Aurora Emery

Aurora Emery, a character in the Open Heart series, is a medical intern at the Edenbrook Hospital and the niece of Harper Emery. She is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Aurora has short, black hair, brown eyes and dark skin. She wears a white blazer white the Edenbrook Hospital logo on it on top of a blue medical shirt.

Personality
In the beginning, Aurora is shown to be cold, aloof and sarcastic towards her fellow interns. She doesn't spend time outside of work with her colleagues, primarily because many of them falsely compliment and praise her to try to gain an advantage with her aunt.

As one of the more skilled interns at Edenbrook, she appears overconfident in her skills. She questions your and Dr. Olsen's treatment plan for Mike Knoblauch and passes Dolores Hudson's case to you, saying that she'll wait for something more "interesting". However, her facade cracks when she freezes in the emergency room when it is overrun by patients from the subway derailment accident. At various times, you overhear Chief Emery chiding her and see Aurora distraught.

Despite her abrasive personality towards her colleagues, she has good bedside manner towards her patients, such as Annie and Tommy Liu, ensuring that they're treated properly and taking time to reassure them of their recovery.

Book 1

 * Chapter 1: The Doctor Is In
 * Chapter 2: Code Blue
 * Chapter 4: Dolores
 * Chapter 7: Patient X
 * Chapter 9: The Pita
 * Chapter 10: Risk and Reward
 * Chapter 11: Whatever It Takes
 * Chapter 12: Panacea
 * Chapter 13: Admission
 * Chapter 14: Triage
 * Chapter 15: Hearing Impaired
 * Chapter 16: The Curious Case of Dr. Banerji
 * Chapter 17: The Oath

Book 2

 * Chapter 1: Prognosis
 * Chapter 2: The Interns
 * Chapter 3: What's Done Is Done
 * Chapter 4: Blind Spot
 * Chapter 5: Influence (Determinant)
 * Chapter 6: Buying Time
 * Chapter 7: Wake-Up Call
 * Chapter 8: Fair Game

Your Character
At orientation, you and Aurora are assigned as partners. You both see Annie first, but before either of you can order labs and tests, Aurora is paged by her aunt and leaves you to do the grunt work. She doesn't reappear until after you present your findings to Dr. Ramsey. You can either throw her under the bus and continue to speak angrily, mockingly, and dismissive towards her during your first year, or give her an "out", allow her an excuse, and continue to be friendly and supportive throughout the year. Whichever avenue you decide to take, she will respond in kind and either stay as a rival and acquaintance or become a better friend.

When you finally achieve No. 1 on the intern list, she "congratulates" you and says the other interns are coming after you now. In Chapter 11, when you are supposed to report about one of your patients and find the clipboard is empty, it is mentioned that Aurora stifles a laugh when you panic. In Chapter 12, if you ask her if she is behind the rumors of you bad-mouthing the nursing staff, she tells you that she doesn't need to tell people you're overrated. She says if you have a problem, you should talk to Dr. Ramsey since you're his favorite. If you ask her to help you instead, she asks why she should; and if you ask her if she secretly likes you, she says it must be so secret that even she doesn't know.

In Chapter 13, she is assigned to be your partner again. When you have trouble diagnosing Tommy Liu, if you ask her what she thinks is wrong, she admits that she doesn't know either. She says her first thought was a parasite too, but she is just as wrong as you are and maybe you both don't deserve to be number one. When the pieces come together and you make your diagnosis, you bring her in to share credit and she asks why. You tell her that you know she didn't rat you out as you finally figured it out yourself. In Chapter 14, during the emergency room rush, you notice that she is struggling, frozen with indecision. You can help her or let her fix it herself. If you choose to help her, you remind her that she used to be number one and therefore knows what to do and she will be grateful. In Chapter 15, when you find her crying in the supply closet, you can either comfort her or berate her for acting like a bully who thinks she's better than the other interns.

In Chapter 17, you invite her to room with you and your roommates which she takes you up on by the beginning of Book 2. She tries hard to fit in with you and your roommates, including attempting (unsuccessfully) to cook breakfast. After she transfers to Mass Kenmore, she ends up competing with you for patients for the diagnostic team, though the two of you express your desire not to let this affect your friendship.

In Chapter 6, she is invited to her five-year undergraduate reunion at Tufts. She is hesitant to attend because she didn't have any real friends there just like medical school. People hated her because they thought she had gotten into the pre-med program because of her name and not her merits. She never went to any of the parties, and just studied and hid in her room or the library. If you persuade her to go and attend the reunion with her, you can tell a couple of her classmates that you are her ex-coworker, best friend, or boyfriend/girlfriend. She will stutter and blush if you choose the third option.

Harper Emery
Dr. Harper Emery is Aurora's aunt. Aurora is habituated to other people asking her to arrange a meeting with her popular aunt. In Chapter 10, when Ethan decides to bring you along to the medical conference, you see Harper talking to Aurora whose eyes are downcast. In Chapter 14, you overhear a conversation between them that Harper is disappointed because she heard of her struggle at work. Harper tells her that she shouldn't be seen as weak or unsure. Eventually, Aurora decides to move out of Harper's place so that they can have more space from each other. In spite of their conflicts over Aurora's work performance, she seems genuinely happy for her aunt when Harper announces that she will be stepping down as Chief of Medicine.

Ethan Ramsey
Ethan Ramsey is her attending physician. You can choose to throw her under the bus or give her a way out when you discuss Annie's case with him. He berates her and tells her that her patients are not "optional" assignments.

Sienna Trinh
Sienna Trinh is one of her apartment-mates in Book 2. When Aurora feels despair and stuck being "Dr. Harper Emery's niece", Sienna tells her not to have that attitude, that she always has a say over what she does. This gives Aurora the courage to leave Edenbrook and join Mass Kenmore.

Trivia

 * The name Aurora is of Latin origin and means "dawn".
 * The surname Emery is of German and English origin, which means: Brave, home, whole, universal, work, labor, powerful, industrious ruler. It's derived from the name Emmerich, other variants are Amery, Amory and Emory.
 * Standing in the Intern rankings for the Diagnostics Team fellowship:
 * Week 1: 1st (Chapter 6)
 * Week 2: 1st (Chapter 7)
 * Week 3: 1st (Chapter 9)
 * Week 4: Unknown (Chapter 9)