Lorin couldn’t believe the summer seemed to go back so quickly, and that she had so little to show for it. It was nearly time to return to school. Her mother and father had insisted that she do her back-to-school shopping a little early this year, in hopes of avoiding the rush. Unfortunately, Lorin didn’t really want to think about what it would be like to go back. She’d been avoiding the thoughts for weeks now. Her best friend, Rose, would not be returning for the next year, and neither would her crush. She wasn’t the kind of girl who would easily admit to being lonely, but she knew that she would feel very alone as she walked Hogwarts’ halls this year.
Her only hope was to avoid thinking of it for as long as she could, and enjoy the few short weeks she had left. The ministry ball, coming up in a few short days, was weighing heavily on her mind. She had fully intended to endure Conall Regan’s presence at the event, and had specifically asked him to join her as soon as she knew that she would have to go. He was easy enough to deal with, and she felt confident in his presence no matter what. He was a safe choice, indeed. She had thought, briefly, about the consequences of asking someone else (Two Wolfram’s name was high on the list of potential suitors), but had decided that it would be better to bring someone she wouldn’t have to impress. Like a favorite old toy, Regan was always there for her when she wanted him to be. She had fully intended on taking him... until she got a better offer.
Seth Stanton’s name was nowhere to be found on Lorin’s list of potential suitors. It had taken the girl nearly a month to figure out how to invite him over to hang out with her for a few hours, the idea of asking him to escort her anywhere was intolerable. She had not even considered it. That was why, when he’d asked her to join
him there, she was nearly speechless. She had accepted, and allowed herself to feel excited about it for several hours. Then, the panic kicked in.
She should not have been surprised, really. It wasn’t as though this was the first event they had attended together. She had been very forward when she extended an invitation for the Victory ball to him, and that night had been a great success, minus her one gigantic oversight. Still, things had changed since then. Lorin’s confidence had been tried and tested. Lorin had to deal with things and feelings she didn’t think she could have. When she had started to reconnect with him, her old games were over. She let the tiniest corner of her icy heart melt for him, and her once shallow liking of him grew roots into parts of her she wished to hide. She was no-longer able to chase him with reckless abandon. Every move was coldly calculated and carefully planned. That was how things had to be. To think that he had asked her to escort him to an event like this meant he wanted to be around her... but why would he?
She struggled to rationalize this for days, while simultaneously struggling to figure out how she was going to make it through the night. It had been difficult for her to meet up with him for a casual, friendly encounter. Even if she was sure that this was just an outing as friends... or acquaintances... or—was there something less than acquaintances that she could be?—
something, she would still worry about how she looked, or how she was acted, or if he was bored or interested or having fun. There were more variables to this than she remembered from the Victory ball. She had only one thing on her mind that night and she had gotten it. For this, she worried about many things.
She supposed that, in many ways, her trip to Diagon Alley was a blessing. It offered some small relief from her stress about the upcoming event. It allowed her to put things back into perspective. At the end of it all, the ball was one single night. It would come when it was time, and it would be over before she worried about it. Either Seth would like her or he wouldn’t. She didn’t have high expectations for it, and she would have the perfect excuse to forget about the entire night when school started up in a few weeks, anyway.
Lorin was happy, though, that Theoren was the one who accompanied her to pick up her supplies. It felt rare that she got to spend time with him anymore, since he worked so much, and she was home so little. She had to savor the time that she got. Even so, it was exciting to be
out, and she knew that she could get away with a good deal
more from Theoren than she could with either of her parents. He might scold her for running off, but he would probably not tell on her. He hadn’t ratted her out since they were children. Sometimes, she had even convinced him to take the fall for her. She had enjoyed his company for the first few stores, but then started to feel restless. It wasn’t that she didn’t like being around him, quite the contrary, but it was hard to not make a game out of things. This was especially true when it was so easy to pull Theoren into something without his knowledge. She gave him the slip, just around Flourish and Blotts, by telling him she needed to use the restroom and would be back soon. She slipped out of the front of the store undetected.
She wanted to make him a little nervous and a little scared. That was part of the fun for her, to cause a panic. She couldn’t be gone for too long, or he would get sulky and fussy and wouldn’t be able to laugh it off. Maybe a half hour, forty-five minutes would be alright. Much more than an hour would be pushing it. After that, he would either completely lose himself to worry, or resign himself to the fact that she was playing a cruel trick. Neither of those were particularly fun for her. She liked making him anxious, nervous, and jumpy. She didn’t like to actually hurt him. He was a delicate man, after-all, and she depended on him for so much. It was absolutely vital that she allow him to remain resilient. He needed to be able to endure infinitely more abuse.
Eventually, she wound up inside the second hand shop, and found herself picking through a rather large selection of
rings. Lorin adored rings, and often
wore several at once. The collection that day was looking wonderful, and she frowned as she thought. Had she not played this prank on her brother, she thought she might have been able to convince him to spend a portion of their clothes budget on one or two of these. Instead, she had to rifle through her small allowance to see how many, if any, of them she could buy. She adored second-hand shopping. She was lucky enough to be able to afford new robes for the school year, but she always found a bargain at the second-hand shop. Some of these rings appeared to be antiques, and that excited her. She could only imagine the history attached to the old metal and gemstones.
Did any of them look like something she could wear to the ball? Maybe she should try to tone it down with the accessories and let her dress do the talking. She wasn’t sure if any of these would fit properly with her dress, but she knew she had to have
something she could wear them with...
((Theoren’s presence approved by Cameron!))
