InsaneJournal

This was a disaster. Not an unexpected disaster, but a disaster all the same, and it was all the fault of stupid, sexist, stodgy old men who were so entrenched in their belief that a woman couldn’t possibly what she was talking about when it came to business that they were willing to bypass a fantastic investment opportunity just because said woman didn’t have a man to back her up. If Daphne could’ve taken on the financial investment on her own, she would’ve done so in a heart beat; that way Greengrass Imports would get all the profits, and more importantly, she didn’t have to deal with this ridiculous patriarchy who believed she should concentrate on baking rather than doing anything productive. Like, say, rebuild an entire financial empire.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t take on this venture on her own, and these people were her best bet to get fast capital. And it seemed that they wouldn’t be swayed by her charts or her briefs or her assessments...only by the presence of a man.

And she didn’t have one. Her father was dead, and her brother was in Azkaban. She didn’t have time, either. This was too good an opportunity to be kept quiet for too long, and she needed to get in on it before everyone and their financial advisors found out about it. She needed agreement tonight, which meant she was going to need to convince them that she had some man in her life tonight. But where was she going to find one?

That was when she caught sight of Gabriel Derrick. She hadn’t tagged along with him and her brother ever since she’d entered Hogwarts, and certainly not after Alexander had been incarcerated. That was going to change.

Briskly, she made her way over to him and caught his arm, smiling at him as if she’d spoken to him more recently than eight years ago. “Gabriel, darling, do you have a moment?” She was already steering him towards an alcove as she spoke. “Let’s have a chat.”


Gabe knew that he should never have agreed to this. He was dressed- heaven forbid- in dress robes much nicer than his usual slacks and a t-shirt. His mother had absolutely insisted, telling him that it was merely a dinner with old friends. He hadn't wanted to come, but after enough wheedling and cajoling, his mother had finally gotten her way-- honestly, Gabe never could deny his mother anything.

It didn't take him long to realize that this was a set-up. He'd arrived promptly as necessary, greeted his hosts and mother first, then lifted an eyebrow as a look around the room showed that everybody else here was some part of a married or engaged couple.

Everyone, that is, except for Daphne Greengrass.

He remembered her, of course, had even been friends with her brother back at Hogwarts and before then. She used to tag along during their games, and he hadn't seen her since school ended-- Merlin, but that was over ten years ago now, wasn't it? She looked good, he had to note, but even he had heard the rumours about the eldest Greengrass daughter. An ice queen, they'd said. And he remembered that she was always one who liked to have her way. A part of him wondered what it would take to make her lose that cool exterior, wondered if he might push the right buttons to see past her facade.

But when she approached him and led him toward an alcove, he merely lifted an eyebrow. It had been years since they'd spoken, really, and he turned toward her as they slowed, unable to bite back his sarcasm. "Really, love, I know we're the only unattached people here, but don't you think you deserve something a little bit nicer for our first shag?"


However Daphne had expected him to react to her sudden presence, that wasn't it. Sure, he was attractive enough (she'd always thought so, when he wasn't being smug or annoying), but that wasn't what she'd had in mind at all. Which she communicated to him with a withering glare.
"Don't flatter yourself, Gabriel." They were in the alcove by now, but Daphne kept her voice low all the same. "You've noticed we're the only single guests here, haven't you? I think it's in our best interests to pretend we are in fact together, so as not to tempt the matchmaking tendencies of the others.". There, pretend it benefited both of them. That was more likely to get his cooperation.


"Of course I've noticed that it's a set-up. My darling mother hasn't let up since she decided that I was to be her next little project. Just why she's chosen you- well. That I don't know," Gabe replied, turning to face her. He crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall, wondering what on earth she had up her sleeve as she proposed the act. "And what's in it for me, if I were to agree? Surely it wouldn't end with tonight- you do realize that the old biddies here would insist on events in the near future."


“Why not me?” Daphne asked, irritated by the implication that she was somehow unworthy of being set up with. Just because she didn’t have the time or patience to go through the courtship rigmarole didn’t mean she was lacking in something or another. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered her, but it was the way that Gabriel had said that just rubbed her the wrong way. “I have all the qualities required for a proper wife, I’ll have you know. But that’s not the point. The point is, if you agree to this, I’ll help you find a way to get your mother off your back about settling down, since I’m presuming that’s what you mean by set-up.” A cold little smile. “If not...I’ll just explain to her that you really do want to settle down, you just haven’t found the right girl.”


"Don't tell me your feelings are hurt because I don't want to marry you," Gabe replied, the corners of his lips turning up in a wry smile. "I mean, I know I'm a bloke that women simply can't help but fall over themselves trying to please, but really, Daphne, you cannot say that you've wanted me all these years without saying a word! If I'd only known!" He couldn't quite help his playful smile. "And what sort of way do you propose? And honestly, Greengrass, I would have thought you'd be a bit more creative in your offer. Mother would meddle with or without your intervention-that isn't much of a threat to me."


