It's Complicated. ((Aurora))

[Randy Kerr]

“No, no not that one. Try on the gold one darling.” Elizabeth Kerr pushed the gold dress into her daughter’s arms as she motioned for the assistant to take away the sapphire blue dress Randy was holding up. Randy sighed and tried not to roll her eyes. She rarely spent time with her mother. And when she did it was usually to pick out clothes for a function or errands for a gala that Elizabeth was coordinating. And while Randy did love her parents, she never actually spent any real time with them. They weren’t the type that sent care packages to her during the school year and they weren’t the kind to write her weekly letters. Logan would always take his daughter to Diagon Alley before the start of the school year and that was about the only time Randy would see him until Christmas and then for a few weeks during the summer. Elizabeth only spent time with Randy when she was between men and then it was only ever for shopping. Well, Elizabeth did make a point to drag Randy to a fine restaurant with some of her friends every now and then. And Randy would always be ambushed with the sons of these friends and they would be told over and over how perfect they were for each other. It was safe to say that Randy’s parents weren’t interested in being in her life. They just wanted to make sure she was raised properly and that she married well. And above all they didn’t want Randy to end up being one thing: an embarrassment.

Randy zipped up the delicate zipper and then walked over of the dressing room of the Hogsmeade Boutique. Elizabeth loved fashion. She loved to pick out outfits for her daughter and make her look like a perfect little figurine. And she was good at it. Randy had never ever even been to one function where she didn’t look perfect. Not like it really mattered. Randy just wanted to pull on a pair of jeans and her brown suede boots and call it an outfit. And if she did, she would still look perfect, but Elizabeth didn’t see it that way. Randy liked fashion much more when it was away from her mother. She liked it when she could care less and still have fun with her own style which was those boots and messy, yet cute hair. But, Elizabeth had to have everything perfect, including her daughter.

“Yes, it’s perfect.” Of course it was. Elizabeth finally settled on that gold dress for Randy and a black one for herself. Randy didn’t care what she wore and she would never tell her mother she didn’t like it. That would just start something. So Randy just smiled and uttered over and over again that it was perfect just like her mother wanted her to. “Okay darling.” Elizabeth said after buying the garment. She pushed it into Randy’s arms. “I don’t trust these people with it so here you go.” She said out loud. Randy sighed. “See you on Saturday darling.” She said while kissing boy of Randy’s cheeks. Randy nodded and smiled and the watched as her mother disapparated. “She is such a peach, huh?” Randy smiled to the attendant who nodded shyly and the darted off. Randy sighed and headed out of the boutique.

“Why you have to make things so complicated?” Randy sang a few bars of the song out loud. It was true. Why did her parents have to make life harder than it was? To them a dress wasn’t just a dress. It was the dress Randy’s future husband could see her in. And a party wasn’t just a party. It was a place where gossip was started, settled and where people were hurt and helped mentally. Why did it matter so much? It didn’t and that as what bothered Randy. Why could her parents just let it be and let life be fun and uncomplicated? They ruined that for Randy, but she wanted to get a part of it back. She had to. Randy stopped dead in her tracks and turned back around and headed for that boutique. “Miss Kerr.” The sales women cleared her throat. “Can I help you?” Randy could hear the door open and the little bell jingle. “Yes. I’m returning this dress.” The lady looked startled. “But..” Randy shook her head. “Please. I don’t want it.” “But your mother..” Randy sighed. “My mother cares more about that dress and parties than me. She’s pretty screwed up in the head. Her priorities have never been straight so just take it back.” The lady eyed Randy. “Please.” Randy said finally the lady nodded and proceeded to make the arrangements. Randy then turned around to find a fellow Hufflepuff standing behind her. She hadn’t thought anyone but that lady would hear what she said about her mother, but oh well. She couldn’t take it back. “Aurora. Hi.” Randy said simple while searching for more words to say, but not finding any.

