If Vanity's My Vitamin (Sienna)

[camila calderón]

Mid-June 2025

After what had happened at the Quidditch match, Camila understood why her team was hesitant about letting her go out anywhere, even with the use of Polyjuice Potion. It wasn’t her identity that was the problem; it was her physical safety, regardless if she was herself or disguised as Julieta. Walking around with an obvious security detail felt as though was inviting danger, however, and there was something about the thought of going out and about as Julieta that made her feel even marginally safer in public.

It was after a trip into Diagon Alley that Camila overheard the name “Sienna” again, and she had come to realize that Sienna—the friend of Auguste Courtemanche’s whom she had met while at St. Mungo’s—worked at the apothecary there. It was convenient and too perfect, Camila thought, especially when she hadn’t had the opportunity to exchange contact information with her without going through Auguste first.

Using the remainder of the Polyjuice that she had stored and praying that it didn’t have an expiry date, Camila transformed into Julieta and got dressed in clothing that would better suit her manager’s niece. It would look suspicious, naturally, if she were to wear anything that would have been recognizable as her own, even if it was just the one errand that she had to run. She would be Julieta only long enough to go into Diagon Alley and back.

Arriving back in Diagon Alley from her apartment alone, Camila walked to the apothecary, her wand concealed inside a light jacket. It was late enough that business for the day had slowed, but it wasn’t late enough for the shop to have closed for the night. In other words, it was an ideal time of evening, and she could only hope that Sienna was still working.

Trying to make sure that Sienna was still at work was probably the most difficult aspect of the entire trip. She would have just wasted perfectly good leftover Polyjuice Potion for nothing, she thought, if it turned out that Sienna wasn’t there. But, as she opened the door, Camila realized that she was in luck: Sienna was right there, even if her own physical form was the blonder, fairer Julieta.

“Hello,” she smiled politely as she shut the shop door after herself, trying not to blow her cover so soon.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

It felt good to be back at work. Maybe that was an odd feeling – after all, who wanted to drudge to and from work every day – but after an absolutely chaotic few weeks Si was looking forward to the routine. She’d been stuck at St. Mungo’s with Hag’s Fever just shy of two weeks, and she’d alternated between wanting to die of boredom and wanting to die from feeling so sick all the time. She didn’t do well alone, so being in quarantine with other sick strangers was one of her nightmare scenarios.

Excluding the excitement of her first day, where a potentially embarrassing entrance had led to an actually wonderful conversation with Camila Calderón, Si had almost resorted to counting down the days of idleness until she could be discharged. She’d been rather grumpy about being forced to miss the Quidditch final – well, at least until she’d heard the news of the terrible accident. It had been jarring not to read about the accident in the Daily Prophet but to actually see the commotion at St. Mungo’s as they prepared to receive patients. That was as close to any excitement as Si ever wanted to see again.

So…yeah. It was almost an understatement to say Sienna was relieved to get back to her apartment, greet her little fuzzball of a cat at home (who’d been watched by the neighbor during her quarantine), and resume normal operations at the apothecary. Still…things weren’t quite back to normal. The isles-wide quarantine had made the acquisition of some potion ingredients difficult, as they were usually imported from abroad and the apothecary had been forced to get creative with more local sources. It led to shortages sometimes of certain ingredients.

Certain ingredients that Si was now divvying up at the front of the store. It was a hard choice to make – the apothecary sold both ingredients and potions, and Sienna didn’t trust the shopkeepers enough to determine how much could be sold directly to customers without complicating her and Jamie’s jobs. So she was carefully measuring out a rather large bottle of bulbadox juice into smaller vials, and idly planning her next acquisitions trip abroad.

At least, until a customer approached and greeted her. Even if it wasn’t her job, Sienna could understand the confusion…but why not? It was getting later in the evening, there was less for her to do in the back...so she carefully capped the bulbadox juice and turned to face the customer. “Good evening!” Si responded, putting on her best employee smile. “Can I help you find something?”

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Mid-June 2025

It was sort of strange to see Sienna at work. The last and only other time that they had seen one another, the both of them had been hospitalized with Hag's Fever. While Sienna had been worse off than she at the time, she hadn't been quite so out of it as Camila had been upon her admission to St. Mungo's. It was good to see that Sienna looked well again. When they were in the hospital, Sienna had mentioned how disappointed she was that she wouldn't be able to attend the Quidditch finals. In a strange twist of fate, Camila had attended, and she had to wonder how it must have felt for Sienna after the accident that had happened.

