Shopping without a Friend

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Gregory White

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“Thank you,” said Greg cheerfully as he picked out the last few potatoes. “No, seven is fine.”

It was a chilly morning, and the English man went without a coat as he soaked up the cold. Wandering in the snow for two weeks without a wand was a good dose of harden-up for him, although he was as pale as a moonbeam now. Greg remembered back to the afternoon where he had met Adrianna- or rather been saved by her as he lay dying, slumped against her fence. Their interactions since then had been entirely personal and he thought fondly of them. He was in a quite a good mood after last night. Artemis had parted from him with tears in her eyes as she was sent back to Hogwarts, but he had waved his little sister off with renewed optimism. Today was a leisurely shopping day. Adrianna was at home- at her home, you mean, he told himself. He didn’t intend to stay forever, unless things got serious. Are they not already serious? asked Greg in his mind. Face it- you’re besotted.

Sighing, he paid the street side vendor the right amount of sickle for the potatoes and gave him a wave as he departed. He was happy- very happy with Adrianna. Even so, New Zealand was unfamiliar territory, and he longed for a friend to converse with. Well, you’ll get a job soon enough, he thought sadly to himself. In the meantime, if you don’t look where you’re going, you’ll get lost again- oh .He already was lost.
 
Shivers ran up Calixa's spine as she walked through the streets. She had left to go shopping, but she had forgotten her money back home. So the nice shopping experiment was no just a leisurely walk through the cold air. She laughed coldly at the thought, she hated this weather. Even her big Faux-fur coat wasn't warm enough for her. She hugged herself tightly and put her head down to defend her pale face against the wind.

"D@mn this weather." She muttered through chattering teeth.

Mostly she hated that people never watched where they were going in this weather. She was no exception to this at all. That's why, when she collided with a person, she cursed quite loudly. After the outburst of foul language, she realized how rude she was being. She kept her eyes to her feet, and apologized, "S-sorry, my fault." She looked up at the boy and concluded that he was quite a bit younger then her, he seemed to be thinking. She wondered if he was lost, she didn't remember seeing him around at all. She smiled at him and waited for his response. Maybe he would be a new friend.
 
Greg threw up his hands, exasperated. It had been half an hour, and Adrianna had been expecting him ten minutes ago. "Brilliant," he said to himself. The street signs were unfamiliar and there were no landmarks to be found down this street. In the end, he swung the small sack of potatoes and other shopping over his shoulder and sat down.

He had to admit that he was well and truly lost now. The worst that could happen in this situation him actually losing his way entirely and not making it back to Adrianna's at all. She'd think that she had been abandoned (they'd been through that) and there would be an uproar and gosh-knows what else. "Well, better to keep moving," he told himself as he stood again. Unfortunately, the moment he turned around the backtrack he was forced to stop. Or rather, someone else was.

"Oh, excuse me!" said Gregory as a woman walked right in to him. He blushed at her cursing but brushed it off in his mind. Everyone swears, he thought good-naturedly. "Sorry, I ought to have looked where I was going. But now that ye're here," he said sheepishly in his cockney English accent. "I'm a bit lost. Could 'ye tell me what street we're on?"
 
She smiled when the boy blushed. Maybe he was not used to hearing foul language, because she knew it wasn't her looks. She pushed back some of her red-brown curls and smiled at him. He was lost, she could tell by his accent and the fact that he asked where they were. She was a bit embarrassed to not know what the street name was, but she knew where they were.

"Well, I'm not so sure about the street, but if ya tell me where you're heading, i can help you find it."

She took another look at him, and figured he had come from the market place. Or had gotten done robbing a poor, little, potato farmer. She got rid of the second idea, this boy looked too nice to do that to anyone. She tilted her head to the side and waited to see if her would take her offer or not.
 
