It seemed as if Aurelia was put off by Fleur’s words. She couldn’t understand why. It was the same advice that she would’ve given her own children. Her own nieces and nephews. Family was the most important thing, during times of war or otherwise, and for Aurelia to not have kept up with her mother… offering the advice only felt like the proper thing to do. “Please – I am sure that she worries for you. I worry for my own children – and they’re here, in London.” Perhaps being vulnerable and offering even the slightest bit of her own perspective would help the young girl see where Fleur was coming from.
She frowned as Aurelia continued, though. “I wouldn’t expect you to stop working. Your work is important – and I’ve been told that you’re quite good at it,” Fleur countered. And it was true. She’d never heard a complaint from anyone who came through Ollivander’s, even when Aurelia was now in charge. “It might not be your responsibility. But that would make such a gesture that much more genuine, would it not? When she is missing everyone she knows and loves, making the time to show her that you miss her the same…”
“Yes, yes, I will make sure to see her,” Aurelia hopped down from the counter walking behind the counter again to collect an item as a customer walked through the store. Anyone who saw her could tell she was angry, visibly so. And maybe that had to do not with Fleur’s words, but feeling like she was a burden on her family and she had tried so hard to rid herself of that image once she moved out of the house. And now, perhaps, as an only child, it was her cross to bear in regards to how she should interact with her mother. The door chimed. Within an instant, she was smiling brightly, regardless of how she might have felt and greeted the customer with the warmth of an old friend, handing her a repaired wand in an Ollivander’s case. There was an interaction, the doorbell chimed again and she dropped her act, “Genuine gestures or not, I cannot exactly have my mom come and stay with me, my studio flat isn’t exactly equipped for multiple guests,”
“In any case, I’ve heard rumors the ministry’s going to start cracking down on apparations and floo powder networks,” She made herself busy by performing a simple cleaning charm, her wand sending a rag to dust the upper shelves of the shop, “I don’t know how true that is, but I can’t get stuck at home when I have this place to look after. You see why I haven’t seen her as of late...the struggle between doing my duty as a community member and being a daughter is a tough one.”
