As Meredith left the room, James cautiously addressed Nicola.
"Um, are you ok? Can you understand me?"
Nicola croaked a couple of times before hopping away from him in pursuit of a bug, which seemed to answer his question. James noticed that Meredith had taken Nicola's discarded clothes with her when she left the room and found himself briefly distracted by the knowledge his crush would be fully naked when she returned to her old self. Then he quickly forced his mind back to the more pressing issue. He knew the potion testing couldn't carry on - his friend was now a toad, he was currently the size of a small action figure and there was no telling how long these effects would last. Meredith had to be stopped one way or another.
James remembered Nicola's plan to play the old witch at her own game and use her magical devices against her. This felt like the perfect opportunity. Meredith kept the door to the storeroom a few feet away carefully locked, but there was a large enough gap at the bottom for James to crawl under. It was a risky move, but so was waiting for the effects of the next potion.
After a longer than anticipated walk at his new height, James managed to squeeze himself under the door and into the forbidden room. It was exactly what he had hoped for - all kinds of magical looking gadgets, potions and books toweed over him. Of course, he had no idea how any of them worked and most would be difficult to operate or even reach at his tiny stature, but he knew he had to try something.