Whisper Courage

When Silence Falls

The Three Broomsticks looked exactly the way it had on Aurora's last trip to Hogsmeade during her last year at Hogwarts. The wooden interior, the workers milling about, wiping down tables and pushing in chairs. Aurora walked slowly, letting her eyes roam the room. Rosmerta was nowhere to be found.

"Can I help you, miss?" A young man asked, smiling at her from beneath his ragged hat. He wiped his hands on his apron.

"Yes; I'll just have a butterbeer, please," she said, moving to sit at the bar. Had it really been years now since she had stood here secretly with Remus, holding her breath as he asked her to meet him somewhere alone, together? She let her eyes fall upon her bare ring finger, wishing that she could wear the ring proudly as others could. It was the same bitter thinking that she'd had while at school. Why could they never be together publicly, proudly? Why must they forever hide behind this mask of fear and shame?

The butterbeer was warm as it graced her senses, giving her a moment to think on something neutral for once. The moment of little thought passed her by as Rosmerta emerged from the back room. She seemed not to notice Aurora at first as she made small talk with one of her employees. Aurora could feel the hairs on the back of her neck tingling with an anxious apprehension. What if Rosmerta refused her? After all, she had given Aurora up.

Rosmerta laughed at something the worker said, turning back to face the bar where she noticed Aurora for the first time. The smile left her face, replaced by an unreadable expression. Aurora found herself standing, meeting the eyes of the woman she had waited so long to find. Rather than words, an understanding of some sort passed between the two women. Aurora opened her mouth to speak, but before she could make any utterance of sound, Rosmerta embraced her. Aurora, never being one for such contact, found herself hugging back, all the unspoken words between them making their way into the embrace. Finally, Rosmerta pulled back, placing her hands on Aurora's face.

"I always dreamed of the day that you would find me," Rosmerta said, a tear escaping her blue eyes. Blue eyes, like Aurora's. 

"I know you must have so many questions. I have so many questions. Oh, where to begin?" Rosmerta asked now, shaking her head. Aurora could not find her voice.

"Close the pub," Rosmerta commanded to her employees, "my daughter has come home."

~

"Tell me; tell me about your life," Rosmerta prompted, setting down two glasses and a bottle of her oak matured mead. Aurora took a deep breath. She could hardly believe that this was happening.

"I don't know...well...I'm twenty-one. I'll be twenty-two next month," Aurora started.

"November twenty-first," Rosmerta said. Aurora felt a strange sense of joy filling her.

"Yes. I work at the ministry as a hit witch," Aurora said now. Rosmerta poured them each a glass of the mead.

"Are you still with Lupin?" Rosmerta asked. Aurora's eyes grew wide.

"How did you-?" She began to ask, but Rosmerta merely laughed. 

"You don't think I knew about the two of you, even when you were still in school?" Rosmerta smirked. Aurora couldn't help but smile. Her parents- no, they were not her parents- had rejected her for being with Remus, and she had feared that Rosmerta might do the same.

"Yes, I live with him. We-we're engaged," Aurora confided. Rosmerta smiled.

"Congratulations, my dear. When is the wedding?"

"We're not sure yet; it would have to be off the books of course."

"Unfortunately, yes. I knew him when he was at Hogwarts, you know," Rosmerta smiled, reminiscing for a moment on some old memory.