The Unknown of the Order (Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

Gringotts

When the potion was finally ready, the group awoke early to enact their plan. Sarah spooned some potion into two glasses, took out a pair of vials, and poured a few strands of hair from each into one of them. She and Jacob drank. There was an uncomfortable moment as they coughed and wretched, their skin bubbling up as Sarah shrank and Jacob filled out and became broader. After a moment, the Spellman parents stood before them. 

"Alright, let's move," said Jacob, his voice deeper than before. He placed such a good disillusionment charm on the others that Barnaby couldn't see them at all. He made sure to follow closely behind Sarah as she and Jacob led them down to the pub. 

The only people downstairs were Tom the barman, busy behind his bar cleaning out glasses, and two warlocks whispering in a corner. 

Tom looked up, surprised to see them. 

"Mr. and Mrs. Spellman," he said, "I didn't hear you come in."

"Morning Tom, just passing through," said Jacob.

"How are you, Donna?" Tom asked Sarah. "It's been a while since I've seen you."

"Fine, thank you," said Sarah. "Eager to get our shopping done."

Tom held up his hands. "Don't let me keep you, then. Be careful out there. There's some dangerous folks about today."

They nodded to Tom, then crossed the floor to the alley, Barnaby and the others right behind them. 

Jacob tapped his wand on the correct brick, and the wall opened up to reveal Diagon Alley. Barnaby still wasn't used to seeing it like this, even after a month of walking along it. Most of the shops were boarded up, and those that weren't were focused on the Dark Arts. The street held none of the happy bustle of activity and color it used to. It was dark and dirty. Every few feet there was another wandless--a person who claimed to be a wizard but didn't have the heritage to prove it--begging for gold. 

They were even fewer patrons than usual at this early hour, and they ran into no obstacles, apart from a Wandless that lay in the middle of the street, a bloody bandage over his eye. 

"What do you reckon happened to him?" Barnaby whispered. 

"He annoyed the wrong person," said Merula. "Now, shush."

They passed a bordered up Ollivander's, a closed Florean Fortescue's, and the jewelry store where Barnaby had bought Sarah's ring, also closed. Barnaby wondered where the ring was now, if it had fallen from his pocket and lay on the floor at his old apartment, or if his parents had found it and destroyed it along with his old wand.

Once they had arrived at the white marble building, Barnaby and Elena moved to the left and Merula to the right. There were guards in front of the large, bronze doors--each with a probity probe in hand. They were to detect magical concealment. 

"Hullo," said the guard on the left with a cheery wave of his probe. "Have a lovely time!" 

Merula cast a spell to make a galleon appear at the guard's feet. 

"Oh, my lucky day!" 

As he bent over to pick it up, Sarah and Jacob walked in, and Barnaby and the others slipped quickly after them. 

"That was a bit odd," said Merula, once they were safely through the other two sets of doors and in the bank's main lobby. "I think that bloke had already been confunded."

"Mine as well," said Elena.

"Maybe they just haven't had their morning coffee yet," offered Barnaby, though he was just as confused as the others.