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THEforests are dark, thinks the tired girl upon first inspection, looking out over the Forbidden Forest. Her legs, goosebump covered from the cold air, hang carelessly off of the Astronomy Tower balcony. Aurora holds a cigarette between her shaking fingers. The trees are sad, and all the butterflies have broken wings, she thinks as a lone butterfly lands on her shoulder in a flutter of dull, soundless, colour. That poor butterfly.
Had she not been clutching her cigarette as if it was her lifeline, perhaps she would have considered embracing it. Letting it perch on her finger, quiet. But tonight, the ebony haired girl is embracing her own broken wings. Comforting herself in a blanket of smoke. The fantasy world dreamt about in Alice in Wonderland? Forgotten.
Aurora inhales, the smoke doesn't burn her throat. Then exhales, reluctantly. She wouldn't have minded holding the toxicity a little longer. A cloud of grey covers her pretty face. Her swollen, mascara stained, sweet honey eyes, blink dazed to look up at the star covered sky. A sky which she holds a bitter distaste towards. Because her family have even succeeded in making the stars ugly.
Aurora Nova Black can name each and every star and constellation if she really wanted to - Sirius, Orion, Iola, Alphard, Regulus, Andromeda, Cressida... Astronomy has always fascinated Aurora, though she assumes it's because of the historic curse her name carries.
See, the fourteen year old girl is named after a star - multiple stars, actually, a constellation.
Aurora, a reference to the Aurora Borealis. That being the Northern Lights, or the Greek North Wind. Aurora, a beautiful dance of colour in the peaceful night sky.
Nova, an inherited name. A name which, like many before her in the House of Black, comes from a star. Nova, Latin for new, and Native American for chasing butterflies. In Astronomy, however, Nova is a star which suddenly becomes thousands of times brighter, before gradually fading to it's original intensity.
