Hello and welcome to my fellow Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter lovers. I recently had the amazing experience of visiting Pemberley (1995 version) and it has spurred me to continue this story I started last year. I have a few chapters written but would love to know anything you'd like to see included.

Chapter 1: Universal Truth

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Lizzy Bennet is Quidditch mad!

Well, a truth certainly acknowledged in the Bennet household. Lizzy replayed the argument she'd had with her mother earlier that day, her mother's parting words ringing in her ears, "But what is to become of you? No man will want to marry a girl more obsessed with Quidditch than her looks." Sighing to herself, she critically examined her appearance in the large ornate gilded mirror, her mother had placed in her room in the hopes of encouraging her to make more of an effort.

Chestnut coloured, windswept curls gone wild, deep brown eyes with a mischievous glint, freckles galore, all accompanied by her Gryffindor Quidditch uniform. Perhaps her mother had a point. Her reflection frowned back at her, but catching sight of her calendar she quickly grinned which lit up her whole countenance. Large X's crossed out the days, with a drawing of a snitch, circling today's date. It had been a long summer, full of many clashes with her easily upset mother but it was all worth it because today she would finally get to go to the Quidditch World Cup.

Her mother had held the question of her attendance over her head all summer as a threat, but Lizzy had kept her temper, mostly, and anyway she knew her father would have intervened. He was after all, just as obsessed with Quidditch as she was, living the dream as a Quidditch reporter for the Daily Prophet. His sarcastic wit was legendary and his insights known to make or break careers, such was his influence on public opinion.

At home, however, Mr Bennet's influence was rather lacking. With five daughters and a rather shrill wife, he opted early on to take a back seat in family life, only intervening when absolutely necessary. "Anything for a quiet life", he'd often quip.

If Mr Bennet had chosen to examine his motives more carefully, he could have perhaps traced it back to the intense guilt he felt during his first year of marriage. You see he had gone against the express wishes of his parents, when he was going through a rather rebellious stage, and fallen in love with a Muggle. She'd been extremely pretty, and had been in awe of his 'magic tricks.' It wasn't until after they'd walked down the aisle that she'd realised that the tricks, weren't tricks at all, and that when Mr Bennet had told her he was a Wizard, he hadn't been being ironic.

To say she was shocked would have been an understatement, and from that point on she took on the role of a martyr, having felt extremely hard done by, from Mr Bennet's unintentional deceit. They'd gone on to have five children together but Mrs Bennet never quite forgave him.

There was a gentle knock on the door, followed by an extremely pretty blonde head. It was Jane, Lizzy's eldest sister, confidante and roommate. The two sisters, couldn't be more opposite, clearly seen from their sides of their shared bedroom. Jane's half was neat and tidy, no clutter, her rose bud bedspread tucked in, with pink silky material framing her headrest and a Take That poster carefully pinned up. Her desk contained a quill stand, complete with fresh quills, a picture of her family, where she alone stayed still, smiling shyly into the camera, while her family fussed around her.

In contrast, Lizzy's side of the room bore the unmistakable marks of someone who was always in a hurry, who had such a zest for life that she didn't want to miss a moment of it in doing mundane things like making one's bed. The one thing that struck you in particular was the amount of books, oh books on Quidditch of course, but also textbooks and Muggle classics like Jane Eyre, which was a particular favourite of Lizzys. They practically spilled out of the book case and a vast hoard were piled up beside her bed, on top of which sat an unfinished cup of tea, resting on a coaster bearing the Holyhead Harpies team logo.

Jane put her arms around Lizzy's shoulders and quietly asked, "You doing ok?" Lizzy looked up at her dear sister, seeing blue eyes brimming over with concern, and with a wry smile on her face replied, "Nothing a bit of Victor Krum can't fix."

"Oh Lizzy," Jane admonished but Lizzy was pleased to see there was now a smile on her face. Jane was sensitive and kind, and deeply felt the hurts of others, particularly when it came to her sisters. When they hurt, she hurt and Jane knew that the words Mrs Bennet had flung at Lizzy earlier, had affected her much more than she was letting on. But she chose to let Lizzy change the subject stated, "Maybe he'll dance with you at the Ministry Gala tonight, he'd be a fool not to."

"Dance with me?" snorted Lizzy, "I don't want him to dance with me, I want him to fly with me, to teach me how to finally do the Wronskei Feint properly and be as effortless on a broom as he is and…"

Lizzy made herself pause mid flow. She knew how carried away she could get when talking about Quidditch, and the one flaw to Jane's otherwise perfect company, was that she really had no interest in the sport at all. She would of course watch Lizzy playing and enthusiastically cheer from the side lines, but even Jane's legendary patience could be tried at times by Lizzy waxing lyrical over Quidditch manoeuvres.

To prevent her sister's eyes glazing over, Lizzy brought the attention to something much dearer to her sister's heart; the ministry Gala. The Quidditch World Cup final was historically opened by a ball in honour of the players, were notable dignitaries and celebrities were invited. Due to Mr Bennet's growing prestige as a Quidditch journalist, his entire family had been invited this year, including, rather controversially, his Muggle wife.

Since Mr Bennet had casually mentioned the invitation, there had been talk of little else in the Bennet household. Mrs Bennet had squealed loudly, "Girls, what a good father you have," and seemed to consider this a prime opportunity for her to finally fulfil her lifelong ambition; to see her children matched up with eligible and extremely wealthy bachelors. Despite all her daughters still being at school, Mrs Bennet was a firm believer in 'catching them young' before the unfortunate young man had time to form an attachment to anyone else.

A dance master had even been hired to ensure each of the girls could properly waltz. Jane was an elegant and graceful dancer and their dance master, a French man with a large elaborate moustache, even brought an embroidered handkerchief to his eye on their last lesson, so overcome was he with Jane's natural talent on the dance floor.

Lizzy had been much more likely to induce tears of frustration, but she was made to practice again and again until her waltz was deemed 'passable.' Their younger sister, Mary, who considered herself a staunch feminist, had deemed the dance to be "a torturous archaic excuse for old men to feel you up and get away with it," and had completely refused to take part in the dance lessons.

The twins, Lydia and Kitty, tended to have more enthusiasm than skill but they were both rather silly girls whose only interest was the male species and so they'd taken their mothers encouragement to heart. They had a bet going as to who would be asked to dance first, and each was determined to win.

"No," said Lizzy decisively now, "when Victor Krum sees you in that dress there is no doubt in my mind that he'll ask you to dance. And you'd better accept for the good of your dear sister. Imagine having Krum as my brother-in-law," Lizzie smiled dreamily at the prospect. Jane laughed at her and said she'd be only too happy to oblige, only for the sake of Lizzy's happiness of course. The two sisters smiled at one another, each imagining the scene.

"Do you need any help finishing packing?" Jane asked. Lizzy rather smugly gestured to her packed and ready suitcase, "I'm actually all ready to go. Let's go check on the others shall we? I'll kill them if we miss the Portkey!"