Dorla Doud kissed her son,
Lucius, goodbye. Today was the day he would start his world travels,
and would learn the way of the world. In some ways he looked so old
and mature; tall and strapping, with wiry muscles, his long golden
hair tied back with a strip of rawhide and his pack slung across his
back. But in other ways, he still looked like the eleven year old
that she kissed goodbye seven years ago at King's Cross station, on
his first day at Hogwarts.

Lucius accepted his
mother's kiss without complaint. He knew that this would be the last
time she got to kiss him goodbye until his return in a year, and he
had to admit that he would miss her; however, he could not show this
without making her think that he wasn't ready for this. He'd been
waiting for this trip for years, ever since he and his two friends,
Margaret Lytton and Richie Alongi, planned it in their fifth year. He
was meeting them at King's Cross in ten minutes. All three of them
could apparate, but they decided to meet at King's Cross for
sentimental reasons; that was where they met for the first time,
seven years ago to the day. They would apparate from the alleyway
behind the station after watching the train leave from platform 9 ¾.
They would first go to Diagon Alley to get money and any supplies
they didn't already have and then hit the big cities in Europe:
Paris, Rome, Moscow, Berlin, Dublin, Edinburgh, and then back to
London. They hoped to do so much exploring that it would take up the
whole year. They would camp outside, explore nature, and practice
their magic as needed.

“Mum, I've got to go,”
said Lucius, checking the watch he got for his seventeenth birthday.
“We're meeting at King's Cross in five minutes, and I don't want to
keep them waiting. I promise I'll write, you know I'm taking Jordin
with me.” Jordin was his barn owl. “I'll write every Monday. But
I really have to go.”

“Oh, I know,” said
Doria wistfully. “I just can't believe you're seventeen and leaving
me. Keep your wand with you all the time and keep yourselves fed and
warm And remember, if you come home for Christmas it doesn't make you
any less of an adventurer.”

Lucius smiled and hugged
her one last time. “We'll think about it, Mum. But I really have to
go. Love you!”

“I love you too, Luce.
Be safe.”

“ I will.”

Lucius turned and
disapparated, re-appearing in the alley behind King's Cross. Hefting
his pack, he walked around to the doors and inside the station. He
walked toward platforms nine and ten, and standing between them was a
pale woman with sleek blonde hair, an athletic build and a pack just
like his. He approached her and gave her a hug.

“Hey there, Margie.
Where's Richie?”

“Not sure. Probably in
the loo. Oh, there he is.”

Walking toward them was a
short, stocky redhead who was covered in freckles.

“Hey, Lucius, Margie. We
ready?”

“Yeah, let's get through
the wall before the train leaves, we only have a few minutes left.”

They leaned against the
wall carefully and slipped through the barricade, appearing among
students and parents rushing about and greeting old friends. They
stood and watched the chaos and reminisced about their years at
Hogwarts and how much they would miss it. The students began filing
onto the train and waving goodbye to their parents. Margie, Lucius
and Richie stood silently and smiled as the train rolled away, and
Lucius noticed Margie crying silently.

“It feels wrong not
being on the train. We should be sitting in a compartment and
changing into our robes.” said Lucius.

Richie and Margaret nodded
and went back through the barricade, out the door and around to the
alley. They disapparated to right in front of Gringotts and looked up
at it.

Ever since Harry Potter
and his friends destroyed the bank, it had been under reconstruction.
They had finished it the past winter and it looked better than ever;
now, instead of being all white, it was white with the gutters and
all of the edges painted a burnished gold, which made it glint in the
sunlight. It was beautiful. The procedures for accessing were more
strict now as well; a key was now absolutely required for all patrons
and there was no magic allowed in the building unless performed by a
Goblin; in fact, no other magic would work. You could not even enter
with an invisibility cloak or a disillusionment charm, for they would
be revealed immediately. If there was any doubt whatsoever about the
identity of someone attempting to enter a vault, Veritaserum was
administered.

The trio walked up to a
teller and presented their keys. They were inspected closely by the
grim-faced Goblin, and when they were found to be authentic, the
Goblin led them through a doorway and to a metal cart. This was
another improvement; the carts were now in better repair and were
much safer. They even had a roof now, and were more like trolleys
than carts.

The Goblin, Granuck,
opened the small door to the trolley and hey all entered. It looked
small, but they were bigger on the inside due to an Undetectable
Extension Charm, just like all three of their packs were.

After they all grabbed as
much money as they could carry and returned to the street, they
bought food and other supplies and had one more meal at the Leaky
Cauldron before heading off to Dublin. It was getting dark and they
didn't want to have to set up their tent in the dark.

They paid for their meal,
rechecked their packs, and looked around. This was where they would
reappear once their adventure was over, and they wondered if it would
change in that time. They held hands once more and turned,
disappearing from the pub and aiming for Ireland.