Why do I have to be so inclined to lose my mind? [Darren]

Lorin had thought that her mother was ready to go when she’d finished at the dress shop and the two of them had had lunch together at the Leaky Cauldron. Larissa had certainly seemed to be in a flutter about something going on, and Lorin assumed that it involved the mountain of chores the older witch still had to tackle after returning home. That was fine with her. Running into Two had been plenty of excitement for one day. In fact, Lorin didn’t know if she could really handle too much more. The older Slytherin seemed to cross her at every turn. He seemed able to read her mind and know just the best way to get under her skin. It was tiring, really.

Of course, Lorin had thought wrong. The dress shopping had only been the beginning. Larissa dragged her into the ink shop for fancy parchment, to the apothecary—which really should have been fun for the girl, but she was too tired and warm and irritated to do much more than feel upset that she wasn’t home yet—and, finally, to the bank. If she had just been going into their vault for a little money, Lorin would probably have gone with her. If she  smiled pretty, sometimes her mother would give her a little bit to keep for herself. As it turned out, Larissa had actual business to do there. More to do with the ball coming up, Lorin thought. Larissa had taken it on herself to be very involved in the event planning, and Lorin was getting tired of hearing about it. It had seemed fun at first, now it just seemed unfortunate. She had already secured her date to the thing—classmate Conall Regan, who she could not possibly care about any less—and was certain that it would be a fun but overall unmemorable night. She was ready for it to be over already.

So, instead, she told her mother she would be at the book shop until she returned. Larissa made it clear that Lorin was not to leave and “wander,” as she’d done earlier that day, and Lorin assured her that she wouldn’t. Of course, the second the older witch was out of sight, Lorin was off to poke around again. She was bored, and that was often dangerous as far as Lorin was concerned. When she was bored and restless, she frequently got destructive, sometimes even reckless. She poked her nose into places it didn’t belong. She found things to keep her entertained.

After creeping behind several stores, curiously exploring what the shopkeepers had meant to keep private, green eyes caught a glimpse of the entrance to Knockturn Alley. Lorin had never dared to enter. Her parents had expressedly forbidden it. Her mother and father had both been in there as part of their duties, and both had said that it wasn’t safe. It was dark, evil, and cold. It was a place a teenage girl could go to get hurt, get led astray, or worse. Lorin had never taken the word ‘no,’ well, though. Not at all. Still, she was hesitant. Dark wizards intimidated her, and while he was a strong duelist (against other 6th year students), she wasn’t any match for a powerful dark wizard. Despite the fact that she often looked much older than her true age of sixteen, there was no way that a pretty young witch wouldn’t be a target in a place like that, not unless she was as frighteningly ferocious as a wild animal. Not unless she was half-crazed and eager to attack. Lorin was neither. She was calm and graceful. She might have put off an air of dominance in normal society, but she would be a small, delicate fish, in a sea full of piranhas, the moment she crossed that threshold.

Something in her, most likely her desire to rebel against her parent’s authority, drove her to take the few steps into the dark realm regardless. Lorin couldn’t bear to be told not to do something. She wasn’t the kind of girl who bent to authority. She was determined to find her own way in the world and decide things based on her own logic. She’d already found her parents to be too stiff on many things, and her brother wasn’t much better. He  was weak, she thought, in his blind faith. She loved him dearly, perhaps because his weakness made him easy to mold to her will. She just refused to ever be that person. If that meant making bad choices and finding her way out of them, so be it.

She was horrifically frightened, but completely thrilled as she made her way deeper in. She clung to the side of the streets, head down, black robes pulled over her shoulders. She peered into the shops, heart beating quickly. She’d always wanted a chance to see things like this. To experience them. Everything else always seemed so pointless, light magic seemed so pointless. Some guilt pooled in her gut—it was probably wrong for her to be drawn to something she hated so passionately—but she swallowed it down. Being here didn’t make her a dark witch. Even her obvious attraction to dark magic didn’t make her a dark witch. It just made her... open-minded. Right? She would never dare mention this excursion to anyone, should she make it out of here unharmed.

Things seemed to go okay for her at first. The wizards and witches walked by her without noticing her. It wasn’t like Diagon Alley where the others often smiled and nodded. Had she ventured to make eye-contact with any of them she would have been met with a dark glare and a snarl, and she could feel that dark energy radiating out of the people who were patrons here. She tried to make herself look as invisible as possible—the opposite of her usual endeavor—as she walked further in.

Of course, this only worked for so long. Lorin was very out of place. She’d never even been around dark wizards, not even her family. Her mother had been an auror, her father had been the head of the magical law enforcement squad. She’d been sheltered from darkness. She was very aware of this with every person who passed her. Any person who stepped too close made her inwardly flinch. Maybe she should turn around. Maybe she could count this as a success regardless. She turned down an alleyway, thinking that the turn was the right one, only to find herself face-to-face with an elderly wizard. Hair wild and unkempt, arms stick-thin, eyes dark as they bore into hers. He wrapped his hand around her arm.

