A/N- I ought to say before I begin, this is based entirely around the book Pride and Prejudice and I will endeavour to keep as faithful to the book as I can, however, because this is obviously set in the modern day wizarding world with characters we already know then I had to change a few minor details! Thank you, I hope you enjoy! DISCLAIMER – I am neither JK Rowling nor Jane Austen, sucks right.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. And it is a truth acknowledged by Hermione, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be stalked by her Mother. This truth, however, would soon become universally acknowledged if Jane Granger didn't stop talking about the arrival of a wealthy bachelor in town.

"Well, I don't think I've ever seen such a good looking young man," Hermione's mother said at the dinner table one evening, "Don't you agree, girls?"

Each of the five girls sitting around the table gave a hum of agreement, with varying levels of enthusiasm. It was Friday night which meant, much to Hermione's dismay, Lavender and Parvati were invited to Mayfield House to dine, a weekly tradition which dated back to last May where Hermione's mother met the pair at a War Anniversary Ball and became quite enamoured by their silly ways and gossipy nature. Also invited to their weekly meals was Ginny Weasley, who brought just enough sensibility to keep Hermione sane during the long hours of Friday night, and Hermione's cousin, Mary. Mary Granger was a quiet, studious girl who was just as intelligent as Hermione yet had the social skills of her cat; often sitting silently and glaring at the people she didn't like. She was staying with her aunt and uncle for the summer and, although a muggle herself, was fully aware of the world Hermione lived in, thus knowing that Harry Potter, the new wealthy bachelor in town who had just bought the grand estate Owlswick Manor, was really quite an attractive fellow.

"Yes he's a very handsome man," Reiterated Mrs Granger, "and so very charming!"

"Despite knowing him all these years, never have I heard you praise him for so long," Mr Granger said, "then again, you never knew he was quite so rich." Mr Granger shared an amused look with his daughter, who was drinking water in an effort to hide her laughter.

"Richard!" Mrs Granger cried, "How can you think me so shallow? Even if I did have his considerable fortune in mind it would only be because I want our one and only daughter to live comfortably!"

At this point Hermione found she had to intervene. "Mum, I'm not going to marry my best friend."

"But why not? He's so very fond of you, dear."

"In a purely platonic way, I assure you!"

With a hyperbolically heavy sigh, her mother conceded and instead spent the entirety of dessert attempting to convince the party what a lovely couple Lavender and Harry would make, with very little avail- apart from Lavender herself, who found 250,000 pounds a year (or 50,000 galleons) quite an attractive sum of money.

"I think, perhaps, Ginny and Harry would make quite a good couple," Said Mr Granger, sending a knowing look in Ginny's direction, who was rather pink.

"Nonsense!" Interrupted Mrs Granger, "I couldn't imagine anything stranger than marrying your brother's best friend."

"Yet marrying your best friend is quite alright?" Challenged Hermione. This provoked a glare from her mother. The subject was changed.

The last hour of the gathering was spent discussing the ball which was to take place the following day. The Grangers had attended four of these annual summer balls and were received rather differently by each family member; Mr Granger found them a bore, although mostly accepting of the wizarding world he found wizards themselves to be really quite bizarre and he certainly did not enjoy their passé attitude toward dental care, contrastingly Mrs Granger found that wizarding women and muggle women both had a mutual love for good old gossip and thus tended to have a marvellous time- she did still, however, endeavour to surround herself with women with excellent teeth. Hermione was a happy half-way between the two, enjoying the dancing and socialising in equal amounts to sitting alone in her room on a quiet evening.

"I don't like balls." Mary declared bluntly in the middle of the discussion, making her first contribution of the evening. The rest waited for a moment for some sort of elaboration but sat in a momentary awkward silence when Mary showed no sign of it by returning to her book. Lavender was the first to shrug off Mary's out of place comment and proceeded to talk at great lengths about her excitement for the ball, each comment echoed by both Parvati and Mrs Granger, leaving Ginny, Hermione and Mr Granger to share diverted looks at one another as they silently mocked the three silly women for the remainder of the evening.

