how it feels to be alive {tom riddle}

twenty-two: polyjuice

POLYJUICE

A couple of days had passed since Lucia and Tom's dinner, and things had mostly returned to normal between them. Tom was still disapproving of Lucia's trips to the bathroom that left her returning glassy eyed and dazed, but Lucia was equally against Tom's search for immortality.

It seemed they had reached a sort of agreement not to discuss it anymore.

"I need to go to Diagon Alley to get some stuff for this year." Lucia announced over breakfast, "I have my books, but I got the wrong Standard Book of Spells and there's some potions ingredients I need."

"When do you want to go?" Tom replied, intrigued to see how Diagon Alley had changed from his time.

"Today I guess, I'll have to go to Gringotts to exchange currency though, I only have muggle money at the moment." She said whilst pushing her French toast around her plate with a fork.

"I'll come with you." Tom insisted, taking a sip of his orange juice.

"I don't know if it's good idea, Tom." Lucia sighed, putting down her fork, "It doesn't feel right, what if someone recognised you or something? Who knows who will be around."

"I suppose you're right." Tom agreed. He couldn't oppose this, especially when his face was more likely to be recognised than Lucia knew. He had hoped for some false reassurance that it wouldn't matter from Lucia, but this would have been a selfish fiction.

***

Lucia sat her potions kit on the table, jumbled ingredients were strewn around the box, and there were many vials of potions she'd made or bought mixed in the selection.

Lucia made a list on her phone of what ingredients needed replenishing, sorting them so they weren't all mixed in together.

Tom had been instructed to get all the potion vials and sort them into what was worth keeping and what should be thrown away.

"Lucia, I have an idea of how I can come with you." Tom broke the silence.

She looked up to see him holding a rather large vial of a muddy looking potion of which she recognised immediately.

"Polyjuice Potion, I forgot I had some of that." She thought out loud, "I suppose if you didn't look like yourself it would be okay."

Tom smiled, satisfied to have gotten his way at last.

"Who would you use?" Lucia asked, considering that they would somehow have to get something from the person he would transform into.

"Someone we pass on the street I guess." Tom reasoned, not really caring who.

"Ugh, okay." Lucia agreed to the idea, feeling comfort in not having to go to Diagon Alley alone.

***

As the two boarded a bus to get to Charing Cross Road, they strategically sat themselves behind a man in a suit that was seemingly heading to work. Lucia pulled out a pair of scissors and strategically cut a small chunk of the man's hair, which she then put into a small press-seal bag.

The bus ride was short, but Tom missed the simplicity of a Floo Network. They could have apparated, but they needed the journey to find a person for Tom to transform into.

When they arrived at the Charing Cross Road stop, Lucia thanked the driver and the two walked into the Leaky Cauldron, heading straight for the bathroom together.

Lucia locked the door behind them and pulled the potion from her bag, sprinkling a couple of the hairs they had obtained into the potion. She kept a few extra in case of another time of need.