Fractured paths

Gringotts

London was the definition of an old, big city.

Every stone building held its own history—the tower bridge spanning the river Thames, Saint Paul's Cathedral. Both had survived countless invasion attempts. In two of the so-called Muggle World Wars the cathedral's roof was damaged, but the hard-working muggles rebuilt it. Or so Regulus read in his brochure—which he pretended not to be interested in, lest Lucy discover he found this history admirable. Not that he needed to hide it from her. She was too busy gawking.

Shiny billboards and new, tall building squished between the remnants of castles and old statues. Electric signs flashed various messages from the sides or tops of other buildings. Regulus had no idea what the reason for that was.

Several times, Regulus stopped to stare as Londoners rushed down crowded streets in mobs.

As he stood with Lucy at the entrance to the unofficial Centrum Piccadilly Circus, Regulus couldn't help but feel out of place. Though he'd lived in London all his life, he'd never seen it like this—from the muggles' perspective.

Lucy gaped at everything—more than she had back in Jonas' and Albert's village. The moment they stepped inside the circus grounds, she stopped in disbelief. Billboards and busy people filled the area.

"Come on." Regulus guided her toward their destination with a hand on her shoulder. "We're almost there."

Lucy nodded slowly, eyes still studying everything around her as if she'd just fallen into a fantasy world.

The closer they'd come to London, the more they'd realized running into muggles was an inevitability. Every time they met one, he or she gave Regulus' robe an odd look, which resulted in Regulus and Lucy making a stop to acquire muggle clothes. Though, "acquire" turned out to mean snatching a few things off an unattended clothesline...

They still didn't have any muggle money, but at least now Regulus wore jeans, a white shirt, and a long, heavy, black coat. A gray scarf tucked around his neck to ward off the late November chill.

Lucy still wore her worn robe. Though it was patchy, it was warm and comfortable, and she wrapped her red scarf around her and donned a red wool hat, which hid some of her unruly hair and warmed her ears.

At first, Regulus refused to wear a hat—a decision he regretted now. Despite their clothes, both bemoaned the worsening weather as the temperature dropped with every new day. Each breath brought a cloud of white.

"We'll have ta get into Diagon Alley," said Lucy.

"I know," Regulus muttered as he rubbed his arms to warm them.

"We might run into someone who recognizes us..." Lucy said.

"I know that too. We just need to be quick."

Lucy pulled her hat farther down and stuffed more hair into it, then she pulled Regulus' scarf over his nose and gave him a once-over. "Let's get goin' then."

They found the Leaky Cauldron with relative ease. It was almost empty, but Regulus and Lucy were relieved to be somewhere near home territory again.

They entered Diagon Alley only to find it looked similar to the pub with only a handful of people about. Since it wasn't the summer holiday, no one was buying things for school, and the few occupants walked with bowed heads and moved quickly.

Regulus and Lucy copied everyone else's posture and made it to Gringotts without incident. The white stone building greeted them with silence.

"Here we go," Regulus whispered. He took a bronze knut from his pocket and flicked his wand over it. The knut became a golden key.