All of that, though, was information that Julieta wouldn't have known, and so Camila stuck to the role that she was playing as Sienna smiled at her. "Good evening!" she said, her voice slightly different from how she had sounded when conversing normally. "Can I help you find something?"

"Yes," Camila smiled and nodded, moving closer to where Sienna was working. She wondered if her imperfect English would give her away, even if the voice in which she spoke wasn't her own. "I have a… request?" she asked, looking around the shop a little. Under any circumstances, Camila knew what she was about to request would be met with suspicion. She couldn't think of very many innocuous uses for Polyjuice Potion, and she couldn't just come right out and ask if they happened to sell it. No, that seemed too abrupt, but so did immediately letting it slip that—not only was she under the effects of the very same potion as she spoke—she was also Camila Calderón.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Something about the encounter felt a little…off. Si began to mentally reorganize all the information she’d passively noticed – it was late, almost closing time. That meant the apothecary was almost empty, and the only shopkeeper was on the other side of the store helping a customer. And the woman who’d approached Sienna for help was acting oddly. Reluctant to state her business.

It was probably nothing, Si reasoned with herself. If the customer was really some shady individual, they wouldn’t have come into a store with witnesses and asked an employee for help. But a small voice in her head still nagged that odd things happened all the time, and they had to happen to somebody. It would just be her luck for it to finally happen to her – something less innocent than an annoying but relatively harmless bout of Hag’s Fever. It was most definitely a paranoid thought, but they were living in strange times. Si figured she was due some paranoia.

The woman (who at second glance looked younger than Si’s first estimation) spoke slowly, and her statement sounded more like a question. Sienna nodded uncertainly. “I can help with anything you might be looking for,” she confirmed. She decided to give her the benefit of the doubt – maybe she was just private, or the potion she wanted was for an embarrassing or sensitive condition. That happened sometimes, even if Sienna was usually just the potion-maker and not the one actually speaking with the customers. Si lowered her voice. “Especially if it’s a potion for private use. You don’t need to be embarrassed to ask.”

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Mid-June 2025

“I can help with anything you might be looking for,” Sienna answered her. "Anything" must have been a stretch, Camila assumed; how dangerous or otherwise outrageous could the potions that the apothecary sold actually get? There must have been some regulation by the Ministry of Magic of that sort of thing. Sienna's voice then got much softer, as though speaking of a secret. "Especially if it’s a potion for private use. You don’t need to be embarrassed to ask."

"No, no," Camila spoke, shaking her head. It wasn't anything embarrassing; she didn't have boils or wings sprouting out of her back or anything. It was just an unnecessarily difficult potion that she needed. "Just difficult." As in, brewing Polyjuice Potion took weeks—and that was assuming that all of the steps were carried out properly. For the sake of not seeming suspicious if she were to voice her request at full volume, however, she lowered her voice to match Sienna's. "I would like Polyjuice Potion," she explained, waiting to gauge Sienna's reaction.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Polyjuice Potion. Sienna couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows before they knit together in deep concentration as she re-considered the witch making the request. It was unusual, probably the first time she’d ever been asked about it. Slug and Jigger’s didn’t stock it on the shelves, as it was far too easy to take advantage of and misuse the potion – if a potioneer had ever created a stock of it for a special Ministry order or something, it hadn’t been during Sienna’s time at the apothecary. It was complicated, time-intensive, and Si wasn’t even sure where she could find the recipe (probably in one of the many books they had in the back, but she’d never exactly tried before).

“Oh! I see.” She didn’t really, but Si was at something of a loss as to what the right answer should be to a request like that. She studied the customer cautiously – what were the chances she actually wanted Polyjuice Potion for something innocent? Sienna wasn’t exactly the bravest person around – no Gryffindor traits in her – but she figured the woman deserved one last chance to explain herself before Si said no and maybe possibly asked her to leave. Even if the researcher in her was tempted by the opportunity to brew Polyjuice for the first time. “I can set up a cauldron in the back, please follow me.” Unlikely that any cauldron was actually going to be properly prepped, but she couldn’t ask any follow-up questions (and she had plenty) in such a public area.

Sienna didn’t pause for an answer before rounding the counter and entering her workspace in the back room. There, she whirled around to study the witch. “Look, you better have a really good story for why you want Polyjuice Potion. There aren’t a lot of good reasons to want it, and we don’t get mixed up in illegal things here, okay?”

