Hi everyone, sorry for the fact it has taken me so long to update this fic. I've been distracted with classes and work these last few weeks and I've barely had time to myself.
Anyway, enjoy this chapter and hopefully the next one won't be five months from now.
~MJB~
Chapter 6 - Muggle Shops
June 30th, 1992 - 1 day before Meissa's 12th birthday (Tuesday)
Location: Oxford Street, London
Meissa's strongly reminded of why she dislikes shopping as she tosses another shirt aside, disliking the collar. She's been trying to find clothes casual enough for the Grangers. But the clothes she has been trying on so far, mostly shirts, are all something she would wear around her cousin.
Polo shirts, dress shirts, polo neck sweaters, and so on. Each and every one of them feels too much for a few weeks with the Grangers. She has already picked out a at least a week worth of trousers. Most of them are jeans, some are black but the rest of the jeans are either faded blue jeans or dark blue. She also has at least two pairs of trousers that are called 'cargos'. They're surprisingly comfortable and there's plenty of pockets too. She has an idea about the pockets but she'll have to make sure no one discovers the modifications.
Her uncle also got her to consider getting something called 'cargo shorts'. Trying one on was interesting in her opinion. It's like a pair of trousers except they cut off below the knees instead of the usual length. It feels a bit weird, not having her legs covered, yet at the same time they are just as comfortable as the jeans and the cargos pants.
"Meissa, have you found anything you like yet?" she hears her godfather call her from outside the fitting room. He's accompanied by a store assistant who has been a great help so far. Except she can't seem to find a type of shirt she likes.
"No," she puts on her shirt again and opens the door to look at her godfather. "All of these feels too formal."
The woman, Sara, nods as she accepts the bundle of shirts and hangs them on a rack to be returned to the floor later. "Do you like long sleeves by any chance?" Sara asks.
"If the sleeves are loose enough."
Sara nods thoughtfully, studying Meissa. The Black heiress returns the look, her right hand gripping her elbow. Her posture loose and relaxed as she waits for Sara to finish her studying. The shirts before were all selected by her godfather - shirts she wouldn't have normally minded except they feel like too much.
Meissa watches Sara leave and takes this as a chance to look at her godfather. "Thank you for being so… patient."
"Of course," Severus drawls as he studies his goddaughter. "I still think you are being difficult."
"I just… It's too formal."
"You're an heiress."
She folds her arms across her chest, shifting her weight to one foot as she stares at him. "I may be an heiress but I don't want to seem like a twat in front of Hermione's parents."
His eyebrows rose at her choice of words. "Two things. One, don't use that word ever again," he starts in a tone that told her she's in trouble, "Two, as an heiress you are obligated to uphold an image."
"If I was in the company of the other nobles, sure," she retorts, keeping an eye out for Sara.
"You should regardless of whom you surround yourself. Habits have a tendency to occur at the most inconvenient times."
She looks questioningly at her godfather, puzzling over his words for a moment. But before she could comment on his words she spies Sara approaching with a load of shirts that looks different in comparison to the previous pile. She sees a few shirts that are button ups except they seem to be checkered pattern instead of the solid black or white in comparison.
"Here, try these on," Sara set the pile of clothes aside for Meissa inside the changing room.
Taking the cue for what it is the young Heiress enters the changing room and picks up one of the shirts. It's a dark grey cotton long sleeved collarless Henley - what is a Henley? - shirt that fits snug to her. She picks out a pair of blue jeans to see how the two, paired together, looks like. Her trousers are swapped out for the jeans and she takes her first look in the mirror.
Humming thoughtfully to herself, feeling like something is missing, she picks up a short sleeve collarless shirt with some kind of branding on the front and back and slips it on over the long sleeve. A few minor adjustments and the short sleeve shirt sits right on her shoulders, nearly a size bigger than herself but loose in comparison to the Henley shirt she put on first.
She steps back out to show her godfather and Sara, getting instant approval from Sara and a slow nod from Severus. Emboldened by the approval she returns to the changing room and tries on the other shirts. In most combinations she finds she likes having a Henley long sleeves shirt underneath the top shirt.
Unless it is one of the checkered pattern shirt, the texture of it feels like wool so it feels like a long sleeved Henley and the shirt would feel like too much. So she swaps out the Henley for something that covers the span of her shoulders but ends there, leaving the entirety of her arms bare. With the checkered wool shirt she covers the rest of her arms.
A brief trip out gains instant approval from Sara and another nod of acceptance from her godfather. Pleased that she's finding plenty of shirts to like she goes back to trying out shirts.
In the end, she walks out of the store with at least eight pairs of trousers, three 'cargo shorts', and nearly twenty shirts of various styles and types - short sleeves, long sleeves, button up, collarless, etc. She's rather satisfied with herself, finding a style that suits her, and she now feels ready to head over to Hermione's house for the summer.
"Do you have everything you need?" Severus asks after they find a secluded alley to shrink down the bags and pocket them.
"I have clothes for a week," she thinks to herself. "I can have Remmy wash them, right?" she asks him, thinking.
"You could, but you need to consider that prolong exposure to magic may have an impact on their electricity."
