Carnation // [2]

Chapter 11

"Wasted with longing."

Aurelia waved her wand around her body, casting the Disillusionment charm. It flooded over her until she blended in with her surroundings. She glanced down at her arm. She knew it was there but the pavement was all that stared up at her. She waved her arm around and could see faint ripples and distortions in the pavement. It would do. No one would see her and if anyone did see movement they would chalk it down to being a trick of the eye.

Her skill in concealment charms had grown considerably as she had done more infiltration and information gaining missions. It was a very useful skill to have. With a quick glance down the empty street, she turned and apparated into the centre of Paris.

She appeared in an alleyway and walked out, checking her body to make sure she was still concealed. She turned left and wandered through the people walking down the streets. She spotted the sign above the shop she was looking for. Bettie's Bits and Bobs. It had many magical objects for the everyday witch or wizard and Aurelia knew she could find most of what she needed here.

To her luck, someone pulled open the door and walked out. She slipped in before it would shut and made her way to the back. She dropped her wand from her sleeve into her hand and waved it over her body, revealing herself once more. She began her search through the massive shop.

She walked through it, picking up some quills, invisible ink, and parchment. She needed to contact a few people about some more supplies, and it would be useful later on. Along with a couple charms, only the intended recipient would ever read the contents. She learnt the charms from her parents. They went into hiding before her seventh year, but before that they had been sending encoded and secret messages back and forth between them and the Order.

Back then she knew little about the Order of the Phoenix. It was only when the war became serious that they thought to tell her. She joined after her seventh year with all of her friends. Now, she had so few left.

She moved on to rucksacks and a charmed tent with a large interior and much more. Things they would need for exploration that they could not get from their wands. She added a few cloaks and sufficient running boots for the three of them, to be safe.

When she was confident she had enough, she moved to the cashier to pay. She handed over the galleons and returned the smile the lady offered her.

"Going on a trip?" The lady asked.

"Yup. With my dad." The lie slipped easily from her tongue. It had become a habit, always lying about what she was doing for the Order or as an Auror.

"You have fun now, dear."

She smiled and levitated her purchases into a small rucksack with an extension charm on it. First task done. She looked around the shop. The lady was occupied with another customer and a man browsed charmed candles in one aisle. She moved behind a different shelf and cast the same spell she did earlier. When she was fully concealed, she pulled the door open and wandered out.

There was a pub a couple streets down that she could write the letters in. A muggle pub, so no wizard would be in there that could recognise her. First, she would need to stop at a muggle shop. She did not want to draw attention to herself.

She crossed the busy street and continued walking, taking the necessary turns until she reached her destination. To her luck, the shop she needed was only a few shops down from the pub. She removed the charm behind a group of distracted people and turned quickly into the shop. She looked around and found the muggle item her mother always used. She said quills were difficult and unnecessary, so she used what she called a fountain pen. It was like a quill, but it held the ink in it so that she did not have to keep dipping it in ink.

She grabbed a notebook too. She knew the muggles would look at her parchment with confused glances and she did not want to draw attention to herself. Once she paid with the necessary muggle money, she left, crossing the road into the pub.

A couple people sat inside, some eating lunch. She nodded to a waitress and moved towards a seat in the back. She opened the notebook and set to writing the first letter. She would send them through the owl post in another part of Paris and hopefully receive the responses by the end of the day.

The first letter was addressed to Cynthia Abbott. One of her closest friends from Hogwarts, now a Healer at St Mungo's. She had asked for some healing potions to aid them on their journey.

Her second letter was to Katherine Hughes. She needed someone to know what was going on in case it went wrong. Someone who would come help them if needed.

With the letters all written and sent, she wandered into another small wizarding café and waited for their replies.

A couple hours later, Aurelia had received letters from both of them and now she was on her way to the Louvre Museum to meet with Cynthia. She walked into the busy area, filled with people. The perfect spot to blend in. She looked for the fourth archway on the left of the center glass pyramid. She walked towards it, looking out for the light brown hair that marked her friend.

She reached the spot and saw someone standing in front of the building, admiring it. It would have looked like any other tourist, but she spotted a streak of light brown hair peaking from the mustard coloured hood.

She walked up to the woman and stood next to her. "Beautiful, isn't it?" She said in French, though it was rough.

"Yes, yes, it is," came the response in the familiar voice. Cynthia turned, giving her a slight smirk before a look of caution crossed her features. A warning to be careful. She passed over a small purse.

She grabbed it and slipped it into her pocket. It must have an Undetectable Extension charm placed on it.

"Enjoy," she said in the same shaky French, most likely butchering the pronunciation.

She walked off into the crowd and when she reached an unoccupied alley, she turned and apparated to another alley closer to Rosier Manor.

The easy work was done. Now, they needed to actually find the artefacts.

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- walkingmasterpiece xx