SHOPPING IN LONDON
When Natasha went down into the living room, after she finished unpacking her stuff, she found the Granger family sitting and discussing around the table in the living room.
"Hey Natasha, did you find the room comfortable?", Mr. Granger acknowledged Natasha and asked.
Natasha took a seat in another chair, and said, "The room is really good, Mr. Granger. Thank you for your hospitality."
"Please don't mention it, Natasha. You are our guest after all.", Mr. Granger said smiling. "But I think we have some things to discuss now."
"What is it Mr. Granger?", Natasha asked.
"It is the topic of your relatives, Natasha. Hermione told us about your experience with them. She told that you were not properly treated by them, till you were eleven. Do you want to talk about it?", Mr. Granger asked.
"They did treat me bad, for ten years, sir. But now I think they have changed their ways, and are treating me better now. They are giving me proper food, and has stopped making me do all the household chores, that I really don't have to do.", Natasha replied.
"Do you mean that, they used to do all that before?", Mr. Granger asked.
"They did Mr. Granger. But I am happy that they are treating me better now.", Natasha said.
"If you say so, Natasha. Else I would have lodged a complaint in the child protective services, so that you can get justice.", Mr. granger told.
"I don't think that is necessary, Mr. Granger, as long as they treat me the same, for the rest of the times.", Natasha said.
"Well, then Hermione said that you have to go for shopping for some clothes, as most of your clothes are really old. I think we can go to London tomorrow, as it is a Saturday. Is that Ok with you, Natasha?", Mr. Granger asked.
"Yes, that sounds good to me Mr. Granger.", Natasha replied.
"Then on the Saturday after that, we shall go to Diagon Alley, and do shopping for our second year.", Hermione said.
"That sounds perfect.", Natasha said smiling.
"Ron has agreed to come with us during that trip, so we will have him also with us.", Hermione said.
Natasha was really happy about the arrangements that the Granger family was having, and was glad to have a friend like Hermione. She somehow wanted to thank Quirrell, for letting the troll loose on the day of Halloween last year. That was the day in which the three of them, became together as a group, and started on the adventure called the first year. Now her best friend had come to her house, to check on her when she was not replying to the letters that her friend had sent. This was a really a happy moment for Natasha, who did not have many friends before Hogwarts.
After the discussion was finished, the elder Grangers went to their clinic to attend to their patients for the day. Natasha and Hermione spent the rest of the day by watching a movie. It was one of the latest movies, that was released, and Hermione had got it in the form of a CD. It was 'Home Alone'. It was a really humorous movie which was about a kid, who was left by his family accidentally to stay in his home, while the family went for a vacation. Natasha enjoyed the whole movie, and Hermione informed her that, the second part of the movie was going to be released shortly. After watching the movie, they had their lunch. The Granger had already finished making the lunch, before Harriet had reached their home. The lunch was really delicious, and Natasha made a note to thank Mrs. Granger for it.
After lunch Natasha and Hermione played the game of, monopoly. Natasha really enjoyed the game. After their game was finished, in which Hermione beat Natasha both the girls, went for a small walk in the neighborhood. The neighborhood was a really beautiful one, and was very different from the neighborhood of Privet Drive. Unlike Privat Drive where the houses were all nearly identical to one another, the houses in this neighborhood was different from each other in many ways. So, Natasha did not find the neighborhood boring. When both the girls were near a park, a girl who had black hair and wearing a black top, came near them and greeted them, "Hey Hermione!"
"Hi Katie! How are you?", Hermione asked.
"I am fine, Hermione. I had just returned from a trip to Switzerland. I had been there for 20 days. So, I didn't see you around.", the girl named Katie said. "And who is this new girl with you?", she asked.
"Oh, this is Natasha, Katie. She is my best friend at my new boarding school.", Hermione said.
"Well, hello Natasha nice to meet you.", Katie said shaking Natasha's hand.
"Nice to meet you too.", Natasha smiled and returned the handshake.
"Well, Hermione I have to go now. My parents are waiting for me at the house. We can meet some other time and talk.", Katie said and went.
After she went Hermione said, "She was one of the few friends, I had at my muggle school. She always supported me."
"It Is really nice to meet your friends, Hermione.", Natasha said smiling.
Then the both of them went to the nearest park, and sat there and played there for some time. They both returned home at three thirty. By that time, Mr. Granger had come out of his clinic early. He told that there was going to be a cricket match between England and West Indies. Mr. Granger being a big fan of cricket, wanted to see the match.