The evening of the ball arrived quickly and Ginny was once more at Mayfield House to get ready with Hermione. In the privacy of Hermione's bedroom Ginny was free to express her true feelings and apprehensions about the night that awaited. Neither Ginny nor Hermione had seen Harry for two years. Not long after he and Ron had qualified as aurors the two were sent away on a 25 month mission in Scandinavian Europe to seek out death eaters who were suspected of fleeing there, they were allowed very little contact with home; in the two years Ginny and Hermione received only one letter addressed to them both written by both. Before the mission it was generally accepted that Ginny and Harry were dating, despite neither one putting a 'label' on their relationship, however, two years without contact is a long time and Ginny feared that the distance and the ambiguity of their relationship in the first place was enough for Harry to return to England with no feelings for her at all. Hermione tried ardently to reassure her that Harry would still be in love with her but, after having no effect whatsoever on Ginny, told her that even if Harry's feelings were lessened she could restore them tonight. This cheered Ginny greatly.

The ball was a grand affair, with witches and wizards from all over Buckinghamshire dressed in their finery and great chandeliers and decorations hanging from the ceiling of the grand town hall, the place was bustling with people and the music was only just audible over the sound of people talking and dancing. Hermione and Ginny entered together, just ahead of Mr and Mrs Granger, both were wearing floor length dresses, Hermione's black and Ginny's a beautiful emerald colour. They joined in on the festivities almost immediately, jovially dancing to the light music, thoroughly enjoying themselves. All of a sudden, the music stopped and every person in the room turned to the entrance where Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley stood. Harry had changed very little, his thick black hair falling just above his eyes which were still guarded by his geeky circle rimmed glasses, the way he immediately found Ginny in the crowd told Hermione all she needed to know about his feelings toward her friend. Ron was bigger; taller and more muscular, his hair was a darker shade of red and his skin paler, but behind his frankly more intimidating exterior Hermione could see the old, funny, cheerful, and brilliant Ronald. Hermione beamed at her two best friends and was about to make her way over to them before seeing they had company. Behind Ron stood a tall, slender woman wearing a pale pink dress with blonde hair cascading in loose curls down her back, the front held back in loose braids, she was holding his hand.

"Who's that?" She whispered to herself.

"Daphne Greengrass," said Lavender, who was standing nearby and had heard Hermione's comment. The name rang a bell and Hermione soon remembered her to be a girl from school, who she hadn't seen for years. She saw Ron laugh at something Daphne said and she was reassured it was a good match, Ron could never be with someone who couldn't make him laugh. On the other side of Daphne was a shorter woman who, although not in any way beautiful, looked the epitome of elegance, adorning deep sapphire robes with her black hair placed gracefully into a bun. The girl smirked slightly at something Daphne said and from that moment Hermione had no doubt of who she was- Pansy Parkinson. Which meant the tall, blonde gentleman behind her must be Pansy's own Lord and Master himself, Draco Malfoy. It would be a lie to call him anything else other than extremely handsome, although attractive as a teenager the years between them and now, at age 25, had chiselled away his boyish looks into the strong and refined looks of a man. He had neglected the hair gel, which Hermione reckoned a good decision, letting his hair falls naturally a little in front of his eyes in slight waves. Yet his eyes were still the same piercing silver colour. In no way did this stop her from renewing her dislike for him though, he unmoving look of disdain and the way his chin was up a little too high made his cockiness clear.

"Still as loathsome as a dog fart, I see," Hermione said to Ginny when she saw Malfoy look around the room as if someone had hung his underwear from the ceiling.

"Dog fart, creative," She replied. The two were suddenly pulled to the side by Mrs Granger.

"Girls, that's Harry Potter over there," She said, as if they hadn't worked it out. "Now next to him is Ronald Weas-"

"Yes, I think Ginny can recognise her own brother, mum." Hermione interrupted.

Ignoring her Mrs Granger continued, "He makes 45,000 galleons a year- what a catch!"

"Still my brother, Mrs Weasley."

"Yes, thank you Ginny, I was thinking more for Hermione, actually."

"Once again, he's my best friend and I'm pretty sure he's dating that blonde woman there." Hermione replied, coolly.

"Well, the best is yet to come my daughter," Mrs Granger continued, her voice now in a low whisper, "the gentleman behind them, and might I say he is really very handsome, makes 100,000 galleons a year and comes from a noble wizarding family called Malfoy."

"That's Draco Malfoy! My school bully, remember?"

"Was he the one who put that curse thing on your teeth?" Mrs Granger asked, frowning.

"Yes!"

"Then we are greatly indebted to him!" cried Mrs Granger, "You must admit, dear, you looked infinitely better with your new teeth."

Hermione, completely astounded by the ridiculousness of her mother, began to walk away but was stopped when Harry and Ron made their way over. She embraced them immediately, pulling the two of them quite forcefully into her arms, their faces engulfed in the curls of her hair muffling the sound of their happy greetings. When she finally let them go she was able to see their faces for the first time in over two years and she was pleased to see them looking just the same, except for a little scar marring Ron's chin.

