The bell rang as a very groggy preteen sat up in her four poster bed. Dull light seeped in from the "window" across the room. It was like the foggy world outside reflected how she felt at the moment.
She shifted herself so that she was sitting Indian style and pulled her hair up into a messy bun with the tattered rubber band that normally resided on her wrist. It usually wasn't her style to miss class because she had overslept, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. She stretched her arms as she yawned, then let them flop to the bed.
It was another day of lies, pretence and acting.
Getting up from her bed, she headed for the bathroom to ready herself for the day. It was routine for her now to put on the wig. First, the cap that covered her raven locks, then she pulled out her wand to de-frizz the ice blonde curls that perched on top of Circe's head. (Circe was the name of the bust that she used to hold the wig in its off hours.) After grooming the wig, it was then arranged on her own head, she pulled at it until it was perfect. Then she took an indigo ribbon and tied it back into a loose half pony- tail.
No one could tell that it was a wig, and no one besides the three other girls in her dorm new she wore it. They would never tell her secret either, why? Because they were asked--, no told…well, commanded by her cousin not to.
As she was pulling on her robe over her uniform she began to wonder if anyone noticed that she wasn't in potions. Then she snorted at the thought, of course someone would know she was not in class. She was the "sister" of the boy that commanded their social group.
Her "brother" would defiantly notice first. Yup, knowing him, he'd be waiting for her to show up, and then corner her and demand an explanation.
She was 12 this year, 12-years-old, and her uncle still had her cousin following her around. The gesture would have been nice if her uncle had done it for her, but she learned early that Aurora-Rose did not truly exist in her uncle's world. That was because Aurora-Rose looked too much like her mother and that was who her uncle saw her as, her mother, his baby sister, Circe.
Her mother died before she could remember her face; apparently she had Rose out of wedlock and with a man that her uncle never mentioned in civilized conversation. When her mom told her brother that she was pregnant, he loathed everything about the unborn child. He did not even try to hide his distaste. Circe left her brother's family, she did not love the man that was the father, but she would not let that stop her from loving her child.
But, child birth, even in the magical world is not always easy. Circe developed an aneurism from the stress of that had built up during labor; she passed before she could hold her daughter.
The baby was to be given to the next of kin, who was going to be her brother, but he refused to even acknowledge that the baby existed. So, the child was handed over to the father's mother, who lived by herself. Aurora-Rose lived with her grandmother until she was seven years old.
Her grandmother passed away at St. Mungo's. The little girl sat for hours as the healers tried to find someone to take her. They finally contacted her uncle, but he still hated the child. The healers and his wife finally persuaded him just to take her in for the night, and then she could be turned over to the foster system the next day.
The whole family came from their manor to meet the girl.
Rose's first memory with them.
Rose was sitting on a wooded bench outside her grandmother's room. She had on a fancy white dress with a blue ribbon tied around her middle, and her long black hair was held back with a silver clip in the shape of a serpent. She felt sad, her grandmother had died and now she had to go live with her scary uncle her grandmother told her about. She never met him before, but she could picture a very scary man with red eyes coming and taking her away.
A family of very good looking people passed right by her in a rush, the father was in front and he looked very angry, the mother was just behind him and she looked annoyed, the son looked right at Rose. She smiled at him as they turned the corner down the hall that lead to the receptionist, the boy did not return the smile. They disappeared down the hall. Rose began to fiddle with her embroidered handkerchief that she always kept with her. She traced the letters that were elegantly sewn onto the soft cotton.
"She is right outside the door, Mr. Malfoy." Rose looked up as a healer lead the good looking family back.
The healer made eye contact with Rose and gave her a warm smile.
"This is Aurora-Rose, Mr. Malfoy." The healer held out his hand to the small girl. Rose quickly stood to her feet. They were the scary people? She gave a small curtsey and kept her eyes on the floor. SHe stared at her uncle's shoes, afraid to look him in the face.
"Look at me child!" Her uncle's voice was sharp, it made Rose flinch.
Slowly she raised her head to meet his stormy eyes. At first they were full of loathing fury but then, the emotion in his face drained and he stood in shock. His wife had the same reaction, but she covered her mouth with one hand.
What is making them act that way? Thought Rose.
Her aunt was the first to recover, "She looks like her, exactly like her!" She whispered
"Except her hair color, if it was blonde instead of black I swear, she would be Circe!"
Her Uncle just stared at Rose, as if she was a ghost. Rose looked away from her uncle's shock and to her Aunt.
"Do I look like my mother?" Rose asked. She had never seen her mother; her grandmother did not keep pictures of anything, except some really angry family portraits that hung on the walls.
"Eye color, face, even the way she holds herself!!" her Aunt ignored her question, amazed at the girl. The boy stared at her but not like his parents, he looked mad. Rose met his eyes and he glared at her. Shocked at the sudden hate, she quickly turned her attention back to her Uncle.
He recovered, and gripped his cane. He cleared his throat; this seemed to be an important signal for the whole family because they all seemed to be alert and focused on him immediately. Rose's uncle turned and addressed the healer.
"We will be taking her now." He said
The healer nodded.
"We contacted the foster system, they expect her early tomorrow."
Her uncle frowned, "That won't be necessary."
Rose blinked, what?
Then with a swish of his cloak he turned and began to leave. His wife and son followed without another word to the healer. Rose stared after them in wonder, Am I supposed to follow? She looked to the healer; he grinned at her and knelt down to her level. He was very kind to her from the moment she arrived at the hospital with her grandmother. He had a laughing smile, brown curly hair, and he had two different color eyes. One was light blue and the other was brown. Rose liked them a lot. He had laughed when she said that she wished she had his eyes.
He put his big hand on the top of her head.
"Go now, Rose. They want to keep you." He said.
Rose smiled up at the healer who gave her a new name. "Thank You."
Then, she ran to catch up with her new family, but before she turned the corner, she spun around and waved to the healer, she gave him her best smile. He grinned and waved good-bye.
Rose checked her appearance in the mirror; she looked so much like her mom that it scared people. Mostly it was the people who knew the real Circe, they would comment on the similarities, some of her uncle's friends even called her "Little Circe." She had scared Professor Snape the most, well she got the best reaction from him, he spat out his wine when her name was called for sorting.
She twirled to check the side view. Then she curtsied to herself and gave a life-less "pure blood" smile to the mirror.
The mirror replied in a dry tone, "Your look lovely, Circe."
Rose rolled her eyes; the mirror had been her mother's when she was in school.
"My name is Aurora-Rose."
"What-ever." The mirror said, yawning.
"Fine, you are just a stupid mirror, who cannot get your owner's name right," Rose fumed "You are losing it."
She had began to get very annoyed about being mistaken for Circe, ever since she turned 8 and they began to make her wear the stupid wig.
"I'm losing it? You are the one who is arguing with a mirror." The mirror replied.
Disgusted with what she just did she screwed up her eyes and quickly turned from the full mirror and crossed the dorm. With a flick of her wand her bag soared from her bed post.