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Mid-June 2025

Sienna understood immediately, which seemed well and good, but Camila hadn't expected her to be so quick to offer up a cauldron slot for the potion. She told her to follow her, and so Camila obliged, nodding and following behind Sienna. Careful not to disturb anything in the back of the shop as she walked through, she stopped when Sienna stopped around the corner where they couldn't be seen from the front.

It was at that point that Sienna's tone quickly changed. "Look," she started, almost accusatory in her manner, "you better have a really good story for why you want Polyjuice Potion. There aren’t a lot of good reasons to want it, and we don’t get mixed up in illegal things here, okay?"

While she knew that this was completely serious—and she was glad to know that Sienna was treating as such—Camila bit down on her (or Julieta's) lip to stifle a giggle. Knowing what Sienna didn't, it was sort of entertaining. She grinned, almost wishing that the potion would wear off enough that Sienna would be able to see that it was her, using Polyjuice Potion as they conversed with one another. "Sorry, sorry… I'm Carmen," she explained with a laugh, providing the one detail about her that Sienna had hopefully remembered: her non-stage name. "…From the hospital?" she added, reaching her hand into her jacket pocket and pulling out her mobile phone. It would have been more easily identifiable to Sienna than her wand, after how many times they had passed the thing back and forth. She gestured to her very un-Camila appearance, phone in hand, as she lowered her voice. "And this…? Polyjuice."

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Okay, so Sienna knew she wasn’t a particularly intimidating person. There were some witches and wizards out there that made ‘intimidating’ look easy, almost like an art, and that wasn’t even including all the terrifying things out there like Dark wizards or acromantulas. She, in turn, was a rather petite person, and her style of ‘angry’ was usually closer to that of a riled-up puppy. But she was almost offended when the witch responded (to what Sienna had thought to be a statement of at least an acceptable level of firmness if not slight disapproval) with a grin and a badly-stifled giggle.

Si crossed her arms (although she couldn’t decide if it was to sell the image of stern disapproval or as a pouty response to not being taken seriously) as she watched the girl apologize. But her eyes widened moments after as the girl explained that she was actually Carmen and that she was already under the effects of Polyjuice Potion. The whole explanation was sealed as she pulled out a very recognizable phone from her pocket, and Si’s eyes flicked between the phone and the newly-identified Camila Calderón. Si returned Camila’s grin with a relieved smile of her own.

“Oh, thank Merlin,” Sienna sighed, finally uncrossing her arms. All the facts that she’d reorganized in her head earlier were finally starting to fit together. It was late, almost closing time. The apothecary was almost empty, and a witch had come in asking an employee about Polyjuice. Because she was a well-known celebrity, who wanted to stay out of the public eye, and was looking for the right potion to do it. “This makes so much sense. I don’t even know what I would have done if you were looking to do something illegal.” With the knowledge that this was actually a familiar person, Si looked over the disguise again. It must have been an extremely well-brewed potion – there was no indication that this was Camila and not some random witch. “How’d you find me here, anyway?”

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Mid-June 2025

It took the presence of her phone for Sienna to understand that she wasn't some criminal. Camila had never felt that she was in any real danger of retaliation from Sienna; the most that the other young woman did was cross her arms and look intimidating, though even that didn't last.

Sienna smiled back at her. "Oh, thank Merlin," she said, the realization that it actually was Camila in front of her—in spite of her appearance—hitting her. "This makes so much sense. I don’t even know what I would have done if you were looking to do something illegal."

She had too much of a reputation to uphold to try anything illegal, Camila thought. Even just the media's getting word of her using Polyjuice was enough to cause an uproar, which made it even better that she had a personal connection to someone who could brew Polyjuice for her.

"How’d you find me here, anyway?"

Camila shrugged, toying with her phone for a minute. "It was not difficult." She had been in Diagon Alley, and Sienna's name wasn't a common one. She'd put two and two together, and, well… There she was, in the back of Slug & Jiggers.

"The potion is… a lot of money," she continued, and she doubted that some of the ingredients were cheap to come by, on top of it. "I know." However much it was, she was willing to pay for it—and extra for the hassle, if it was necessary.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Even if Camila was wearing a face she didn’t recognize, it was already much easier for Sienna to relax. She was a law-abiding witch, after all! She’d never get caught up in anything sketchy, and there wasn’t exactly a manual for people who approached you looking to acquire illegal potions. Si was sure it happened all the time, but not at a respectable establishment like Slug and Jigger’s.

