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.
"I don't trust us being in the bathroom alone together." Tom chuckled.
"Oh get over yourself." Lucia laughed, "Bottoms up."
She handed the muddy looking potion to Tom, who although looking at it with distaste, tipped it back and swallowed with a disgusted expression.
He quickly started to warp into a shorter figure, with features not as sharp and angular as his own. Lighter brown hair sprouted from his head and his eyes turned a light hazel.
His clothes now didn't fit as well as before, considering his now shorter stature. Lucia leant down to roll up the cuffs of his jeans, but otherwise he looked decently normal.
Tom looked in the mirror, "This guy really needs to get some sleep." He scoffed at the prominent eyebags below his now hazel eyes.
"Not all people can be genetic miracles like you appear to be, Tom." Lucia patted him on the shoulder. She was now closer to him in height, it was rather strange.
They walked out of the bathroom and through to the brick wall to enter the shopping area.
Tom felt his breath hitch at the sight of the modern Diagon Alley.
Although it still had the same vintage feel to it, the shops were almost glowing. All of them seemed to have been recently done up, and there was an abundance of colour and plant life around the once dusty road.
"Does it look much different to your time?" Lucia asked Tom as they began walking.
"Not in the ways I'd expect. The foundations are almost all identical, but the atmosphere is so different."
"We have to get ice cream from Florean Fortescue's parlour, it's the best," She insisted, "His daughter reopened it after the war, since her father was tortured and killed by Voldemort."
Tom didn't reply.
They headed to Gringott's first, a snowy white building that towered over the others down the alley. As they entered, the cold white marble beneath their feet echoed around the room. Goblins flanked the sides of the room, and Lucia walked up to one to explain the currency exchange she needed. The goblin nodded rather coldly, and after authenticating her identity, Lucia gave him the muggle money she wanted transferred and he left to obtain it in wizarding currency.
When he returned, held a bag bulging with coins which he gave to her, not muttering any sort of goodbye. She smiled and thanked him nonetheless, and they walked back out from the bronze doors and back to the alley where they walked slowly as Lucia worked out how much money she'd been given.
"Just up these steps." Lucia said as they arrived at the front of Slug & Jiggers Apothecary.
They walked in, and Lucia quickly gathered the potions ingredients she was missing.
Tom looked at the ingredients, eager to get back into potion brewing himself. He was beginning to feel quite disconnected from magic, something that had been so central to his life before time travel. But strangely it didn't bother him like he'd expected, instead he had found it a rather refreshing detox to get his priorities in order.
After filling the small shopping basket with what she was missing, Lucia walked up to the register to pay and returned to Tom.
"Shall we go to Flourish and Blotts?" Lucia announced, snapping Tom out of his thoughts.
"Yes." He agreed, and they exited the store, causing a small bell to jingle behind them.
There were many people shopping around Diagon Alley, considering it was nearing so close to the school year. The streets were alive with young witches and wizards, many whom appeared to be first-years shopping for school for the first time. Their eyes were alight with excitement, and a group stood crowded around the new Nimbus 3000 broom in a shopfront window.
As they entered the book store, many students and parents mulled around. It was rather packed, but Lucia had to exchange her Standard Book of Spells or she would be without a book for the year.
They made their way to the school section, where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books, looking at the titles sharply to find the correct edition.
"Ah! This is it." Lucia exclaimed as she found the book, pulling it from the loaded shelf and praying the other books wouldn't fall.
"Lucia!" A masculine voice sounded from behind them.
"Mother said she had a good feeling about doing book shopping now." A similar voice added.
Lucia turned around to see the joyful faces of Lorcan and Lysander.
"Oh my god! I've missed you two so much!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around both their necks, "How have you been?"
"We've been very well. Mother's had us on a Crumple-Horned Snorkack hunt in Sweden for much of the summer, so it was rather eventful actually." Lysander explained, "How about you? Is this your boyfriend?"
Lucia scoffed at his straightforwardness, "My summer has been rather memorable. This is Tom, he... is a family friend from France."
"Bonjour, enchanté." Lorcan said, putting on his best French accent and extending his hand to shake Tom's.
"We best be off before Mother buys us another book about creatures that haven't been seen in the last century, but it was nice to see you Lucia, and to meet you Tom. See you on the train." Lysander spoke warmly, catching the gaze of his blonde-haired mother who had been peering curiously at a stack of books.
"See you on the train." Lucia answered, waving before making her way to the counter to exchange her book.
author's note
me scraping the depths of my memory for the french I learnt from the two years I did at like 13 or 14 years old lol
I hope you enjoyed them finally going somewhere included in the original books! the next chapter will continue at diagon alley so I thought I'd finish this one off here.
thank you for all your votes and comments, it's so nice to hear you are enjoying this story!