prompt eight: space
Aurora Sinistra
Aurora hates the nursing home: hates sitting at her ailing Muggle mother's bedside, hates putting on the mask that says It's all okay with a syrupy smile. But she's the only one Mum has left.
"Oh, Aurora," she says excitedly. "This new job will be wonderful. Professor!"
Her daughter nods. She never did have the sweet manner of her mother.
The elderly woman goes on. "You're going to study space, just like you've always wanted to."
Aurora stifles a chuckle. She finds it humorous that her mother calls it space, like it's a great big expanse of nothingness, when it was so much more.
"Just like I've always wanted, Mum," the newly titled Professor echoes.
It is well after nightfall when Aurora leaves. She gazes towards the Liverpool sky, tracing Orion, a sentimental favorite.
The stars seem to whisper secrets in her ear, a hushed love on a summer night.