By this time, Daphne was starting to rethink her decision to involve Gabriel in her plans. If it weren’t for the fact that she was under such a tight timeline, she would’ve owled Theodore or Blaise for their help, but at the moment, the only person she had to work with now was a very smug, snarky man who had an entirely too inflated sense of his own worth. Curses!

“Please, I have better taste than that,” Daphne said shortly. All right, so she could see how women - some women! Some women who were absolutely not her - might find this arrogant act swoon-worthy, but she was much more discerning than that. “And meddlesome mothers is a matter of degrees. If you think she’s bad now, imagine her haranguing you every minute of the day. Sending women to your workplace. Setting you up on dates. You’d have no peace, no rest.” Her blue eyes gleamed. “But if you agree to help me, I will work with you to find the most effective way to get her off this crusade. And believe me, I can be very effective.”


"Sure you do," Gabe agreed quickly, lips quirking into a smile as he saw how worked up she was getting. She certainly was trying hard. "She wouldn't send women to work. And maybe I wouldn't have peace. But I don't know. I'm not sure that's enough. What do you have in mind? Why should I help you?"


Daphne raised an eyebrow. Did he expect her to beg? If so, he was going to be sorely disappointed. Daphne Greengrass didn't beg. She may have had to swallow her pride a few times in the course of rebuilding Greengrass Imports's, but she had never begged. "I'm sorry," she said coolly. "I was under the impression you wanted your mother to stop her quest to get you married. If you actually like it, I'll leave you to it."


"I only feel that she would continue on this quest no matter what I did," Gabe replied. "But if you really need the help, I suppose we could come to some sort of mutual agreement." He straightened, his gaze moving over her for a moment, slowly. "What do you need of me?"


“That’s because she hasn’t talked to me yet,” Daphne said confidently. Having had plenty of experience with her own matchmaking mother, she was fairly sure she could keep Gabriel’s mother distracted from meddling her son’s affairs...at least until Daphne was finished with him.


She straightened unconsciously as he looked her over. People had given her plenty of such looks over the years, wondering if she could be trusted; wondering if they discover whether she was a Death Eater herself just by looking at her; wondering if she were desperate enough to accept the “protection” of much older men in exchange for her favours. She didn’t flinch now, as she didn’t flinch then. She merely lifted her chin. “I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend and financial advisor, so that those stodgy sexist old men will give me the capital I need to embark on a new investment. They don’t think a woman can come up with such an effective plan herself.”


Gabriel lifted an eyebrow as he looked back to Daphne. Her boyfriend? He supposed he could do that- though he could only imagine that that particular fact would get back to his mother very quickly. Just how would he manage that? And how big did she want to go with this charade? "How and when did we begin dating, then? I'm sure they'll ask."


“They’re stuffy old men who’ve probably forgotten what dating actually means,” Daphne said impatiently. “Why would they ask? They only care that I’m not running a business while female.” Even as she spoke, however, she could see his point. The men she was targetting may not care about such things (or they may be even bigger busybodies than her mother), but their wives, who were hovering around, might. “Oh all right, fine. We’ve known each other all our lives but we only reconnected about six months ago whereupon we promptly fell in love and are now living happily ever after. All right? Let’s go.”


"Of course they are. But their wives and the rest of the old society biddies will want to know." He watched her with amusement- it was almost funny how worked up she was getting over this. "I can work with that." Another smile. "Cheer up, sweetheart- you'll have to look a spot happier if you're going to convince them that we're so happily in love."


Daphne took a deep, calming breath. She was beginning to regret this idea more and more; he was having far too much fun with this very important issue. And he was right, damn it. No matter how annoying he was being, she had to look properly in love. "Fine," she said, and she managed to muster up a smile at him. Even half hearted, it transformed her face, giving her the glow that had earned her the title of one of the prettiest girls in Hogwarts. "There, better?"


"Better, but I'm not sure if it'll be good enough," Gabriel admitted. He brought a hand up, smoothing down a small piece of of her hair before stepping back and offering his arm. "Shall we see what we can accomplish today?"


Daphne was about to tell him not to touch her when she remembered that they were supposed to be a couple, which kind of required touching. She grimaced inwardly. True, this was a stuffy party where anything other than the most fleeting and casual of touches wouldn't be acceptable, and Gabriel wasn't exactly disgusting, but she wasn't used to this sort of thing. She'd been so busy with work in the past years that she hadn't had time to tend to her social life.