”Well, aren’t you a pretty one...” He asked, Lorin gripped her wand tighter. She had never hated a compliment so much. ”You’d look much prettier with scars....” Her blood went cold, and she tugged her hand away from him, surprised at how much strength the man truly had. He laughed at her, but she didn’t wait to hear what else he would say as she began to run.

Running? That only brought her more attention. From a woman peddling potions that would ”Take all her pain away...” to a man who tried very hard to get her to take his necklace, something obviously cursed. She just wanted to leave. Success, failure, Lorin didn’t care. She wasn’t ready for this, especially not alone. She wasn’t ready.

She slowed her run to a stop as she moved into a quieter section, and paused to catch her breath. She didn’t recognize anything she saw, and that made her nervous. Where was she? She had thought she was running back towards Diagon Alley! The thought that she might have been lost made her panic just a little bit. How would she get out? She didn’t want to make her way all the way back, alone, and she’d made so many turns that she’d lost track of them. Lorin slipped into a side alley and leaned against the wall, almost in tears. She’d messed things up pretty bad this time, and she didn’t know how she would fix it. She thought that maybe she’d sit there until an undercover squad officer came across her, stunning anyone else who came too close. She let herself slide down to a crouched position, not even caring that her dress was ruffled and dirty on the back.

Then, her eyes narrowed on a familiar form walking by, and Lorin stood to get a better look. Did she know him, really? She felt a small twinge of relief when she realized that she did. He was the eldest of the Hadditch brothers. Darren, she thought his name was. Lorin had always been drawn to the Hadditches, even if she hadn’t really spoke to many of them. Alvin was the Quidditch captain, and her year, but he was a little unapproachable. Ryan, on the other hand, had been plenty approachable, but had turned out to be a real tool. This was why Darren had always been the most interesting to her. She hadn’t seen him since he’d graduated, after her 4th year, but she remembered that he was intelligent and devious—both traits that she admired. She’d only spoken to him in very, very brief spurts before... but this was the best chance that she had now. She hoped he would recognize her or, at the very least, not... make things worse than they already were.

“Hadditch!” She called out to him. This portion of the road was very quiet, and she was thankful for the illusion of privacy that offered her. She jogged to catch up, her hair ruffled and starting to frizz. Her cheeks were red and flushed, and she couldn’t deny looking as shaken as she felt.

Growing up on the streets of Essex, Darren was no stranger to shady places and even shadier individuals. Sometimes Knockturn Alley felt like home for the eldest Hadditch boy. He spent more and more time there now that he was graduated and he had learned to navigate the winding street quite well. Most of the work he did these days had some connection to Knockturn Alley. Whether it was collecting money on a stolen piece of merchandise or betting on illegal activities in some dark, smoky basement, Darren considered himself a local in the area. He didn't live too far from here and he was always one aparation away. Plus there was the Bloody Muggle, one of his favorite bars, just right down the street. Today he was here for business but for Darren business usually turned into pleasure as the night got closer. Darren spent five minutes inside a shop that technically didn't sell anything, but seemed to buy quite a bit, selling a few things he had recently acquired and then headed back out to the street.

He pulled the case of cigarettes out of his pocket and then the lighter. The wind blew his hair around and the plaid shirt that he had unbuttoned over top of a white undershirt. Before he even bothered trying to light a smoke in the wind Darren ducked into a small alley and took cover. After successfully lighting his cigarette he went back out to the sidewalk and headed down the street for the Bloody Muggle. He hadn't been walking more than a minute before he heard someone yelling out his name. His first instinct was to run, did the wizard he just sold the pieces to realize he over paid? Then he realized it was a female speaking and his out look changed entirely. If she was a female, and she was in Knockturn Alley, then she was most likely someone Darren would want to talk to. Sure some of the girls he hooked up with in the past could get a little crazy... some even violent... but that never stopped Darren before. He turned around and watched a younger girl run up to him. She was not what he had been hoping for. She was cute, but she had to be younger, he would know if she was in his year.

"Do I know you?" He asked with one thick eyebrow raised. He looked at her fully and tried to place her name. He thought he remembered her, but he couldn't figure out her name. She seemed frazzled and he wondered why. More importantly he wondered why she would allow herself to look that vulnerable in a place like this? Was she crazy or just lost? He waited for her to answer and continued to smoke his cigarette. If he knew her then the conversation might last a little bit longer, he realized she was a Slytherin and he had spoken to her before. Not much, but enough that he remembered her. She was clever and he found her amusing when he was in school. She was outspoken and more importantly, she was well spoken. Even though he remembered who she was he still waited for her to reply. He found in situations like these it was best to pretend he didn't know who she was, it'd make her work harder to be remembered in the future.