She frowns to herself, thinking. She's still unsure what electricity is exactly but she understands, from some of her conversations with Hermione, that the non-magical rely on it for their daily activities. That's the only thing she truly understands out of the whole thing.
"So… I'm going to need learn how to clean my clothes without magic?"
"Yes, that will be the case."
Meissa crosses her arms, thinking. As she thinks she remembers the reason why she's interested in going to Hermione's house. She wants to learn and understand how the non-magical people live their life - she can't do that if she's still using magic, and house-elves, to improve her life. "I can learn," she decides in the end.
"It will not be easy," Severus warns her lightly.
"Life isn't easy," she remarks before he leads her into a store.
This one, she sees after a glance around, is a shop full of books. Excited she spares her godfather one look before she runs off into the stacks. Severus rolls his eyes in amusement and follows after her, picking up books he believes she will enjoy. He regrets that he hasn't ever brought her to a bookstore in the muggle world - she would have probably past a lot of her free time reading the fictional books instead of the tomes in the Black library. Maybe then she would have had some chance of having a normal childhood.
"Uncle Sev!" he hears her before he sees her with a stack of books that reaches up to the underside of her chin.
Amused by her excitement, yet refusing to let any of it show, he takes a book from the top. The Mists of Avalon, he observes as he flips it over to the back to read the synopsis. "I'm not sure if this is appropriate for you to read," he remarks, fully aware that she's been reading the books from the library - books that a young girl shouldn't be reading in the first place.
"But it's about Arthur, Morgan, and Merlin," she protests before her godfather takes half of the stack to lighten the load in her arms.
"You do realize that these books will be fictional," he questions her, "In no way are these accurate accounts of what happened in that time period."
"I know that," she pouts at him before he gives in and studies the next couple of books. The Sword of Shannara, he notes with interest. It seems to revolve around elves, dwarves, and humans but he doesn't have an issue with her reading the books.
"Is there anything else you want to get or are you satisfied with what you have for now."
Meissa considers the stacks before nodding her head. "I think I'm good, Uncle Sev," she announces before following him to the registers. She follows his actions, placing the stacks on the counter, and watches as the tall slim pimple faced teenager rung up the books, placing them into bags while telling her uncle the total.
She watches her godfather counts out the notes, counting the numbers together before he hands it over to the sale clerk. She makes a note to herself to study the papers later and get a better idea of how to use them. It'd be a good thing to know once she starts to spend her summer at Hermione's house. Until then, she can let her uncle handle the non-magical currency.
Maybe she can have Hermione teach her whenever she gets the chance.
~MJB~
Meissa hums happily to herself as she debates which book to start reading once she gets the chance. Perhaps the first book she pulls out of the bag? It's a possible method unless she pulls out a book somewhere in the middle of a series. She could select the first book in that case - it should count. First she'd need to make sure that the recently bought clothes are washed and packed before the weekend. Remmy will be a great help in this aspect - maybe she can get the house elf to teach her how to wash her clothes?
"Meissa," she hears her godfather before she sees him setting a tray of… questionable food on the table between them. "I can see your brain working overtime. Perhaps you should take a break and eat your lunch."
She smiles sheepishly at her godfather and sets the bags of books aside - yet to be shrunken down for convenience. She watches as he sets a box, no bigger than her hand, in front of her along with a container of long yellow things. Curious she takes one and takes a bite, instantly recognizing the taste of potatoes along with salt and one more thing she cannot readily identified. Surprised by the taste she finishes off the one she has in her hand. "What is this?" she asks her godfather, gesturing to the food he has laid out in front of her along with a cup of something that looks like tea.
"This is chicken," he points to the small round crispy brown food that is in the box that he placed in front of her. "And these are," he points to the container she has already tried, "something called French fries."
She nods to herself and tries the chicken as her godfather sets out a small container in front of her, filled with this orange colored thick fluid. Curious she dips one of the chicken pieces into it and nibbles on it. A surprised noise escapes her as the taste compliments the chicken, flooding her mouth.
"This is better than I expected," she mutters before she takes a sip of the drink he has given her. It was unsweetened but its' definitely tea.
"This is just an example of what the… they have," he corrects himself before he could call the non-magicals 'muggles' out in public. "You will likely experience more while living with the Grangers."
"Do you think so?"
"I know so," Severus resorts, sitting across from her with a box that has something that looks akin to a sandwich. Except there seems to be a thick slice of meat, lettuce, and tomatoes. The bread looks different in comparison with what the house-elves use for their sandwiches. She makes a note to ask her godfather about what he's eating at another time, content to finish her meal so they can finish their shopping and return home before it gets too late.
Remmy, bless her heart, would throw a fit if they are to miss supper. Meissa is fully aware of the house-elf's tendency to mother her if she misses a meal due to a lack of appetite - which happens far more than she cares to admit - or by being too absorbed in her personal studies.
There's still so many memories she can view at a whim - she's just been reluctant to do so because it hurts so much to realize what she may have missed out on with her mother being locked away in Azkaban.
~MJB~
So, I mentioned two real life books (The Mists of Avalon and The Sword of Shannara). Both books are something I've personally read and would recommend to all if you have not yet read.