"

"Bingley!" Elizabeth yells, waving toward a gaggle of Hufflepuffs.

"Lizzie!" Jane cries, pulling at her sister's hand, but it's too late. Charles Bingley turns at the sound of his name and, with a grin, breaks free of his housemates and strides over.

"Lizzie," he says, offering her a handshake, and then: "Miss Bennett."

Jane offers a shy smile. "Miss Bennett seems a bit formal. I think we know each other quite well enough by now that you should call me Jane."

Bingley's perpetually-smiling face seems to light up even more.

"Jane," he repeats. "That's—I would quite like that. And you'll call me Charles?"

Jane nods, smile deepening.

"I like your Head Boy badge," Elizabeth says, and Bingley starts as if he's forgotten she's still there.

"Thank you," he says, looking down at the shiny little plaque pinned to his robes. "Matches your sister's."

"Indeed it does." Elizabeth grins. "You two will be spending a lot of time together, won't you."

"Nearly as much time as you'll be spending with Darcy, I suppose, Miss Prefect." Jane's words are said with kindness, but they still feel like a slap.

"Darcy," Elizabeth repeats, closing her eyes briefly. "I'd nearly forgotten."

Images dance behind her eyelids: dark-haired Fitzwilliam Darcy and his Slytherin posse on the Hogwarts Express at the end of last year, gossiping with their heads together . . . Darcy using her full name just as she walks past his compartment . . . Darcy using the word 'intolerable' . . . Darcy, to whom she had never spoken more than a word but whom she had always secretly admired, calling her intolerable. . . .

"Cheer up, Lizzie," Bingley says, glancing toward one of the carriages where Darcy is climbing aboard. Right behind him is Caroline Parkinson, her pug-like face twisted up into a simpering smile as she allows Darcy to take her hand and help her into the carriage. "He isn't all bad, or they wouldn't have made him a Prefect."

"They made me a Prefect," Elizabeth says, glaring in Darcy's direction, "and Merlin knows I'm nearly all bad."

"Oh, Lizzie, you really aren't," Jane says, but Elizabeth interrupts with a squeal and moves to grasp Jane's shoulder.

"Look," she says, eyes trained on a carriage surrounded by Ravenclaws. "Look at Charlotte and Collins!"

William Collins, already short in stature (his mother was a Pettigrew), has sunk down to one knee in front of Charlotte Black. With a grin they can see even from the train platform, Charlotte nods and leans down to let Collins take her hand.

"Is it a ring?" Elizabeth asks, eyes wide in horror. "Is he proposing?"

"Elizabeth Bennett." There is a warning in Jane's tone. "Be happy for her. You'd want her to be happy for you."

"But she could do so much better than Collins!"

"She loves him," Bingley says. "If they share love, then—"

"Oh, she does not," Elizabeth says. Carriages are filling quickly, but the three of them stay on the platform. "They've nothing in common. I can tell she finds him repulsive. She's only doing it for the financial security. You know the Blacks are nearly as poor as we Bennetts nowadays."

"Lizzie," says Jane.

"And anyway—" Elizabeth lets her gaze wander toward fourth-year George Wickham, who nearly climbs into the carriage containing Darcy before jumping back as if he's been bitten by a snake. "—she's been going on about him all summer, telling me she could learn to love him if they're together long enough. Her mother and his father have arranged the entire marriage. Merlin. I'd rather die alone than be forced to learn to love someone I cannot stand."

"Seeing as you can't stand half the population here at Hogwarts, you might have to make good on that promise," Bingley says with a wink, and Elizabeth grins.

"I can stand you, Charles," she says with a glance at her sister, "but something tells me you're spoken for."

Jane turns scarlet. "Look how late we are," she says, Ravenclaw robes billowing out behind her as she walks off the platform. "There won't be any carriages left."

"We'll find room somewhere," Bingley says as he falls into stride behind her, and Elizabeth follows them absently, mind still occupied with Charlotte and Collins and marrying without love.