"I heard that you play a wizarding sport called Quidditch, Natasha. Do you have any interest in the game of cricket?", Mr. Granger asked.
"The Dursleys often watch the game. I know the rules of the game, but I have not watched so much.", Natasha said.
"Would you like to watch a game now?", Mr. Granger asked.
Natasha then looked at Hermione. "You can watch, if you want, Nat. I will also join if you want.", Hermione said.
"What!? My daughter is agreeing to watch sports? That is really unexpected.", Mr. Granger said laughing.
"I do watch, Quidditch matches at school, dad.", Hermione said with a bit of anger.
"Really! That is really strange. You are really having a good influence on her, Natasha.", Mr. Granger said smiling.
Natasha smiled back and giggled. Natasha had already known that, Hermione had little to no interest in sports before. Hermione's interest in Quidditch was mainly due to, Natasha participating in the game. The game was a really interesting one. England had batted first, and set the total of two hundred and fifty-one as the chasing target. The west indies could only make it to, 212 before they were all out. Hence England had won the match. As the game was going on, Ms. Granger came to the house at seven. She prepared the dinner, while others were watching the game. They had dinner, at eight and they all joined together and watched. It turned out that, Ms. Granger did not like sports, just like her daughter. But she never misses an opportunity to watch some TV with her family, whatever they were watching, the match was over by half past ten, and they all went to bed.
"Don't forget Natasha. We are going to London tomorrow.", Hermione said.
"Natasha nodded and went happily to her room. Her thoughts were full of the fun day, she knew she will be having the day next. She fell asleep really fast, with happy thoughts. The next day, she woke up to the sound of someone knocking on her door. Her first thought was that, she was back at the Dursley's and aunt Petunia was knocking at the door.
But then Natasha heard Hermione callings, "Wake up Nat! Big day today!"
Natasha was really happy to hear Hermione's voice waking her up. It gave something she experienced many times at school, but was really happy for it to happen even outside the school. "I am waking up!", Natasha shouted back to Hermione, and went into the attached bathroom she had in her bedroom to brush her teeth. Immediately after brushing her teeth, she went down into the living room still in her pajamas. She greeted the Granger family happily, and they also greeted back with the same enthusiasm. Mrs. Granger gave Natasha tea, and Natasha accepted it and drank. The Grangers asked, how she had slept the previous day, and Natasha said that she slept really well.
The Grangers were happy to hear that, and said that she better get ready, as they wanted to get to London as soon as possible. Natasha then took a quick bath, and went for the breakfast immediately. They were having, Toast and egg for the breakfast. Natasha felt that the breakfast tasted really good.
"The breakfast is really tasty, Ms. Granger. Thank you.", Natasha said.
"Oh, its nothing dear. You are our guest after all.", Ms. Granger said smiling.
"Hey, Natasha. What would you like to buy today? Just tell us what type of clothes you want.", Hermione asked.
"I think I want some tops. Most of my tops are dirty. The skirts are not so much in a really bad condition, but I would like to buy that also.", Natasha said with enthusiasm.
"We will do that dear. And we are having our lunch outside. There is a really good Indian restaurant that has been open up. I heard that the food over there tastes really good. Do you like Indian food?", Mr. Granger asked.
"I have never tried Indian food, Mr. Granger.", Natasha said. The truth was that, she had never eaten food from a good hotel. The only thing she could tell as outside food, was what she ate in the zoo last year. The Dursleys also did not like, restaurants that featured cuisine from other countries, so she doubted that, they would have tried Indian food too.
After breakfast, Hermione gave her some good clothes that she had as she did not want Natasha to go to London in shabby clothes. Hermione's clothes fit Natasha really well, as they both were of same height and shape. Natasha was really thankful to Hermione for that.
The four of them went to London shortly after everyone got ready. They reached London within an hour, and went to the clothes shop, in which the Granger family always went for shopping. There Mr. and Mrs. Granger put Natasha and Hermione near a salesman and told them both, to buy whatever they wanted. They both told that, they had to go somewhere else to take care of something, and that they will be back in an hour. There was also a girl, who looked like she was of Indian origin sitting next to them, who was also selecting clothes alone. She reminded Natasha of Parvati Patil.
Hermione and Natasha started trying out many of the dresses that were, given by the shopkeeper to try. But the problem was that, they were having a hard time figuring out which one they wanted to buy, as either Natasha did not like the clothes which Hermione selected or vice versa. Natasha saw that, the girl sitting next to them was paying a bit of attention to what the duo was doing.
