Chapter - 025 Hello Everyone and like always I hope you all are at top of your health. I wish you Stay Safe and Healthy. The Korean way 'Fighting'. "It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver". -Mahatma Gandhi Evening Right now Alex and Nicole are standing in front of the house of Grangers. Nicole sent an owl early in the morning, and it was back by afternoon with a reply. The house was not very extravagant from the outside. Like any middle-class fulfilling family, it was on the outskirts of London. It was not a very big house, but there was a garden in the front. The houses on either side also looked the same. Nicole went up and knocked on the door. After a few moments, a middle-aged lady appeared in front of them. She was the one they met on King's Cross. "How may I help you?" Mrs Granger asked the two of them. "Good evening Ma'am, we are..." Nicole was introducing herself when she was cut off by Mrs Granger. "Are you here to sing Christmas Carol dear? Wait let me call the rest of the family". Mrs Granger said and went inside the house to call for her relatives. "Ma'am, wait, you...". But Mrs Granger was calling her family out. Soon more than a dozen people, mostly ladies, from children to the elderly were on the front door. Looking forward to the sibling's carol. "Alex, Nicole, you are here". Hermione who followed her mother said as she saw the siblings. "Hermione, do you know them?" Mrs Granger asked. "Mom, we go to the same school, you saw them at King's Cross. They are here to visit me for Christmas". "Ahh... sorry dear, I mistook you for someone else. Please don't just stand outside, come in". Mrs Granger looked at the two of them apologetically. "Thank you, Mrs Granger". Nicole said as she followed them inside. Alex followed at the last. Alex and Nicole followed the family to the living room. Mr Granger was sitting there along with a few other men, chatting happily. Mrs Granger walked up to him and whispered something in his ears. He looked towards Alex and Nicole and smiled towards the two of them. After excusing himself from the others, he walked up to the siblings. "It's great to have you here..." Mr Granger welcomed them. "Alexender Ashbridge, Sir, and this is my sister Nicole". Alex introduced. "Nice to meet you, Mr Granger". Nicole greeted Mr Granger. "Such a sweet lady you are Nicole, why don't you go to Hermione and get to know her cousins?" Mr Granger said as he wanted to talk to Alex for a bit. Nicole looked towards Alex, to which he nodded her to go. "Come Alexender, let's sit here". "Please sir, just call me Alex, and there is no need for such formalities. I can see you have many guests to attend". Alex said as he sat down opposite Mr Granger. "Well, they are family, so they are not as special as you two siblings, you know what I mean". Mr Granger said as he grabbed hold of one of the boys running around and asked him to get some snacks and drinks for Alex and himself. Alex nodded in reply. There was no use denying the fact they were indeed special among all the other present. "Sir, this is our gift". Alex said as he gave Mr Granger the bag he was carrying. "There was no need for this". Mr Granger said as he took it from him. "I received Hermione's gift this morning. I did not know what to gift her, so I just brought this with me on our way here". "This bottle of wine looks expensive, your parents must have spent a lot on this". Mr Granger looked at the wine inside the bag and said. Alex did not explain the origins of the wine or about his parents. He asked the Reverend mother to help him arrange the bottle. On the other side Nicole joined Hermione and her cousins. "Where is Alex?" Hermione asked seeing Nicole coming alone. "Your father asked me to join you, I guess he had something to talk about with my brother". Nicole said. "Hey, Hermione, who's she?" One of Hermione's cousin asked. "She is my classmate from my new school". "I heard you are going to school in Scotland. Why are you studying so far away from home?" Another one of her cousins asked curiously. "Well... we just heard that it was kind of a good school, right?" Hermione started to explain, but by the end, she was asking Nicole. "Yeah... you can say that". Nicole approved of what Hermione said. The most difficult thing for muggles, going to Hogwarts was to come up with a lie, which could be easily bought by their relatives. They were soon joined by Hermione's mother and others. "Mrs Granger this is for you". Nicole said handling Mrs Granger a bag. "Thank you, dear, this is beautiful. Did your mother select this?" Looking at the makeup kit inside the bag Mrs granger asked. "No, I did". Mrs Granger saw Hermione trying to say something to her, but she could not understand. "You should have come with your parents. But they might also be having guests over. Is it alright for you to be here? Do you need to rush back?" Mrs Granger said. She that she would love to meet their parents. "Mom!!" Hermione called out her mother anxiously, scaring all the others around her. "What?" Mrs Granger asked with one hand on her chest. She was really scared. "It's alright Hermione. Well, Mrs Granger, our parents are no longer alive". Nicole said to Mrs Granger. Mrs Granger gasped with shock, with some guilt in her voice she said, "How awful, sorry dear, I did not mean to..." "It's alright Mrs Granger, you did not know". Soon the awkward environment returned to normal once again, and once in a while, a huge burst of laughter could be heard from the side of ladies. Back to Alex and Mr Granger "Do you live around here, Alex?" Mr Granger asked. "It's quite a distance from here". "I wanted to ask you something Alex, can I?" Mr Granger looked a bit cautious. "By all means Mr Granger, don't be so polite". "You see after Hermione started schooling in you know... we also did some digging into it and heard things from here and there. There is this famous boy Harry Potter do you know him?" Mr Granger asked curiously. "I do know him Mr Granger, but if you want to know about him more, you need to ask this from Hermione or my sister". Alex said. Once again Potter. How famous can one get? Mr Granger looked confused. "I think you are mistaken sir, Hermione and Nicole are in the same house as Potter, but I am in a different house". Alex said. "Ohhh... so you are in?" Mr Granger asked casually. "Slytherin". Hearing this, Mr Granger looked a bit astonished, a bit intimidated and a bit shaky. Looking at the intimidated expression of Mr Granger, Alex shook his head helplessly. How infamous are we that even the muggle parents are scared just by listening to their name? "You don't seem to have a very good opinion of the Slytherins". Alex asked "Umm... it's not like that". "There is nothing to feel awkward about, we are the ones responsible for being so infamous among the masses". "Hey, you two what are you talking about?" Another middle-aged man walked to the two of them and asked. "Nothing Drake, I am just asking him about their school, Hermione won't tell me everything, you know". "So you go to the same school as Hermione, I heard it's very expensive". "I got a scholarship". Alex said thinking about the first Quidditch match. "Oh, nice! What do your parents do?" "They Died" Silence... pin drop silence. Drake who asked Alex about his parents had his jaw wide open. Mr Granger also looked towards Alex strangely. How could he just tell about his parent's death so naturally? Alex glanced towards all of them before finally settling his eyesight on Mr Granger, " I understand your concerns about me being from the house of Slytherin and a bit odd. I can try to have as minimum interaction with Hermione as possible. But I do hope that you won't stop her from being friends with my sister." Alex whispered so that only Mr Granger could hear that. * * * * *