"Here are three seats," she vaguely hears Jane announce, and she follows her sister up into the coach. She feels her wand shift in the deep pocket of her robes as she ascends the steep set of steps; feels her foot slip, feels herself begin to pitch backwards, feels a large hand reach out to catch her by the elbow—

"Thank y—"

—feels herself stutter as she looks up into the blue eyes of Fitzwilliam Darcy.

"It's no trouble," Darcy says, dropping his gaze to the floor as he helps her up the last step. The only seat left is beside him (Jane and Bingley have settled down next to each other, with a Malfoy taking the third seat, and Caroline Parkinson is scowling as she inches closer to the window, making it clear that she wants Darcy between her and Elizabeth), so she sits and stares straight ahead and tries not to make eye contact with anyone.

"So," Bingley says as the carriage jolts into motion (Elizabeth doesn't mean to knock her shoulder into Darcy, and she utters a small apology, which he accepts in an equally short utterance). "What House diversity we have in this carriage!"

Elizabeth is acutely aware that there are three Slytherins and only one each of the Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, and Ravenclaws.

"And the Head Boy and Girl," Bingley says, apparently oblivious to the tension in the carriage. "And three Prefects—Parkinson, Darcy, you'll make a great team for the Slytherins, and of course Miss Elizabeth will do the Gryffindors proud—and Malfoy, I heard you made Quidditch Captain!"

"Indeed." Malfoy draws the word out and lets it hang in the air, and the carriage descends into uncomfortable silence.

"So . . . Charlotte Black got engaged outside, did you see?" Bingley tries.

"Did she?" Caroline says, eyebrows raised. "To Collins, I assume?"

"Yes!"

She snorts delicately. "Not sure who gets the worse end of that deal, to be perfectly frank."

Elizabeth tenses. "Charlotte is my dearest friend," she says, still staring straight ahead.

"Is she?" Caroline leans around Darcy to look at Elizabeth. "Well, in that case, I hope they are deliciously happy together."

Elizabeth purses her lips and says nothing.

The rest of the ride is spent in silence, broken only by Bingley attempting to make conversation. When the carriage slows to a halt in front of the Great Hall, Elizabeth is the last to exit.

Darcy is waiting to help her down the steps.

"Thank you," she says carefully when she is safely on the ground.

He nods curtly and turns on his heel.

"Mr. Darcy?" she hears herself say.

He stops. Turns. "Yes?"

"I—" She swallows. "I look forward to being your fellow Prefect."

He looks confused. "As do I."

"Do you?" She musters a smirk. "I must admit, I feared you would find spending the year with me intolerable."

His eyebrows shoot up. "Miss Bennet, I assure you, I—"

But Elizabeth is already striding away, smirk deepening as she pushes through the doors into the Great Hall.

Quidditch League, Round 12

Holyhead Harpies, Seeker

Prompt: Crossover* with a book (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen**).

Word Count: 1,448

*A crossover must include characters from both fandoms interacting; because P&P takes place in the early 1800s, there aren't any well-known canon HP characters, so I included some well-known canon last names instead. William Collins/Pettigrew, Charlotte Black, Quidditch Captain Malfoy, Caroline Parkinson, Penelope Longbottom, and those Weasley twins are all the OC ancestors of the characters we know and love (or hate).

**For those who are unfamiliar with Pride and Prejudice: first of all, go read Pride and Prejudice! Jane Austen is JKR's favorite author.

Elizabeth Bennett, the main character, is highly judgmental and forms her opinions based on first impressions (she is both proud and prejudiced). Her elder sister, Jane, is much more open-minded, which makes her fragile from Elizabeth's point of view. Fitzwilliam Darcy is a shy, awkward boy who comes off as a villain based on a bad first impression—Elizabeth overhears him calling her, "Tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt [him]," which she interprets as an unforgivable insult—and Charles Bingley is a lovable optimist. Hopefully I have done their characters justice.