Hey, here's a new story I wanna work on! Got this idea from watching Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights actually. Haha.

It's called Harry + Hermione. Its a version of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Its kind of like the Baz Luhrmann version. Its very modern and in alternate universe. No magic.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. Nor do I own Romeo & Juliet. William Shakespeare does.

Now, this is my version of Romeo & Juliet, so it might not turn out sad.

Summary: Harry Potter and Hermione Granger are offsprings of rivaling companies in the AU-city of London. They meet by chance one day and fall in love, but do not know how to keep it from their parents.

Here's the prologue!

"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which but their children's end naught could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which, if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss our toil shall strive to mend."

-Romeo and Juliet, Prologue, William Shakespeare.

Prologue

In the city of London, there are two rivaling families, Potter and Granger. They were rivaling companies in industries. Both had equal buyers and clients. Equal amount of money. They were equal in every way, but still always tried to climb higher than the other.

Jacob Granger lived in the Eastern part of London, while James Potter lived in the Western part. What was really ironic is that their office towers were right across from each other. Their offices on the same floor and mirroring windows. So they had to look at each other all day long as they worked. And it was not just them that hated each other. Their families despised each other. Their nephews, nieces, wives, cousins, servants, workers, even pets.

Jacob Granger had one offspring; as did James Potter. However, Granger had a daughter, while Potter harbored a son. They were born the same year and were the same age. But the two had never met each other. Their parents would not let them congregate. They sent them to different schools. To different playgrounds. The two had never crossed paths. And their parents wanted it to keep it that way.

But, perhaps fate had a different view on this. Perhaps fate wanted to defy the two fathers. Perhaps fate wanted to say something. It wanted to tell them that it saw a good in their feud. It saw a good in their families.

Neville Longbottom, the nephew of Lily Potter, and his friends were riding in his car to a local restaurant for lunch. He had a bad feeling about this day. "Hey, Nev, did you check out that girl we just passed? She had a nice rack!" his friend, Ron Weasley said laughing. Seamus Finnigan was also in the car. Seamus was almost as perverted as Ron was, but not quite. Neville really did not care. He preferred nice arses.

"No, sorry, mate, I was too busy driving!" he playfully hit his friend who laughed harder. He pulled over to the side of the street and parked his car in front of a nice restaurant. They all bailed out of the car.

They were about to walk in when Ron stopped Neville and Seamus. "Wait," he looked in shock at three men walking into the same restaurant. "Grangers." He knew who they were by their jackets. "Granger Industries" they read.

Ron, Neville, and Seamus looked down at their own jackets. "Potter Industries" theirs read. It was not long before the three men looked at them and the biggest one growled. "Potters!" he grunted. The Grangers were at least a hundred pounds heavier than the Potters and far more brutal-looking.

Ron smirked and stuck up his middle finger, which made them widen their eyes in hatred. "Grangers suck!"

They immediately drew their guns from their holsters, clearly offended by their arch rivals. "What did you say?" the big one asked.

"Grangers suck!" Ron repeated drawing his own gun. Seamus followed close behind. Neville stepped back, not wanting to be in the brawl.

"No, I think that the Potters are the ones that suck! Our employer is better than yours!" the brute yelled back and fired. He missed and Ron and Seamus dove behind another car. Neville backed up, out of the way.

"Please, stop this!" he cried out but no one heard him.

The brawl was continued and soon people were crying out and running for cover. Neville did not want anything to happen to anyone. So, once his friends and his enemies were reloading, he grabbed his gun and jumped back out of his hiding place, pointing it at his friends for a split second and then at the Grangers. He walked right in the middle of them. "Drop your guns! Drop them! Please! Keep peace on the streets!"

The brute spoke up. Neville recognized him to be Charlotte Granger's nephew, Ernie MacMillian. "Peace? I hate the word. As I hate Hell, all Potters, and you!" He pointed his gun at Neville and shot. He missed again, but it was only because he had moved. If he had not, he would have been hit. Neville blindly shot and missed as well. He heard another shot come from the Grangers and heard a groan of pain. He looked and saw Seamus holding his shoulder. Blood was pouring out. He watched him duck for cover and Ron continued to shoot.

Soon, they heard sirens. The police, and probably the Prime Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt, would be there. In fact, Minister Shacklebolt's voice was heard on a megaphone. "Throw your weapons to the ground!"

Neville, Ron, and Seamus leaned down and put their guns safely on the ground and held up their hands. The Grangers, however, were reluctant. They stopped shooting but did not drop their guns. "Throw your weapons to the ground!" Minister Shacklebolt yelled at them. They finally did and all six boys were arrested.

Their employers, Jacob Granger and James Potter, were called to Minister Shacklebolt's office. The two despised sitting next to each other. "That's the third time this month, you two," he said. "If there is one more fight among my streets, death will be the penalty. On both of your parts. Keep your men controlled!"

Harry Potter was the lonely son of the wealthy industry owner, James Potter. He had some friends, including his cousin, Neville Longbottom, on his mother's side. He even had a friend who was related to the Prime Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt. But he always felt lonely. He had just found out his crush was going into nunnery. Who would want to be chaste the rest of their life? So he moped and moaned around the city. Often stopping to write poetry in the park.