[Aurora Chan]

Hogsmeade was lovely this time of year; with summer blossoming, the sun finally shining for more than one consecutive day, and the flowers grazing the sides of the pavements, it was probably Aurora's favourite time of year. Hogsmeade in particular became a bustling town filled with laughing people and clinking butterbeers. Aurora savoured the atmosphere for a moment as she stood outside The Three Broomsticks. She could see Madam Rosmerta through the glass of the doors, serving some of the school's teachers, and smiled slightly. It was the weekend, and even the professors were out and about in this weather at this time of day. Recognising many other familiar faces floating around her, Aurora decided to finish savouring the moment and move on. Letting her legs take her where they desired, Aurora wandered aimlessly down the busy streets of Hogsmeade, admiring the boutiques in silence. It was rare Aurora spent so much time alone in such peace and quiet, but things had changed recently; Ari was isolating herself more and more - but not in the sense she was withdrawing into herself; rather, she was pulling away from Aurora and Harmony, and... being drawn into something... perhaps someone else. Aurora didn't know, but it was definitely confusing and frustrating at times when she wanted her best friend back, to have someone she could talk to. And she wanted Ari to talk to her too, which seemed to have ceased happening. Aurora had been feeling rather alone as of late. Harmony, too, had began to spent less time with her and her sister. Whether this had anything to do with her and Ari's recent relationship, Aurora didn't know, but again, she felt like her family was disappearing around her. Only Leo remained her constant. Right now, the Gryffindor brat (nah, she loved him really) was with friends, probably in the Weasley twins' shop.

Smiling sardonically to herself, Aurora tried not to think too much on her family problems; it just brought on a headache, which she rarely got. Aurora had never been a headache person. She'd gotten used to the frequent lonely periods now anyway... her day was filled with them, and she'd gotten into the habit of wiling her time away with books, music, going on walks... things she'd done before things had begun to change. In principal, nothing had technically altered; in theory, Aurora knew it had. She consoled herself with the fact that she actually preferred her own company nowadays (not that she would've refused Ari's though), and she hoped that Ari would eventually tell her what was going on. Maybe nothing was going on. Maybe - maybe Ari just wanted even more time alone than usual, and Aurora was reading too much into it, as usual. Whatever the case, she was resigned to spending time alone, and Aurora had pretty quickly gotten used to it. No one around her meant no need for pretences, no need for false smiles and fake politeness. She didn't have to hide her true thoughts, mask her real intentions, lie. Aurora hated lying, but she did it often. She did it enough to be labelled a liar, a very capable liar. However, Aurora did not lie to spite and manipulate people; she did it to keep peace and ensure everyone was happy. Sometimes, Aurora forgot that she also had to think about herself - she had to make herself happy. Only recently had she begun to realise she had been letting people walk all over her all her life. And yeah - she was really sick of it.

Aurora was Aurora. She wasn't the person people thought she was. She was different. She was unique. She wasn't just sweet and bubbly; she was depressing and quiet too. Aurora was everything people thought she was - and everything people thought she wasn't. In a way, she wished she could reinvent a new version of herself, but that was impossible. She had established herself as this person in this society, and change would not be taken to well. Aurora knew that all too well. That was humans for you. Gritting her teeth in bitterness, Aurora crossed the street and headed towards an expensive-looking boutique that had just caught her eye. There was a rather nice dress on a model in the windowsill. The model was moving it's magicked face, its eyes boring into each passerby, trying to make people want to buy it. Aurora reached the window and looked upon the clothing; the dress was informal, made of floaty material and crimson red and white in colour. It was very pretty, perfect for a tea party or something, because it wasn't too over the top. Aurora could wear it on a nice day out like today. Only, she didn't enjoy dressing herself up. She didn't have the motivation to make such an effort on herself. Smiling at the attire, she wondered how much it cost, and since she had nothing better to do, and hoping to waste time, and out of pure curiosity, Aurora entered the shop.

Aurora steered herself to the section where that particular dress was, and found it in other colours, which she selected through the magic system of being able to view every item of clothing in every colour imaginable. She began switching the shades, when the creaking of the door signalled someone walking in or out. Aurora's eyes darted upwards, only to land on the familiar face of Randy Kerr, a fellow sixth year Hufflepuff. Surprised, then realising she shouldn't be, Aurora looked down again. In her usual moods she would've been very talkative and bubbly, but she wasn't exactly feeling hyper right now, and she'd rarely talked to Randy in comparison to lots of her other friends. The reason she wasn't so surprised at seeing her was because Randy was quite the wealthy kid; her parents had some money, Aurora had heard from other people. She hadn't always believed them, but seeing Randy in here confirmed her socialite status. Not that Aurora based her judgement of her classmate on her wealth - not ever did she judge people on such a pointless scale. She didn't mind Randy at all, really. Aurora continued to pretend she hadn't seen Randy as the Hufflepuff went up to the counter. Aurora read the price tag on the dress. "Whoa," Aurora thought with widening eyes, "That's expensive!" Chuckling quietly to herself at just how designer this place was, Aurora moved away, ready to leave, when she caught the tail end of Randy's conversation with the lady at the counter. Obviously Randy was known here, and her mother was held some influence.