She could feel the heat of Gabriel's arm under her hand, and the lean muscles there - a not unpleasant experience - but she made herself focus on the group of men they approached. "Mr. Hereford, allow me to introduce Gabriel Derrick, my boyfriend. He's seen and approves of all my plans and projections, don't you, darling?"


Gabriel could tell that Daphne was less than pleased by his touch, but he merely smiled smugly as he led her toward the group of men. He eyed them- most were familiar with him and his father, and he didn't particularly care for any of them. But he knew it would benefit him and Daphne both to play nice.

"Mr Hereford. Gentlemen." He nodded in acknowledgement of the wizards, who turned to eye him speculatively.

"Gabriel, eh? Jeremiah's boy. What financial sense can you have, after all his wild schemes?"

"I've learned what not to do from my father, sir," Gabe replied, his tone mild, but firm. "I believe that Miss Greengrass is quite a sound investment. She's been successful thus far, hasn't she?"


“Quite so, for a woman,” Hereford agreed with a reluctance that made Daphne grit her teeth behind her smile. Sexist pig. “But never on such a risky prospect.”

“It’s not as big of a risk as it may seem,” Daphne interjected. “If you’ve read my brief, you’ll see that although the company is still new and unknown, their production model is extremely sound and has an excellent rate of return. It’s a fantastic opportunity for investment, and everyone who sees it will know it. If we don’t move ahead on it now, someone else will.”

“Hmm.” Hereford looked thoughtful and turned to murmur to one of the others, then turned back to Gabe. “What do you think?”


Gabriel glanced to Daphne at Hereford's response, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Even he didn't like how the man spoke of women-- sure, Gabe could be an asshole, but he wasn't so sexist as to think that women were somehow unintelligent beings.

"I think she's right. I've already invested, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find another opportunity like this one." He hadn't invested, of course, so he supposed he'd have to, but that wasn't a problem. He was sure that he and Daphne would come to some sort of agreement.


Hmm. Not bad for lying off the cuff. Then again, Daphne wouldn’t have expected any less from an ex-Slytherin. She looked the group of men expectantly until one of them - Ashe - gave a small nod of agreement. “I’ll take another look at the documents tonight,” he said. “If you’re right, you’ll have my signature in the morning.”

“Tonight,” Daphne said firmly. “The contracts must go out tomorrow morning.” She’d been telling them about the deadline for two weeks now, and she wasn’t going to settle for any more delay.

After a moment’s hesitation, Ashe nodded. “Tonight, then.”

With one of the cadre having agreed, the rest quickly followed. Hereford was the last, and he directed his answer to Gabriel, but Daphne didn’t need his acknowledgement, just his money. And perhaps when he found that his investment had given him such incredible returns, he might start to take her more seriously.

She quickly took her leave, not wanting to spend any more time in their presence than she absolutely had to. Dealing with them and their ancient, patriarchal ways always infuriated her. “Finally,” she muttered under her breath, and took a glass of wine from a tray that a server carried past. After all the work she’d put into this and all the aggravation she got, she needed it.


Gabriel smiled, pleased by the old wizards' responses. "Thank you," he said, turning to leave as Daphne steped away. He followed her, grinning as she took a glass of wine. He took one for himself, pausing at her side. "Happy?"


“I’ll be happy when the signatures arrive on my desk,” Daphne said, but she was smiling a little. Even getting them to agree to look over the documents seriously was a great victory, given how much resistance she’d gotten from them throughout this entire process. She supposed she had him to thank for that, no matter how annoying he’d been about it and no matter how disgustingly archaic it was that she’d had to find a man to validate her findings in the first place. “But it’s a start. Thank you.”

Then, because she wasn’t a woman who welched on an agreement, she turned to study him a little more closely. “Now. Let’s figure out how to solve your problem.”


"You're welcome," Gabe replied, offering a faint smile in return. He looked decidedly more amused as she studied him, and he lifted his eyebrow once more. "Yes, of course. What do you have in mind, my dear?"

“For the short term, keep her distracted,” Daphne said decisively. “My mother’s thinking of visiting Italy. If we can get them both out of the country, we’ll have time to think of a longer term solution.”


"I wouldn't be able to until next week at the earlier," Gabriel replied. "Mother has a grand dinner planned for my birthday this weekend, and she's been plenty preoccupied with that. I'm sure she'd love to show me off to all of her friends' single daughters."


“Ah.” Daphne wrinkled her nose. “Even I can’t work up something effective on such short notice. You’ll have to bear with dinner, and perhaps I can find an emergency to call you away once the scheming mamas converge.”


"Perhaps," Gabriel agreed. He finished his wine glass and passed it off to a passing waiter. That done, he folded his arms across his chest and looked back to Daphne. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, ma chérie. I suggest you relax- you've gotten the agreement you came here looking for- and enjoy the rest of your evening."