He sighed with relief when she said that she might be able to help him. "Oh, thank 'ye. It's been an hour now, and I think that's a little too long to be lost for," said Greg with a smile. Well this woman seemed to be very nice, already. Perhaps he was being too trusting (which wouldn't have been hardly surprising). For all he knew she good be a Death Eater. But the thought never crossed his mind as he told her around about where he wanted to go.

Maybe he shouldn't have offered to go shopping for Adrianna this time. It had seemed like the polite thing to do at the time, but in reality he'd only been in this part of New Zealand for all of three days. Perhaps it was foolhardy, but he couldn't change the way he was.

"-to right around where the old church is. After that there's a little lane way, and down the drive off that is where I'm headed." he finished, pleased to have found a kind person. As the wind grew a little stronger, he instinctively went for his coat- or lack of, therefore. "Bother," he said, pushing his own dark blonde curls out of his eyes as they whipped around his face.
 
She giggled slightly at his relief. After he said how long it had been, she understood why. "Oh wow, Am I the first to come along?" It was a stupid question to ask. If she had not been the first, they wouldn't be standing in the cold weather, talking about how to get him home.

She listened to his directions. He was very descriptive and it was going to be quite easy to find the place. In fact, she had been there before on a dare when she was a teenager. She had snuck in, but got caught. "No problem, i can help!" She said with a grin. She began walking in the direction, and motioned for him to follow her. "I'm Calixa by the way."
 
"Aye," Greg replied to her asking about whether she was the first to meet him. "No-one in their right minds would be out in this weather," he grinned at her. He was quite relieved when she seemed to know exactly where she was going. "I'm Gregory," he answered with a smile. It was strange, that just when he after some company, company came along.

"I think I got lost after I left the market. I really shouldn't have headed north. Instinct!" he laughed as he shook his head at his own absent mindedness.

"I guess you can tell that I'm not from around here," he said. It was an obvious statement, but he was interested to know where she had gotten her slight British accent from that he had recognised straight away. It was a familiar and comforting sound.
 
She giggled, he seemed to be rambling a bit. "Nice to met you Gregory." She grinned as he said that she could tell he wasn't around here. She nodded and asked, "So where are you from then?" She asked. It was somewhere in England, that much she could tell.

She hated where she came from. Such a big family that wasn't hers, and everyone acted like they were. All the hugs and smiles were so fake, it wasn't even funny. She smiled though, waiting for his answer, shivering slightly.
 
"It's nice to meet 'ye, too" he answered politely before continuing. "My entire family is from Yorkshire originally, but half of them have been in New Zealand for about three years now."

It was with sad eyes that he mentioned this. The size children were a tight nit family until their parents divorced. Only Dierdre and himself had chosen to stay with their father. Their mother had up and moved to Charing Cross, and then halfway across the world to NZ, taking the twins, Simon and little Artemis with her. Greg didn't begrudge his mother taking his siblings away, but nor was he pleased to find that when he was forced to leave England, he was no longer welcome at her home for staying with their father. The bitterness and pride was obvious.

"I've only been here for about two weeks," he mentioned. By here, he meant New Zealand. If he was talking about the village, all he would have been able to say would be a grand total of three days. "Ye seem to know your way around, though. How about ye'self?" Greg meant her accent, of course.
 
She saw the sadness in his eyes and regretted asking about it. She knew what is was like to not know half your family. In fact, she knew what it was like to not know your real family at all. She smiled kindly at him and said, "Do you still get on with them. Do you still talk?" She hoped they did, or else this would be the wrong subject to stay on.

"Me, i used to live here when i was younger. And then moved to England, but i ended up moving back when i got married." She sighed and continued. "And then after the divorce i moved, and now I'm back." She giggled slightly, she had moved around quite a bit in her lifetime. "I've been here for a few weeks too, but i remember everything from around here." She smiled.

"In fact, if it's the house I'm thinking of; i got caught sneaking into the house we are heading to. I may be wrong though, Me old mind isn't as good as it used to be."
 