Blinking, Aurora realised she shouldn't have eavesdropped, and began to leave again, only for Randy to turn around and greet her. Maneouvring herself round to completely face her classmate, Aurora tried a friendly smile. "Hi Randy," she managed to say in her usual cheerful tones, before silence enveloped them, and Aurora realised she'd have to call upon her usual bubbly people skills to get the conversation to become even a less bit awkward. "Oh, er, you... here on a day out by yourself?" Aurora asked somewhat nervously. "I didn't expect to see you here. I'm not here to buy clothes though; everything's too expensive," she laughed and glanced at the door. She motioned to it after a moment. "You leaving now?" she asked as she made towards it.

[Randy Kerr]

Some decisions people make will always be in the moment. They won’t be thought out or planned but sometimes they turn out to be the best decisions that person has ever made. And sometimes, the worst. And the worst part of it all was you would never know right away if the decision you made was good or bad. Now, Randy kept telling herself over and over that it was a stupid dress and it was, but she wasn’t thinking about just that. She was thinking about everything. About how her parents controlled her life but paid little attention to their blond-haired daughter. About how they would probably end up forcing Randy into a marriage and she would just say okay. So in the heat of the moment she decided that it wasn’t okay. Being controlled wasn’t okay. So yea she was acting a bit silly and she knew it but she didn’t care. She was tired of being told what to do and how to live her life. She was almost seventeen! Randy was tired of trying so hard to be perfect in front of them but trying so hard not to be when they weren’t around. Why couldn’t she just be herself to their faces? True, they were a divorced couple but they were united in their plans for Randy. They always had been. Randy shook her head. She wished that she could walk away from it all but it wasn’t that simple. And it never would be.

The saleslady took back the dress and handed Randy a receipt. “I wish you would consider..” She said looking to the floor. Randy shook her head. “Have a nice day.” Randy said when she turned around to discover Aurora Chan. She of course was one of Randy’s dormmates and while they weren’t very close, Randy still liked he girl. She wasn’t like Missy or some of the others that Randy associated with. Aurora was nice and Randy had never heard her talk about people the way Missy did, but Randy could be wrong about that. She didn’t know. She nodded at Aurora’s comment. “Yea well just returning some stuff. A dress actually.” Aurora probably caught Randy’s entire confession, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t the time of stuff that would blow people away. The ones who did know about Randy’s family knew that the Kerr’s had been divorced for years and that Randy had a half-brother whom she avoided at school. So what she just said wasn’t too shocking maybe for Aurora but not in general. Randy looked to her suede boots and forced herself not to scuff them as usual. For once she wanted to be calm and kill the silly habit. Oh well. She scuff them softly against the floor.

“I was with my mother actually.” She heard the saleslady mumble. Randy turned around, glanced at her and then turned back to Aurora. She hadn’t heard what she had said but it was probably true. “But she’s gone and the world is spinning back on its axis.” She chuckled lightly at that. Of course Aurora would really understand. Nope, only someone that had met Elizabeth Kerr would. She was barely tolerable. She didn’t trust anyone. Not Randy and certainly not her ex-husband. She judged people for the silliest things and she always voiced her opinion. Okay, so maybe Randy had inherited some of these qualities, but not all of her and especially to no the judging for silly things one. Randy tried her best not to judge just because she didn’t want to be like her mother. Randy found that some of her life choices were based on the fact that she didn’t want to be like her parents but whatever. She was a better person because of it or at least she thought so. Randy would always see the worst in her parents even if she did love them. She would never see the good stuff, only the bad.

Randy nodded at Aurora’s next statements. She chuckled lightly. “Yea this isn’t exactly my store, it’s my mothers. My store is any place that sells brown leather jackets and boots. She glanced around and chuckled again. “And that is defiantly not this place.” She sighed. “Yea it is a bit pricy.” Randy glanced out the window of the shop. She felt the common need in herself to be anywhere but there. She wanted to be as far away from her mother’s world as possible. “Hey have you ever been thrift store shopping? I know this great place that’s cheap and has awesome stuff.” She said eyeing Aurora. Randy had bought some of her favorite skirts and jackets there. Her clothes were usually a mix of thrift shop and designer stuff. Like she would find a thrift skirt and black turtle neck and pair it with designer boots and a Chanel bag. She liked her clothes best that way, but she would only wear that outfit when she wasn’t around Elizabeth. She sighed. She wished that she didn’t have to do that. Randy looked back to Aurora. “So, wanna go?”