"Finally, you caught up with the trademark scar thing," Hermione said light-heartedly, turning her wrist to show the white marks that had healed over what Bellatrix Lestrange had left behind. "We can finally release golden trio scar merchandise."

"Hermione, we've missed you! Turns out, Harry and I are pretty pathetic without you!" Ron said and then looked over at Harry to find he was completely preoccupied. "Still bloody in love with my sister, even after all this time."

Harry and Ginny were finding it rather hard to speak, fortunately Mrs Granger was there to do enough talking for the both of them- "Why don't you two go and have a little dance," She said, practically pushing Ginny into Harry, "A nice catch up, maybe you can tell Ginny what your annual salary is now, that'd be nice."

Hermione winced at her mother's lack of social boundaries but was soon remedied when she saw Daphne Greengrass walking over, she was desperate to hear this story. It turned out the story of how she and Ron got together was very dull, they met at a pub in Sweden and then dated. Hermione was, however, very pleased with Ron's choice, she was intelligent and gentle and seemed to adore her.

"I've heard so much about you, Hermione," she began, "Ron and Harry talk about how brilliant you are all the time, goodness I've wanted to talk to you for longer than I know! I desperately wanted to be your friend at school, but, my gosh, you were too cool!"

Hermione laughed at the idea of her being too cool to talk to, but thanked Daphne sincerely. "You were cool!" Daphne protested, "At least, I thought you were. I must say, however, that another reason I didn't think you would want to talk to me was because I was, and still am, a good friend of Draco's. I must try to convince you, Hermione, that Draco really isn't the evil villain you, understandably, think he is."

"I have to agree with that," added Ron, "Draco may have been a royal arse but he is honestly a tolerable royal arse. Both Harry and I would love it if you two could get along, I know he is very anxious to see you again."

Hermione nodded, quite unsure of what to say. Ron and Daphne quickly excused themselves to dance and Hermione was left alone and she happily watched her two best friends dance merrily for a good while until she was interrupted by her mother.

"My next aim is to track down Draco Malfoy," her mother said, her eyes prowling the hall. She caught sight of him at last and stared at him until he made eye contact, once he did she smiled in a manner which forced him, through means of civility, to go over.

"Hello Miss Granger," He said in a tone so solemn Hermione felt the urge to giggle, "I believe this is your mother? (Hermione nodded) Mrs Granger, a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh don't talk to me, I'm so old. Talk to my daughter, I'm sure you have a lot to catch up on after all these years! Maybe you and my single daughter could dance?" Mrs Granger replied, all smiles and no tact.

"I don't dance," Draco replied, quite brusquely.

"Oh, I know you can!" Mrs Granger protested.

"Not a chance!" Harry chimed in, as he and Ginny were dancing nearby.

"It's not that I can't dance, Mrs Granger, it is just that I choose not to," stated Draco, shortly. "Please, do excuse me, I can see Miss Parkinson is standing alone and she will refuse to talk to me for a good month if I don't keep her company."

"What a rude man!" cried Mrs Granger, wholly and truly insulted, "It goes to show that not even 100,000 galleons a year can make someone so abhorrent amiable!"

Hermione, worried that Draco was still in earshot, tried in every way to shush her mother and once she had managed this challenge stated that she had to speak to someone and made her way over quickly her good friend, Luna Lovegood. She recounted the meeting with Draco to her behind a large column, making Luna laugh hysterically, both the girls thoroughly diverted by his unchanged nature. She hushed Luna, however, when she heard Draco's voice sound from the other side of the column.

"When can we leave?" He said, as he lay against the column, Hermione and Luna trying their best not to be seen by squeezing together and lying flat against the cylindrical stone.

"Not yet!" Harry's voice sounded, "Let your hair down a little, have a drink, have a dance!"

"You're dancing with the only pretty girl in the room."

"She is the most beautiful girl here, and perhaps everywhere, I grant you, but what about Hermione, you can't honestly tell me you think she's unattractive!"

"She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me. You might as well leave me, go back to your little Weasley, enjoy her smiles, you are wasting your time with me" And with that Draco walked away, leaving Hermione completely bemused on the other side of the column.

"Not handsome enough to tempt me!" Hermione mimicked, playfully, making light of the situation, "It's a good thing he doesn't like me, for otherwise I would have to talk to him!"

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