"Oh no, we don't" he said, but his voice brightened to a degree. "I just went to see my little sister, who goes to Hogwarts, for the first time in so many years. She's so big!" Figuratively speaking, of course. Artemis was part-goblin.

"Ye're lucky that ye've traveled a big. I've done all my traveling just in these last few weeks, and it was traveling that I could have done without," he said in amusement. "But what's this about the house? Gosh, it's so huge! What on earth did 'ye do?"

As far as he had been told, the rest of Adrianna's family might be pretty formidable. He had yet to meet them, but when he did he would be extremely nervous and would blush constantly.
 
((Oh geeze! Am i this stupid. I'm so sorry for forgetting!!))

"I'm sorry." She said, smiling sympathetically. She smiled. "Really, you have a little sister? Tell me bout her!" She loved hearing about kids. She wanted one so bad.

She smiled and shook her head. "Traveling isn't a bowl of porridge. Trust me. Being jet-lagged isn't very fun, really." She giggled slightly. She then smiled wide. She loved telling this story. "Ah the house." She giggled. "It was big, and spooky in a girl like me's opinion. It was a late night, on a holiday, i was away from my home, meeting a boy." She blushed, it was the same boy she had been married to. "His parents caught me in his room, and i ran. Sneaking into a house that i figured was deserted. They caught me, and i was arrested for breaking and entering. It might not be the same house, but, who knows."
 
Gregory's eyes softened at the mention of his sibling. Although he was twice her age exactly, the pair were absolutely inseperable. They had been apart for a week already since he had last seen her, but already it was too long for him. "Well, Art's the complete opposite of me. I suppose we're similar inside, but she's so fierce and bright for someone so small. She's part-goblin, you see," he chuckled as he pictured his firecracker of a sister. "I think she ought to have been a Gryffindor, barging in with her fists instead of her head. But it's that goblin blood that'd made her canny. The hat saw right through the bravado," said Greg with a grin of his own.

"And you've travelled by plane before?" said Gregory in excitement. "Amazing! How do those things stay up, anyway?"

He fell silent as he listened with increasing amusement to Calixa's small tale. At the end, he burst into his soft, gentle laughter and his cheeks became pink again. "How unlucky! I've never pulled a prank that big before," he commented. Technically it wasn't a prank but done out of necessity, but he could just imagine the mischief involved that would have made it all the more exciting.
 
She smiled listening to him describe Art. She had wanted a little girl, but had only ever been able to go through one pregnancy term. That was as long as she ever lasted. She smiled though, Art sounded quite cute. Part-goblin, which meant short. Calixa was just naturally short, and she hated it. She couldn't imagine what it was like for someone who was part goblin.

"Yes i have. And it's not so fun." When he asked how the planes stayed up, she giggled. Not because it was a silly question, but because she honestly had no clue. Seh shrugged, "dunno. Maybe it's pixie-dust." She rolled her eyes a bit, thinking back to peter pan.

"Well it was the last time i snuck out. I was switched red, and poor Twilite, she thought they would send me to another home." She talked as if this man actually knew her, forgetting that he knew nothing of her home life. Or Twilite; anything furthur than the basics.
 
Gregory was entirely unable to hide his emotions, wearing his heart on his sleeve. Therefore his confusion was obvious, although slightly cute as he titled his head to one side at her description. Ever socially conscious, he did not mention her speaking about a 'home', or someone named 'Twilite'. But then, what else was he meant to say? Switched red? That sounds positively frightful, thought Greg in sympathy. But then, he had been just as shocked when his father injured him terribly only a few months before. It wasn't completely unknown to him.

Suddenly he remembered something, and turned pink with embarrassment. "Oh bother," he said to himself. "Scuse me for a second," Pulling out his wand, he gave it a flick and a mental 'Accio shopping!'. He hadn't just come into the village to get potatoes, after all. Perhaps he should have given this further thought.

