𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕋𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕤||𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕠 𝕄𝕒𝕝𝕗𝕠𝕪 [𝟛]

The Knight Bus

(A/N: They meet Stan Shunpike, but I'm not good at writing his--or Hagrid's--accent talk.)

Harry crashes inside our bedroom, me following him. We both take our trunks without a word, getting our wands and a picture of our parents too.

Boom! Our trunks made a loud sound as they hit the ground at the bottom of the stairs. When we went down the steps, Uncle Vernon was waiting for us.

"YOU BRING HER BACK! YOU BRING HER BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!" he screamed at us.

"No! She deserved what she got!" I yelled.

"And you...you keep away from us." Harry glared at the beefy man.

We both raised our wands.

Uncle Vernon eyed our wand nervously, then grinned with knowing cruelty.

"You're not allowed to do magic out of school. They won't have you two now. You've got nowhere to go." he sneered.

I realized that it was true. Harry faltered. 

"Anywhere's better than here," I said sharply.

I stormed out with my trunk, and I knew Harry had followed me with his trunk. 

We walked silently until we reached an empty playground. The light above our heard flickeed on and off. The swings creaked and the carousel turned slowly. But, I sensed something in the shadows, Harry did, too. We stood up, wands raised.

Then, I saw it. I could tell Harry did too. It was big and dark, darker than the shadows themselves. It was wide, with gleaming yellow eyes.

Harry took a step back, me doing the same. Suddenly, my brother fell, and I fell too, over our forgotten trunks.

Then, two beams of the light spear the night.

"Ahh!" Harry and I covered our eyes over the blinding light.

As the thing approached us, we rolled out of the way, just in time. It turned out to be a purple, triple-decker bus. On the windscreen, in gold letters, it read, 'The Knight Bus.'

The door hissed as it opened, and revealed a boy, about 18 years old, with a wrinkled conductor's uniform and a pimply face.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus. Emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening." he said drearily. 

At that moment, he spotted us on the ground.

"Wha' choo doin' down there?" he peered at us.

"Fell over." we both said at the same time.

"Wha' choo fall over for?" Stan looked confused.

"We didn't do it on purpose," I said coolly.

Stan eyed us suspiciously, before nodding.

"Well, come on then. Let's not wait for the grass to grow," he said, picking up both of our suitcases.

Harry and I glanced back at the shadows, but there was nothing. Stan looked over too. "What choo lookin' at?" Harry looked at me, and we both muttered, "Nothing," as we climbed aboard.

Inside, there were no seats, only beds.

There was one old-looking wizard on the bed, asleep. 

Stan handed each of us a piece of paper, before hitting the window where a shurnken head dangled. 

"Take 'er away, Ern," Stan said.

"Yeah, take it away! It's going to be a bumpy ride" the shrunken head shouted.

Ernie rockets away and the beds slide to the rear. Harry and I dropped onto the nearest bed. The traffic whips past in a blur.

"Wot you say your names were again?" Stan faced towards us. 

"We didn't." Harry said. 

"Whereabouts you headin'?" Stan asked us.

"The Leaky Cauldron," I said.

"That's in London--" Harry was cut off.

"Is it now? Get that, Ern? The Leaky Cauldron. That's in London." Stan said, grinning. He had some bad teeth.

Clean those teeth of yours, Pimples. I thought.

"Leaky Cauldron! Stay away from the pea soup! Make sure to eat it before it eats you!" the shrunken head shouted.

"But the Muggles, won't they see us?" I asked.

Stan laughed. "Muggles? They don't see nothin', do they?"

"No, but if you jab them with a fork they feel!" the driver said. The shrunken head cackled in delight. 

"Ernie, little old lady at twelve-o'clock!" the Shrunken Head reported.

Sure enough, directly ahead, a little old lady was crossing the street. Ernie hit the brakes hard and Harry forward, palms to the window. I crashed in to him. The brakes pinched down, the bus stopped inches from the old lady, and Harry and I flew back onto our bed. The bus rocketed forward once more.

As we settle in again, I noticed the headline of Stan's Daily Prophet: ESCAPE FROM AZKABAN! Below, a sunken-faced man with long, matted hair glowers from a moving photograph.

"Who is that? That man." I pointed.

"Who is that? Who is..? That's Sirius Black, that is. Don' tell me you ne'er been hearin' o' Sirius Black?" Stan looked up from the page.

Harry and I shook our heads.

"A murderer, he is. Got 'imself locked up in Azkaban for it." Stan said.

"How'd he escape?" I asked.

"Tha's the question, isn't it? He's the firs' that's done it. He was a big supporter of You-Know-'Oo, Black was. Reckon you heard o' him." Stan said mysteriously.

"Yeah. Him we've heard of." Harry nodded.

Just then, a pair of double-decker buses sweep directly toward the Knight Bus. The entire Knight Bus squeezed down and shot the gap between the two onrushing buses. The Shrunken Head winced. "Hate that." he muttered.

"Turn! Turn!" the Shrunken Head shrieked.

Ernie fans the wheel, sending the Knight Bus into a dizzying 360-degree turn. Suddenly, Ernie slams on the brakes.

The chandelier sways drunkenly as the bus doors open. The steps creak loudly and a figure appears. I realized that it was Tom, the Innkeeper of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Mr Potter... Miss Potter...at last." he said.

Tom shook his head. "Now if you excuse us..." Tom led us out.

I heard Stan yelling "Take her away, Ern!" and then, the Knight Bus was gone. 

A/N~

So ummmm I edited this part so yea. I removed some parts that were either not in the movies or wasn't necessary.

xxxPrincessss

Word count: 1010