He stopped in front of a television shop window and watched the news as the newscaster explained of his family and the rivaling family, the Grangers, were caught in a feud today. He saw his cousin's face appear on the screen stepping in front a Granger and his other friend, Ron Weasley, as they were pointing guns at each other. One person had gotten shot but was recovering in the hospital. Harry shook his head as he found out it was his friend, Seamus Finnigan.

'When will there be peace? When will there be no more fighting? There is no difference between my father and Granger. They just work for rivaling industries. Why can't they just merge together and make the same money? Then no one could get hurt about it. No one could be laying in the hospital' he thought.

He watched as his cousin, Neville, walked up to him. He seemed cheerful for some reason. Wasn't he just in a fray? "Hello, cousin."

"I saw you on television, Neville. Why must there be fighting? Why can't we all just get along?" he asked to no one in particular as he turned away from his kin.

"Wait up, Harry!" he trotted alongside him to a pub. He had not had lunch as they did not get to. "That sounds mad, mate! Potters and Grangers have been rivals since our great-grandfathers. It's absurd to get along." He made it sound like it was the end of the world.

"But why? We're just fighting over stupid things like money when we all know we both have the same amount. Where's Ron?" he asked not seeing him around as they sat at a booth in the pub.

"With Seamus at the hospital. He did not want to leave him. I came because your parents wanted me to find you. You've been sad lately," he replied.

"You see? You see what this feud does to us? It leaves us in pain and dying conditions beyond repair! If it were not for the feud, Seamus and Ron could be eating with us right now," he pointed out.

"Enough of this!" Neville cried after they ordered their food. "Why have you been down lately? Your parents and I are worried about you! You stay in your room all day and close the curtains! Sometimes you get out, but you always seem so distant."

Harry sighed and thought about her again. His love. "Cho Chang."

Neville nodded knowingly. "She's chosen nunnery and chastity. Is that what you're upset with?"

Harry nodded and folded his arms on the table and rested his head in them. He had been in love with Cho Chang, an Asian beauty, since he had first seen her at his school, Hogwarts. She was a year older than him and always turned down his offers to go on a date with him. She had decided to become a nun when she was only fourteen. 'Too young to commit to that' Harry thought to himself. He had been in love with her since he was only thirteen, when she decided to be chaste.

Their food came and they ate it silently. After they finished, they paid and went to the pool table off to the side and played a bit. It was not long after when his dark-skinned friend, Dean Thomas, shown up. He was related to Minister Shacklebolt. They were second cousins. "Hey, mates!" he called out.

"Hey, Dean!" they chanted back.

"So, guess who just got invited to a Granger party..." he smirked and they dropped their jaws.

"No! You?"

"Yes, lads! Tonight. Just got the invitation. And you know who's going to be there?" Dean asked Harry.

"Grangers?" he replied with snark.

"Well, yeah, but also Cho Chang."

Harry shot his head up to look at him. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Let me see that," he grabbed for the invitation and snatched it out of his friend's hand. He read where it said, '...my dear friend Chang and his daughter, Cho...' "So she is."

"Come tonight. You two and Ron and Seamus-if he is up to it. You can wear masks. They will hide your faces."

Harry nodded and smiled, looking at his cousin, who shrugged, agreeing.

"Great! It's a costume party."

"I'm so glad you have accepted my proposal to be betrothed to my daughter, Mr. Krum," Jacob Granger said. His companion was a brute of a man. He was twenty-two years old and played professional football. He was Viktor Krum from Bulgaria. He had moved here with his father a few years ago as he was signed to an English football team. His English was improving but still had an accent here and there.

"Oh, please, Mr. Granger, call me 'Viktor'. And it is no problem. Your daughter is beautiful. She will make a wonderful bride. And mother," Viktor told him.

"Ah, yes, yes, she will. She just turned eighteen, you know. We still have her with her nurse, Madam Pomfrey. She is more like her maid now, though. So, she will live with you at your house."

Viktor did not seem too happy about this. He just wanted Hermione and only Hermione. But to get her, he guessed Madam Pomfrey came as a package deal. So, he nodded agreeingly. "I have plenty of room in my home for Madam Pomfrey. Just as long as she is far away from the master bedroom," he joked and they laughed. He really did mean it though. He did not want the maid to be hearing in on their...nightly activities.

"I really like you, Viktor. You're a good man. You will support my daughter well with your athletic fortune, I presume?"

"Yes, sir, I will."

TBC...

Well, there's the prologue! Hope you liked it!

I tried to make the characters fit in. I picked Neville as Benvolio because he's always been shy and not very much of a fighter. Benvolio in R&J is always trying to keep the peace. I dont know why I chose Ernie MacMillian as Tybalt. I did not want to do Malfoy. So, I chose Ernie. I think Dean as Mercutio is the best fit. Because Kingsley Shacklebolt is also black and he's the minister aka the Prince. Ron will probably be Balthasar or whoever. Does not really matter. Seamus can be another one of Harry's friends.

I think Madam Pomfrey as Nurse is really funny. Haha. And Viktor Krum as Paris.

Anyway, pleez review!

DREWHHR