Chapter 5: The Art of Confusion, Bamako, and Polyjuice.

Throughout the seven days of traveling, Solomon got to learn more about the father and son duo through their conversation. He observed that Abe was extremely strict with his son as a means to teach him the ropes of being a merchant.

Solomon did not have a hard time on the trip as he slept on his king-size bed and took a shower every morning, curtsy of his multi-room suitcase. He kept the suitcase all the way back of the carriage and with all its safety measures, the duo would not be able to open it even if it was spotted.

On the Journey, he read through: The Art of Confusion and the Confundo Charm by Garnett Harpis, a Master Legilimens who made the Charm to combat the witch trials that were taking place in the 17th century. The book talks about the advantage the charm has, as opposed to the Imprius Curse. The charm leans towards light magic in its essence but can do serious damage. It is not as forceful or goes against the target's will when it is cast, but with the intended target's will, and causes them to confuse the steps taken. While Solomon learned a lot from the book he still needed practice, while not ethical Solomon knew he had two living targets that he can use as a benchmark. So on the 3rd day of the trip, he started the practice of the Confundo Charm.

With a twirl of his wand in the movement of a question mark he cast the spell on Yaya.

"Confundo," Solomon whispered. With that came the blueish-sliver charm as he willed Yaya to rest. The reins on the horse slowed down but before he could speak to his father Abe, "Confundo," Solomon murmured again aiming his wand at Abe this time to agree with his son. Through this sort of trial and error, Solomon learned a lot about the charm.

If his magic core was all the way full he could cast the Confundo charm about 8 times. During practice, he used different combinations to get the best ratio of spells he could cast within the confined of his magic core. The practice bore great results as he learn he could cast about 7 Disillusionment charms and 4 Condundos before needing to rest.

* * *

1965 CE, Entrance of Bamako

As the carriage got near the capital of Mali, the colossal gates of Bamako widened further until we arrived at the foot of the wall.

Bamako.

The wall was majestic as it was layered with bricks in such precision that it made Solomon doubt it was a city in Mali. There was a long line of merchants going in and out of the city, and the check-in took a lot longer than in Djenné due to the traffic. Solomon stayed with the duo until they reached their shop called Abes' Fabrics.

Before the duo could go unload what they brought back to the capital, Solomon hopped off the carriage. As he has disillusioned, he looked back at the duo of father and son that unknowingly helped him immensely. Solomon got emotional as any five-year-old would, they traveled together and he did not even realize it himself but Solomon was lonely. Sighing with regret Solomon walked away.

It was around 2 in the afternoon and the city was bustling, a boy like Solomon went unnoticed as he did not stand out. Solomon took about 3 hours scooping out the city and finding key offices such as the passport registration office and the direction to get to the airport. After he was done, he traveled to a portion of the city with less traffic and that was relatively safe.

"Alohomora," Solomon commanded as the door to an empty house unlocked. He made his way in. Solomon found this house after a bit of searching, the house was not occupied with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. The dining room was quite large but all that did matter to him. With this house, he found a place to keep his suitcase as he would spend his time sleeping in it.

* * *

Getting himself comfortable with the house Solomon looked towards the future and his next step was finding someone he could test the Polyjuice potion with as he needs another persons hair. He needs a college student that is around 20 years old and he needs a lot of it. The best solution he could think of was going to the most popular barbershop in Bamako and waiting for the right match. He wanted to make it to the United Kingdom during the Christmas season which was a month away as it was the highest time of traffic in the country and a missing person would be hard to spot and find.

He made his way to the barbershop where it took a few days to find the right person. While disillusioned he snuck under the as he cut the target's hair. Solomon collect around 80 strains of hair in a small bag as he waited for the haircut to finish. Once the target was done paying for the haircut, Solomon followed the guy back to his dwelling which happened to be a university dorm.

"Stupefy," with a wave of his wand Solomon knocked the man unconsouious and looked through his pockets. Grabbing his wallet Solomon found his ID:

Name - Faraji Kwabena

D.O.B - Aug, 2nd 1944 (Age 21)

Eye Color - Brown

Hair Color - Black

After writing it all down Solomon put it back into the wallet. "Rennervate," Solomon cast the reviving spell to bring Faraji back conscious. Once he saw the man looked fine; Solomon left.

After Solomon got all the information he need, he was stopped by a shop to pick up some rice and lamb as he was famished and deserved a little reward. He made his way back to the empty house and ate a delicious dinner. After dinner, Solomon was going through his plans as he had to find a good place to cut a ticket for England, as well as get a passport.

Later that night, Solomon took out one of the Polyjuice potions left in stasis and dropped a piece of hair in. Thinking about drinking a piece of hair might seem nasty but when it gets dissolved in the potion it's not so bad. Drinking it all down the hatch changes to Solomon started to take place rapidly. His height shot up to a staggering 6 feet and an inch, from his five-year-old body the difference was so drastic he fell on his butt. His face started to change as he started to morph into Faraji. Getting up from his butt, Solomon took a few steps stumbling from left to right a few times until he got the feel for his new height. After about 40 minutes of practice and getting the hang of it, Solomon tried casting a few spells to see if there was a change to his magic core. Unfortunately, there was none.

Looking at the clock on the wall it was 7:30 pm which would mean the Polyjuice would stay in effect until 5:00 am. Walking over to his suitcase, Solomon went down to the library. In the library, he took time to read more about Polyjuice and think about a great way to carry it without it being seen as an illegal substance. In one of the Harry Potter movies he remembered that Alastor Moody carried a flask of Polyjuice and knowing he will be on a plane a flask would not work. As he worked through his problems going through the plan for tomorrow and the flight it was already midnight. Taking a look at the mirror in his bedroom and seeing the effect still there he went to sleep with a grin on his face ready for the next few weeks.