"How about this top, Natasha? I think you will look really good in this.", Hermione said selecting an orange colored top.
"This looks really good, Hermione.", Natasha said nodding her head.
"I don't think that will look good for you.", an unknown voice said. Natasha then found that, it was the Indian girl who had made the suggestion.
"I think you should try this one.", she continued and took a green colored top. "This matches the color of your eye."
"Do you think so?", Natasha asked.
"Yes. Your name is Natasha, right? And yours is Hermione.". the girl asked.
"Yes, that is our name.", Natasha and Hermione replied.
"My name is Simran Gupta. I just came here from India for studies.", the girl said.
"Well, glad to meet you, Simran.", Natasha said nodding. She did not call her by her last name, as it sounded a bit weird to call her by that. "I think I will try this top on. Till then you can select something for you.", Natasha said to Hermione.
"I will help you!", Simran said.
Natasha went to the trial room, and started changing her clothes. She then put up her new top, and looked at the mirror. The Simran girl was right, the top actually suited her perfectly. Natasha knew that, she found her first choice. Natasha then went back to Hermione.
Hermione and Simran were busy selecting a top for Hermione. Natasha went to them and said, "How do I look, Hermione? I thought that, I did look good in it.", Natasha asked Hermione.
"This suits you really good, Nat! You really look good in this.", Hermione said smiling.
"Thank you, Simran.", Natasha nodded to the new girl and said.
"Well, it is actually nothing. It looked like you both were having a hard time selecting a dress, so I helped. Are you both sisters?", the girl asked.
"No, we are best friends.", Hermione said.
"Well, that is good.", the girl said. "Try this on, Hermione.", she said giving red color top.
"I will change back and come.", Natasha said and went with her friend.
"Well, that was weird.", Hermione said. "The girl looks nice though."
"She helped us selecting the dress at least. We were having a really hard time.", Natasha said as she entered the trial room.
She changed back to the top, she wore previously and went back to her place. The girl had selected a top and was looking whether it fitted from outside.
"I will be right back.", the girl told and went to the trial room.
Natasha then started looking for another top. She had already told the salesman to pack the green top. After the other two girls cane, back, they tried many other clothes, and Hermione and Natasha bought 4 tops and 3 skirts for each of them. By the time, they were finished, the Grangers came back again. They were introduced to Simran. They greeted Simran happily and thanked her help.
"Well, it's goodbye then.", Hermione and Natasha said to Simran.
They were then immediately joined by Simran's parents. She even had a brother. They were also introduced and Natasha found that, they were living in London with a relative. The meeting was short and then went to pay the bills. After paying the bill, they then went to the Indian restaurant. Natasha knew only a little about India. The only famous Indian she knew was called Gandhi. She had learned in her history books that; British muggles had colonized India and ruled them for over 200 years. Hermione, it seems had visited India in the past. She told that, she had gone to a place called Kerala, which was one of the states of India. She told that, the place was really beautiful, and captured and captivated her mind. They ordered a dish called Biriyani for lunch. It was a rice dish, which also consisted of other vegetable pieces, and in this case chicken. She also learnt that, there were many varieties of this food. The Biriyani was really tasty, and made her want more. The four of them enjoyed the Lunch, and Mr. Granger gave a nice amount as tip. When they started going out, she noticed Simran was also inside the hotel with her family. But they went outside, and decided to shop for books, as Hermione suggested for buying books.
Hermione and Natasha brought some new books, which included some teenage romance novels. It was purely Natasha's selection, and Hermione was not interested even a bit in those novels. But Natasha decided that, she will make her read those novels, during the time she stayed at the house. Hermione preferred really serious books of literature. Hermione brought a book titled 'My experiments with truth'. It was a book written by Gandhi, the only famous Indian Natasha knew about, Hermione said that she may find some inspiration, from that book, as it was about a struggle for freedom of a man who did it in a really peaceful way. Natasha found the thing uninteresting, but Hermione insisted that she read it. Natasha agreed halfheartedly. Natasha asked Mr. Granger for some famous Indians, as even Hermione knew only a few. He told about a guy called Sachin Tendulkar, who was a really good cricket player. The day really was an Indian filled day for Natasha.
After the books were brought, the four of them went back to the house. They reached back at the house at four in the afternoon. After they reached back home, they just sat and talked about random things, and Hermione and Natasha went to their room to play for some time. By the time for dinner, they were really tired, and decided that they needed an early sleep. After watching TV for some time, the family went to their rooms for sleep. Overall the day was a really happy one for Natasha.