[Aurora Chan]

Aurora nodded and smiled automatically. She hated herself for it, but this was her, and she found she couldn't change. "The dresses in here are nice," she commented, knowing that 'nice' was a very bland word, but not able to summon up anything more creative. Aurora felt completely drained of her usual creativity, as though her inspiration had left her body entirely. She gave a short laugh along with Randy when she mentioned her mother; Aurora assumed Mrs Kerr was a domineering kind of lady, and she hoped she wouldn't have the pleasure of meeting her. Parents intimidated her really, even though Aurora, outwardly, seemed to get on ever so well with them. Of all her friends, she was the one who made an effort to speak to Mums and Dads, say a quick hello in greeting and ask after their families. It was a politeness instilled in Aurora from a young age, and she wasn't shy with acquaintances, so it came easy to her. However, at the same time Aurora disliked how at ease she was, faking her own feelings. The smiles that rested along her jaw were entirely false, created only for the moment to project a visual view of cheerfulness and pleasantries. It was always perfectly executed; every parent spoke of Aurora Chan highly, always commented that she was the 'model daughter' they all wished they'd had. It didn't make Aurora smile though; it merely made her flinch in pain.

Aurora nodded again along with Randy and found the power of conversation coming back to her. It was natural, and yet she felt so alien doing what she did. "A mother's and daughter's tastes can be very different," Aurora said, smiling fluidly. She understood the phrase - after all, she and her mum were very different people when it came to clothes. It was the generation gap, the age gap, and it was expected. Aurora stated this aloud. "It's the age difference. We're not going to wear the same clothes as are mums, are we?" Aurora chuckled at the thought, though wasn't really amused by her humourless comment. "Pricey's the word," she nodded once more, wondering if she looked like a nodding toy from all the moving of her head in the last few minutes. "I can't afford clothes like these. Our family's not exactly rich, but we're well off enough. Mostly it's because I'm not into clothes and shopping and stuff," Aurora admitted with a wry smile, then realising that was probably one of Randy's favourite hobbies; the other Hufflepuff had a very stylish style of fashion, even Aurora could see that. Randy had always been a very pretty girl - not that she envied her. Aurora didn't envy physical beauty, but she did admire it. Those who had been blessed with it should be grateful and not abuse their good luck, but appearances, to her, didn't mean anything at all.

"Though, since I am a girl, I do enjoy going out now and again," Aurora quickly added to correct herself. "Just not for too long. I find my legs drop off after three hours or so." She laughed softly, before shaking her head for the first time in the conversation. "No, I haven't. Like I said, I don't tend to keep up with boutiques and shops and designers." Aurora restrained the desire to say "because it's a waste of my time" and smothered it with an embarrassed smile. "I just don't have the time. I'm always engrossed in my music or writing or something like that. Busy busy, that's me." Grinning, and thoroughly annoyed at herself for changing her comment and lying through her teeth, Aurora's expression faltered for a moment at Randy's invitation. She didn't expect her fellow classmate to ask her to accompany her, and she felt flattered that she would be asked, seeing as she wasn't part of Randy's 'popular' crowd, but she was also a little bothered by having to keep up appearances, which Aurora was sick of doing. However, the necessity to please people and not to turn them down continued to overrun Aurora's other tendencies, and she immediately smiled in enthusiasm. "Sure, I'd love to. You can show me the art of shopping. Plus, I love a good bargain."

Aurora liked Randy anyway. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy her classmate's company. This was a good opportunity to get to know her better - that and she could spend some money on nice clothes for a good price, which Aurora knew she needed anyway. Randy seemed to be an expert on such issues, so she could have her very own shopping helper and fashion expert. Resigning herself for the shopping trip, Aurora grabbed the door handle and opened it, signalling Randy to go through before her. Stepping after the blonde, Aurora fell in step beside her, with Randy leading the way. Finally, after a short silence, Aurora found herself making conversation again, never one to enjoy silence in the presence of others. "So, are you going anywhere this summer, Randy?" Aurora asked out of curiosity and politeness, looking at the other girl in question. "I think I'm going to New Zealand," she continued talkatively, her walking pace unhurried. "We've never been, but the flight's going to be a nightmare. It's over twenty-four hours if we take the plane. I think my parents are trying to figure an easier route out. Perhaps take a few portkeys which'll quicken the journey. I don't know how muggles can take it. I'm not good on aeroplanes."