It had been this time last year that the walls had crashed down around him, that the foundation Gregory had thought he had been shoring up for the future had been ripped out from beneath his feet. While his efforts to mitigate the theft of his inheritance had prooved fruitless, he had, at least, done very well at ensuring only Harper and Lestrange actually knew what had befallen him. Oh, the wizard felt bad lying to his mother, brothers, sisters; even his friends. It felt a hell of a lot better, though, than admitting to the truth:

He was broke. While it was not explictly his fault, was Gregory not at least partially to blame, for placing his trust in a man of buisness who had proved to be an utter snake?

No, better to lie than to come crawling back to his mother or elder brother begging for scraps. At least for now.

His father and mother had married for love, but the wizard knew that in his present circumstances, this would not be an option to him. He had lamented that loss, of course, but was resigned to it: he had to make a wealthy match, preferably this season, and certainly before his mother realized that not only had he not begun constructing a house, he actually did not own any land to put one on. A sizable enough dowry could allow him to keep up the charade for as long as three years, if he invested it well—DEFINITELY NOT WITH THE SAME PERSON—and played his cards right.

And so, though not thrilled by the prospect, Gregory Hart was very much on the prowl, having made it his mission to dance with each of the more affluent more debutantes at least once that evening.

"I'm quite sure the remainder of your dance card is no doubt full this evening, Miss —" Gregory said as the pair left the dance floor, his most charming smile dimpling his cheeks. To actually dance twice with a young lady at the same function signalled serious interest, a degree he was not comfortable with—but to simply hint at doing so, well, that was flirtatious, rakish in a harmless way.