Increased - a sequel to Turned

Chapter Ten

A month later, Elizabeth had gained enough trust to be given her first assignment. She was to go to a small town just outside of London and bring back a girl named Carolina Brown.

"You have your wand?" Annie clarified as she watched Elizabeth buttoned her cloak around her neck. It was the same cloak she had stolen from Ama.

"Of course," she replied, pulling the tip of her wand out from the pocket of her black trousers.

"The polyjuice potion?"

Elizabeth dug for a moment before finding the small vile of potion that she was so reluctant to consume. "Here."

"Now you have to remember that you have to wait until she leaves to enter her home. You cannot approach her on the first day either. Don't get too ambitious on your first assignment," Annie warned.

Elizabeth agreed, knowing she was prone to overestimating herself. "In the four days I will be in London, will I have any spare time?"

"What do you mean, spare time?" Annie repeated.

"I just wanted to see the city a little bit," Elizabeth shrugged. Annie groaned, telling her that if she had extra time before she collected Carolina, she could sightsee. "Thank you so much," she smiled, picking up her bag before disapparating from the location. She came about in front of a small building. An iron sign indicated that it was called The Leaky Cauldron. "Quaint," she muttered under her breath as a grey, runny liquid dripped from the roof to the ground.

Gripping her bag, she entered the dingy pub which took over the bottom half of what she assumed was the hotel.

"Do you have a reservation?" a short witch asked, stepping on to a stool behind the counter.

"Yes, Brenda Dimsberry," Elizabeth informed her in a faux English accent, scanning the pub once more.

The woman handed her a key and a piece of paper, "Right. Here is the key, has the room number on it, and here is the menu for the pub down here. Any questions?"

"No, thank you," Elizabeth took the key and menu.

The witch clapped her hands together, "Very well then, have a lovely stay, and if you will be here for Christmas, we've got a tree 'n everything."

She thanked the woman, shaken as she realized that the day after the next was Christmas. It felt as if no time had passed since Tom had been in her bed the last holiday.

Elizabeth walked up to the second floor where her room awaited her. It was larger than she had expected for such a run down place. She wanted to visit Hogwarts while she was in the close proximity, laying down on the medium sized bed while she debated if it would be risky or not.

Eventually falling asleep, she forgot the idea and for the first time in so long, slept a total of twelve hours.

When she awoke the next day, Elizabeth saw the sun beaming in through the cloudy windows. It was Christmas Eve. As soon as she regained her focus, she remembered her plan to visit Hogwarts.

Realizing how much viable time she was wasting, after cleaning up, she decided to grab her cloak, not downing the potion as Annie had instructed. Knowing that the castle would likely be empty as a result of it being the holidays, Elizabeth decided to go Joshua's home.

Hoping it would give her an extra hint of foreignness, she found a pair of scissors in the drawer and cut her hair to her shoulders. Her curls tightened with the newfound lightness. Waving her wand around the choppy locks, the haircut evened out from her amateur snipping.

She added a bright rouge to her lips in the hopes that it would make her any less sickly than she really was. It didn't work. Her shoulder blades were visible from under the cloak, and it was obvious she hasn't eaten a wholesome meal in possibly months. She was much worse off than when Joshua had seen her last and Elizabeth pondered if he would even recognize her this time.