Aurora liked to think of her life as one that, unlike seemingly everybody else nowadays, she did not want to re-live.
Sometimes, when she's lying awake at night, she likes to think that the fates, or God or whoever it was that planned out peoples li...
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"The usual?" Mr Merryworth asked, looking down at Aurora over the top of his glasses.
"Yeah-" Aurora said, "Oh, and a bottle of Vodka, if you please..."
"Hmmm," The elder man said, placing a couple of packets of cigarettes on the counter, "You alright, Kid? Haven't seen you since last year-" He rubbed his greasy hands over the top of his balding head, his piggy eyes scanning the alcohol kept in the cabinet behind the desk.
"Just fine, thanks - how much?"
"Ten fifty, though you can buy a magazine for an extra quid-" Mr Merryworth pulled out a box of magazines that looked like they had been plucked straight out of the sixties, "Very special, these are - from 1967...I think? Might be '77, me memories fading..."
"No thanks," She slapped a ten pound note onto the counter, grabbing her stuff and leaving as quickly as she could. It was the full moon tonight, and Aurora was really fucking nervous; not only were her bones shifting, but she also had that nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. The one that made your heart feel heavy and your hands sweaty.
James Potter was meant to be picking her up at eight - it was decided that she was going to be transforming with Remus Lupin over the Summer, in a forest behind his house; she hadn't been too keen on the location, but had agreed straight away when Poppy told her that Sirius was travelling, and so wasn't going to be there. That in itself lifted a heavy weight off of her shoulders - the thought of meeting her father for the first time since he abandoned her was so daunting that it's mere presence made her nauseous. She shuddered, picking up her pace and turning into the alleyway that lead back to the orphanage.
This Summer had been strange; she wasn't having the time of her life, as she usually did, but was instead feeling very tense and jumpy. She hadn't been to the corner shop, or to the Charity place down the road - instead, she had taken the Knight Bus down to where her old orphanage was, and had camped out in her field of Sunflowers. This time, she did not turn to the Sirius star for reassurance, but instead conversed ideally with Regulus, or gossiped with Cassiopeia. She was done with hoping for something so stupid and pointless.
Echo hadn't been much help ever; they taunted her all day, whispering softly directly into her ear, and tormented her mind all night. They would play with her memories, replaying the horrible ones for their own pleasure - it was like a constant reminder of how utterly shit her life had been so far.
She shouldered open the crooked door to the Orphanage, hurrying up the stairs (skipping the broken step) and climbing halfheartedly into the attic. The Attic was probably the cleanest room in the dull little Terrace Block - which was ironic as it was never cleaned and never visited by anybody besides Aurora. Aurora supposed that was part of the reason for it being so clean; there was no fifteen year old's hooking up or messy eleven year old visualizations painted onto the walls - just the intoxicating smell of smoke, and in rare cases, weed.