He gave Calixa a sheepish look and opened his mouth to explain. He got as far as "Oh, I forgo-" before being bowled over by at least fifteen paper packages. Almost. Greg stumbled back and disappeared behind the bags, but peeked out behind them after holding himself steady.

"Whoops,"

How he was holding them all up, one would never know.
 
She giggled as he tilted his head to the side, something she had often seen girls do. Something she had done before. He was obviously confused about what she had said. She giggled a little bit, and waited for him to speak. She was glad when he didn't ask about home, or anything of the like, she wasn't much for talking about it.

He then seemed to remember something. He asked her to 'scuse him for a second' and she did. She looked around humming a little bit. Some french song she had learned a while back found it's way into her head, annoying her to no end. She didn't like singing it then, and she didn't want to hear it now.

He went to explain but instead, a bunch of paper packages came flying at him, almost sending him backwards. She tried not to laugh as she asked, "Are you okay, love?" She put the term 'love' on the end out of habit, not really meaning it. She couldn't help but giggle at the sight, it was just so adorable.
 
"Yep!" he called from behind the precariously tipping packages. He had sunk to the cobblestones under the weight of the paper and plastic bags. Even with his goblin blood, somehow his arms gave out in the end, and the packages went rolling anyway. Greg winced as a potato rolled out and stubbed him on the toe. "S'all good," he mumbled through a mouthful of celery.

Eventually he managed to pile them up neatly at his side, a few salad greens sticking to his white cotton shirt. By this time, Greg was bright pink, and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Then once again, he had another revelation.

"Say ... would 'ye like to come over for dinner tonight? I don't think Adrianna would mind, since I would be cooking."
 
Calixa grinned a bit. It may have been mean, but she found his fumbling hilarious. The packages were tipping and shaking around. A potato rolled away, and she picked it up, brushing it off. She faked like she could see her reflection in it, then looked back up at the boy. He was pink now, and she smiled. "Want some help. i could carry some." She only offered because it was a bit pathetic. then she found another reason for offering.

"I would love too! Aren't you the sweetest!" She exclaimed. No one, or hardly anyone, ever invited her to diners. Not since her husband had left. She really hoped this man's girlfriend wasn't going to mind.
 
"Oh, don't worry about that," said Greg with a smile as she offered to carry some of his groceries for him. "How's seven fine for dinner? We usually eat a bit later. Bring anything 'ye like!". He was so pleased that she had agreed to come for dinner. He very rarely had visitors, even though he loved entertaining. She had been so helpful too, seeing as how he had been completely lost. Despite being shy, Greg was social and accommodating and loved to entertain guests. It was more difficult since Adrianna's home was a bit out of the way and he barely knew anyone in the area, but it seemed that life was starting to straighten its way out.

With a jolt, he remembered that Adrianna was often uncomfortable with strangers. Well, perhaps she might warm up a bit if I like Calixa, he hoped to himself. "Well, do come anyway. I make a mean stir fry," he grinned to her.
 
She grinned at him as he mentioned she didn't have to help. How sweet. "Seven sounds amazing! How bout i bring some dessert. i'm good with decorative things!" She exclaimed happily. it was true. she was glad she had made a friend, she didn't have many of those things. She nodded and looked at her watch. By golly it had gotten late. "Will you be able to find your way?" She asked, "I mean i can still help you, i'm just a bit late!" She grinned sheepishly.
 
"Yes of course, thanks to you!" he beamed at her. "Thank 'ye for all yer help. 'Ye know where to go right?" Ooh ... dessert. Greg hadn't had a nice pudding or suchlike for a very long time. He noticed her looking at her watch, and suddenly felt terrible for holding her up like this. "Oh sorry, 'ye must 'ave somewhere to be!" he exclaimed guiltily.

"Hey, go on. I'll see you tomorrow night!"
 
She smiled, glad to have been able to help someone for once. It felt good. "No problem." She said with a smile and started to back away. "And it's no trouble at all. I'll see ya tomorrow." With that she turned, then apparated away.
 
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