The sight of Camila fidgeting with her phone reminded Sienna of another development since being discharged from St. Mungo’s. “Oh! I’ve been busy too. Take a look.” Sienna took a few steps towards her work station before sliding her new cellphone off the desk and into her hand before waving it playfully towards Camila. It had only been a week since she’d broken down and bought it, and it had already changed her life. She’d been raised as a Muggle, after all, and leaving modern technology behind had been one of the hardest parts of the transition. It was lovely to finally see the magical world catching up on technology, and being able to use a phone again had been one of the highlights of Si’s week.

At Camila’s last point on the potion’s expense, Si nodded solemnly as her mind whizzed through how to discover the next steps of the brewing process. “I can draw up an expense report after I track down an ingredients list. We must have it here somewhere.” Si idly waved her hand at the bookshelf towards the back of the room, which was full of books on anything anyone could possibly need on Potions. It hardly even occurred to her that she was already speaking about next steps even though she hadn’t actually verbally agreed to brew Polyjuice. It was a given, after all, if it was for a friend.

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Mid-June 2025

"Oh!" Sienna suddenly exclaimed. She had been reminded of something in the middle of their conversation, and she urged her to take a look at what it was that she had been up to since she had left the hospital.

Interested to see what it was, Camila moved closer to Sienna's work area. While she didn't know what it was that she was supposed to be seeing at first, she waited. Did Sienna have some Polyjuice Potion prepared aside from the bit of the person the potion was meant to cause someone to resemble? She didn't see anything of that nature, though. And then she saw a mobile phone there. Sienna picked it up and waved it in her direction.

Camila put her hands up to her mouth to keep from screeching, but she bounced up and down at the sight of it. It would be so much easier for them to communicate—and keep in touch—with non-magical technology. "It's very good!" she smiled, trying not to get too excited by it. They still had business to discuss—though Camila wouldn't have minded conversing about the phone, either.

"I can draw up an expense report after I track down an ingredients list. We must have it here somewhere," Sienna stated.

That was where her phone would come in handy, Camila thought. The words and phrases used for business in English weren't her strongest point, though she heard a lot of larger words thrown around a lot in meetings. She shook her head, pulling up her translator. "Too much English," she giggled. "In Spanish, I understand." Contracts in Spanish were one thing. Negotiating with a friend over a potion she could afford regardless was completely different.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna grinned at Camila’s visible excitement. She was finally coming out of the Dark Ages! For now she hadn’t been using her phone for much more than playing music or the occasional call, but it could become a real asset in the future as she and Jamie made more progress on their potioneering projects. And now, obviously, Si had a much more effective way of keeping in touch with the people in her life than the owl post. She’d have to ask Camila for her number.

But back to the business matter at hand. As Camila pulled out her phone and opened the familiar translator app, Si thought back to what she’d said and shook her head at herself. “Wow, you’re right. I didn’t even hear myself.” It was a blessing and a curse. Si had spent years in London in an environment where she had very little opportunity to speak French. At the beginning, she would have traded her wand to make the experience less painful, but she’d eventually picked up the level of English she needed to live and work in the language. That was great. But she’d forgotten how it felt to be a beginner, and she really had no excuse for it.

She pulled up her own translator app to speak into – each girl having her own phone meant it could go much faster this time. Si smiled to herself as she applied the new settings. French to Spanish. “I need a little time to figure out the potion’s ingredients. It’s hard to find on-purpose, I think. Once I have a list, we can discuss the price?”

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

Mid-June 2025

It was such a relief that magical versions of non-magical technologies had been developed and made legal for purchase by the public. Camila wasn't sure what she had done before she had gotten her enchanted laptop and mobile phone, but it was nice to know that she would be able to stay in touch with Sienna more easily.

Well, aside from the issue of her using so much business- and potions-specific English, which Sienna realized was an issue as soon as Camila brought it up. "Wow, you’re right," she said. "I didn’t even hear myself." Camila longed for the day when she would be so fluent in English, but translation through their phones worked well enough until then.

It was Sienna, this time, who opened up the relevant app first, though Camila prepped her own for when she would need to speak. Passing one phone back and forth had taken a while the last time. "I need a little time to figure out the potion’s ingredients. It’s hard to find on-purpose, I think. Once I have a list, we can discuss the price?" she said through the translator.

Camila nodded. There was hardly any need to use her own translator. "Perfect." It didn't really matter what it cost, as long as it could be done. Switching to the translator then, she spoke in Spanish. "I should leave before the potion wears off. What's your phone number? I'll add you to my contacts. We can communicate that way."

Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Camila mentioned that her dose of Polyjuice was going to wear off soon, and it was just as well – Sienna was going to need time to plan out the next steps. For a potioneer, figuring out the brewing process of advanced potions was easier than for the average wizard. They tended to have more resources available for such tasks – stacks of potions books and journals at their disposal and the possibility of consulting with other potioneers. In this case, Sienna was sure that Slug and Jigger’s had the ingredients list somewhere, and it wouldn’t be difficult to find time when she’d be alone to do the proper research (for Camila’s privacy, of course). Even better, she could keep the cauldron at her work station, practically in plain sight…it wouldn’t look out-of-place among her other apothecary-related projects. She’d never had the opportunity to brew this potion before, but she was a quick learner in this subject.

Sienna smiled as she slowly read out her phone number to Camila in English before switching back to the translator app. “Text me so I have your number,” she suggested before continuing. “I need maybe two weeks to find instructions and all the ingredients. Then I can start the potion.” There were a few things Si already knew about Polyjuice Potion from her potions classes in Beauxbatons…the duration of the potion depended greatly on its quality as well as the skill of the wizard. Si’s first batch would do the basic job for Camila, but she’d be able to improve and possibly extend its duration with more practice. Beyond that, the brewing of the potion itself required weeks and weeks. At least a month, although Si was sure Camila was going to want to stop by before the very end.

All this in mind, Sienna spoke thoughtfully into her phone. “I will text you when I know about the price. And maybe you could bring the final ingredient as well.” Si twisted a lock of her hair to make the point nonverbally – Camila knew the drill if she’d taken Polyjuice several times before. And it wasn’t like Sienna didn’t already have vials of very odd potions ingredients lying around (perhaps distasteful to the average person) to the point where hair wouldn’t stand out at all. “How does that sound?” Sienna asked the final question in English.

camila calderón
[Maybe a time-jump here for your next post? A few weeks?]

[camila calderón]

Mid-June 2025

Camila didn’t really care how long it took for Sienna to procure her Polyjuice Potion ingredients, provided that it didn’t take, say, a year or something to do it. Before that, though, she did have to be mindful that she was out in public in a physical form that wasn’t her own. It was good as long as the potion lasted, but she had risked it before. The tabloids didn’t need to get their hands on the fact that Camila Calderón was sneaking around as some other girl so that she could do regular things. While Camila didn’t think that it was all that exciting, she knew that what she thought wasn’t usually what mattered—not to the press or the public, anyway.

When she said that she would add Sienna’s number to her contacts, Sienna obliged and read out her number in English. After typing it in, Camila held her phone out so that Sienna could confirm that it was correct, and she stuck her in as “Si”.

“Text me so I have your number,” Sienna instructed her, and Camila was already on it as Sienna continued on the subject of the potion itself through the translator. “I need maybe two weeks to find instructions and all the ingredients. Then I can start the potion.”

“Good,” Camila replied in English, sending off a text to Sienna: This is C. Short, to the point, wouldn’t get her confused with the real Julieta whose hair she’d been using, and wouldn’t risk her privacy, either.

“I will text you when I know about the price. And maybe you could bring the final ingredient as well.” Camila nodded and laughed a little as Sienna played with her hair—probably to emphasize that that was what she was talking about. “How does that sound?”

“Perfect! Thank you very much,” Camila grinned. She appreciated it immensely. “I will text you.”

---

Late June 2025

In planning to return to the apothecary as herself rather than as Julieta, Camila knew that she had to take additional precautions. That was celebrity life, as much as it annoyed her that she couldn’t just pop to Diagon Alley to chat and do business with Sienna. With that in mind, she and Sienna had arranged for her to come when the shop was at its quietest, though she came with security this time—just in case—and felt a little self-conscious about it. For all the public knew, at least, she could have been getting some sort of potion for something else; it wasn’t as though Polyjuice would have been the first thing to cross anyone’s mind. Still, she was careful to make sure that her security carried the hair and not her. If anyone besides Sienna asked, it was for a body double for something—a lie plausible enough to work for Camila’s purposes.

There was no way that Sienna wouldn’t have noticed Camila walk in with two grown men on either side of her, anyway, so at least there was that, though they were on time with no one else in the shop. Seeing that it was slightly safer, Camila was able to ignore some of the pretense. “Hi.”

Sienna Aurélie Linslee