Guess Who Doesn't Want to be Here

[August Echelon-Arnost]

August had been incredibly closed off, socially, for months before the quarantine.

It made sense, of course. His life had been incredibly hectic in the months leading up to Lysander's birth, afterwards he had been too nervous to leave the house, and then he had been deeply unhappy for ages.

Now he was back in Hogsmeade, and significantly less miserable, and the Lupins were living next to him. He had a 'ward,' he and his entire family had made it through the plague intact, and he knew that it was probably not acceptable to spend his time holed up in his house anymore. Hell, it hadn't even been acceptable before.

So here he was, at the social, with a flute of champagne in hand and a half-bored expression on his face. He was not good at feigning joy, and gave a long-suffering sigh as he took a small sip of his champagne.

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

Celebrating the recovery of her brush with the Laughing Plague was all well, so Aurelia supposed it made sense to throw a party for the entire town. She was laughing with some of her former Hogwarts friends and mingled around (chaperone trailing behind her, of course) from friend group to some of her father's friends as well. Though Aurelia was energetic and lively by reputation, she was and introvert, and being around crowds for extended periods of time exhausted her easily.

Excusing herself to get a refreshment, Aurelia and chaeprone left to get a flute of champagne that Aurelia had been eyeing. Of course it wasn't proper to get more than two glasses (two might even be pushing it, though it varied from person to person), so Aurelia was saving her glass. Taking it by the stem and sipping, Aurelia sighed, glad to be away momentarily from the hubub. To her left though, she heard quite a different sigh, and looked towards the sound. An amused grin played about her lips as she raised an eyebrow, "Not enjoying the festivities as much, Mr Echelon-Arnost?" she inquired.

  

[August Echelon-Arnost]

August raised his eyebrows in surprise but recognized the girl almost immediately as one Miss Aurelia Herondale. She was a member of a good family - not one related to his own, mercifully - and their families moved in similar enough circles for August to know most of them by face, even if he was not especially familiar with any of them.

He chuckled and smiled thinly. "You've caught me," August said the corners of his eyes crinkling up with amusement, "Because you asked - not particularly, no. Isn't it terrible of me?" The social felt almost deceptively good-spirited, especially compared to the misery that seemed to have permeated Hogsmeade in the time he had been gone.

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

This time Aurelia really laughed heartily, and she shook her head. "No, sir," she replied, sipping her champagne. "In lieu of the circumstances in which our summer ended, I believe you're entitled to be less enthusiastic about the festivities." Looking around, Aurelia observed the people playing lawn tennis and croquet. She didn't dare participate in either, and that was for the safety of the participants, not her – someone would no doubt get hit in the head with a croquet stick or a tennis baton.

"Is there any particular reason for your not enjoying the festivities, Mr Echelon-Arnost?" the witch inquired, her head tilted up to look at him. "Or are you similar to my brothers in the fact that you would rather be playing Quidditch and with your friends than idly socialize and fraternize?"

  

[August Echelon-Arnost]

"Perhaps not Quidditch," August said, "That's more my youngest brother's style than my own - but you have the right idea, I think." He smiled. Miss Herondale, at least, seemed to be understanding of his current feelings - that was good, as things would have been dreadfully awkward if August had managed to offend her.

"I sometimes think that no one really knows what they're doing at these socials," August added.

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

Aurelia looked at her surroundings, as an amused smile played about her lips. Mr Echelon-Arnost had a point. Many, though socializing, were babbling away at the partner nearest to them to engage in the latest gossip. "I admit myself guilty of doing so," she said, smiling. "Though I certainly hope my conversation is more engaging than others." She knew very well that her conversation could be considered quite silly, but Aurelia was content with her position, and laughed at some of the memories she'd made as a silly teenager at Hogwarts socials.

"If not Quidditch," she said, tilting her head at him curiously. "than, Mr Echelon-Arnost, pray tell...what? Lawn tennis?" her eyes twinkled amusingly at him. "Or perhaps something slightly more stimulating, like croquet?"

  

[August Echelon-Arnost]

August chuckled, certain that if he had been much into sport, it likely would have been something as uninteresting as lawn tennis.

"Politics, mostly," he said, grinning, "Which has the unfortunate detractors of both being not a sport and making for terrible polite conversation. I might take up lawn tennis, now that you've mentioned it." At least he had friends like Thom and Leon, so he did know how to make it through a social without bringing up his favorite enlightenment philosophers or whatever new thought was going through the progressive circuit.

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

Realization dawned on Aurelia as she remembered MR Echelon-Arnost's involvement in the last election. "Of course," she said laughingly. "Politics, I should have remembered that!" The last election had proven to be quite exciting despite the death of Mr Potter (God rest his soul). "Though I must say, lawn tennis is quite a formidable opponent!" she joked, sipping on her champagne.

  

[August Echelon-Arnost]

August laughed. "I agree with you," he said, "I shall have to look into this - a hobby that may not even require the discussion of various philosophies!"

To say that August's activism was at times pretentious was probably a bit of an understatement. He liked to talk about enlightenment philosophers, all right?

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

For some reason Aurelia was feeling rather giggly, and Mr Echelon Arnost's indulging her in her teasing spurred on even more laughter. She put her glass down on a passing silver tray and picked up a glass of water, enjoying the freshness of the ice in it. "If you are lucky enough," she began, her eyes bright. "perhaps you may not even be obliged to plummet into the discussion of various philosophies at all! I've had many a lawn tennis game wherein my opponents were so immersed in their own devices that hardly a word was uttered!"

Raising an eyebrow sarcastically, Aurelia scoffed. "It was actually rather torturous. Some take that game way too seriously."

  

[August Echelon-Arnost]

August grinned at her story. "That sounds sort of terrifying," he admitted with an easy laugh. That level of competition was sort of unnerving - really, it was just a game of lawn tennis! Of course, August could not believe that people actually rioted over Quidditch, either, but that was neither here nor there.

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

Aurelia nodded. "It was if you are someone who doesn't like silences between company." she recalled. "Though they weren't actually completely silent – more like muttering their next moves to themselves. On multiple occasions, when I tried to strike up conversations, perhaps one response was given before they fell back into their routine of attempting to win the lawn tennis game."

She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes to Mr Echelon Arnost. "I take pleasure in saying that I won in the end." she grinned triumphantly.

  

[August Echelon-Arnost]

"Ha!" August said, amused by Miss Herondale's story, "I imagine that the expression on your opponent's face was very good, as well." If people were going to be that competitive about lawn tennis then they deserved to lose. Or at least it was funnier if they did.

  

[Aurelia Wallingford]

Aurelia grinned mischievously. "I admit I took a bit of pleasure in seeing their stunned expressions, however unladylike of me it might be to say that." she shrugged. "Really though, in playing against those fools, any proper person would take pleasure in such a feat."

She heard her name being said, and she turned to find her younger of older brothers approaching her. Clearly it was time to go meet some of Papa's business partners. "If you would excuse me, sir," she said, smiling. "I must go discuss the procedures of lawn tennis with some of my father's associates! It was a pleasure conversing with you, Mr Echelon-Arnost. Do let me know if you'd like to discuss the riveting ways of the game again." and with another beaming smile, she curtseyed goodbye to Mr Echelon-Arnost.