Pride and Prejudice
Of a Different Sort
Chapter 1: New Arrivals
Harry Bennet walked the road leading to his home. In his hands was his favorite novel. He grinned at one of his favorite lines, and marked his page, gazing across the field leading to Longhorn.
He walked with a spring in his step. The beauty of the morning was not lost on him. He loved his morning walks. As he walked by a lake ducks called to him, and he smiled once more.
He sprinted the last yards to the door of his home, hearing a commotion.
"Oh, Mr. Bennet, how can you torture me so?! You must go see him! Immediately! Our poor children, they will be thrown out on the streets! And you show no caring; you sit there and read your silly books, and write your silly letters, and play with your silly Muggle toys! Well, fine! We will out be in ruins I tell you!"
Harry peaked through the front window to his father's Library. Inside were his parents, his father watching, amused, as his wife flitted about the room. His mother was red in the face, her hair flying out of her bonnet, and her face pinched with anger and anxiety.
"I demand you go call on Mr. Bingley. Do show some compassion for my poor nerves!" His mother was not going to stop, so Harry headed inside, hearing his father's voice as he opened the door.
"Of course I show every respect to your nerves! They have been my constant companions, these past twenty years!"
Harry snickered. That was his father.
Mr. Authur Bennet was a wise, kind, eccentric, sarcastic man. His sense of humor most would call warped, and the rest would call dry. Harry loved his father dearly and his father understood him more than anyone else. Well, besides Hermione, his closest sister.
When he reached the hall of Mr. Bennet's Library, he saw his three youngest sisters, Tonks, Lavender, and Ginny standing with their ears to the door.
He hurried over, as the girls grinned at him and waved to him.
"What did I tell you about listening to-," he started.
Ginny cut him off by saying, "Some one has finally moved into the Manor up the lane about three miles, Netherfield!"
Harry's eyes grew wide. The place was enormous!
"No! Really?" he asked.
The girl's nodded.
Tonks continued, "He's a single man, by the name of Bingley. Apparently he gets five thousand a year!"
They all squealed, including Harry.
"Do you think he's handsome?" Lavender, the youngest and silliest, wondered dreamily.
Harry grinned, "He has five thousand a year. I'm sure he is tolerable enough, for that."
Hermione, the eldest of the children, rushed down the stares, after hearing the second set of squeals Harry's comment had induced.
"What is it?" she asked as she reached them.
Harry smiled up at his sister, and told her of what they had just learned. Then everyone quieted to listen to the conversation.
"Yes, my dear," their father was saying. "I understand that Mr. Bingley has leased Netherfield. I do not understand how that affects us."
Their mother huffed at him.
"Well, I plan for him to marry one of them, of course!"
The group outside the door squealed, even as their father answered, "How do you know he wants to? Do you suppose that his reason for coming here?"
The girls and Harry held their breath.
"Well, of course!" their mother exploded. "Why else would a bachelor move, bringing along a party of friends and family?! There is no other reason!"
"Right," Mr. Bennet said, sounding incredulous. Moments later the door opened and Mr. Bennet found himself facing his five children.
"Good Heavens!" he exclaimed. "People!"
He then walked towards the Parlor, his family following him.
"Mr. Bennet, if you will not do it for me, do it for your children!" Mrs. Bennet cried.
Mr. Bennet looked at her. Then at his children, who were all giving him puppy dog eyes. Then he smiled slightly.
"Well, when you put it that way," he began. "It makes me happy to have gone to see him yesterday."
"WHAT?!" shrieked Mrs. Bennet. She then began to yell at him angrily, as they all tuned her out.
Lavender and Ginny grasped hands and began to dance about the room. Tonks laughed and started to dance with an imaginary suitor. Hermione watched and giggled at them, and Harry ran and kissed his father on the cheek.
"So he will be going to the ball tomorrow night, Father?" Harry asked.
Quickly all silliness stopped as the women turned to hear the answer.
Mr. Bennet grinned at his family. "Yes," he said. "I believe so."
Cheers, laughter, silliness, and preparations immediately took place.
Harry smiled. Finally, he thought, an interesting twist in our story.
AN: Reviews! Feed my muse, or she will shrivel up and die!
Next time: The Ball, our prince charming, and his posse.