Melanie Rosen: Year 3 (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Chapter 3 The Knight Bus

Chapter 3

The Knight Bus

Later that night, after everyone went to bed, I snuck out. I knew it wasn’t the smartest move, but I was determined to find a way to King Cross Station sometime before the Hogwarts Express left. I did not know how I would do it but I will. For tomorrow, my goal was to hitch my way back to Little Whinging and take it from there. I believed it was about four hours, perhaps more from here.

I can’t recall a moment in my life I have ever been more furious with my mother than right now, and that’s really saying something. How dare she try to trick me into not missing the train for Hogwarts? I don’t think I can ever bring myself to return home after this. Next time I talk to Aunt Becky, I planned to ask her if it was possible to change my permanent house address to her place.

The roads were quite dark with only dim streetlights. I pulled out my wand, planning to use it for self-defense if needed. I was fairly certain I would not get in trouble if I had to use magic for protection.

As I stood with my wand up, trying to think of where to go from here, I felt a gust of wind. The next thing I knew, a double-decker bus whirled around the corner, causing me to jump back.

The bus comes to a dead stop right in front of me. A young man appearing in his twenties stepped out.

“Hello,” he greeted, robotically. “Welcome to the Knight Bus, a service for stranded witches and wizards. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor for this evening.”

Once he stopped speaking, I just stood there, gaping at him. This seemed way too convenient to be real, but then again, there were still quite a bit of elements in the magic world I did not know about.

“Well?” Stan asked me, his hand on the bus door. “Aren’t ya gonna get on?”

“I guess so,” I muttered, tentatively taking a step forward.

“Well, com’on then,” Stan urged on. “We haven’t got all night. Let me take your bag, Miss.” He shook it once and commented, “You’re a pretty light traveler.”

“Uh huh,” I murmured, gazing upon the inside which consisted of beds.

“What’s your name, Miss?” Stan asked, as he put my bag up.

“Melanie Ch… Rosen,” I replied in a daze.

“Well, Miss Rosen,” Stan went on, “Where are you off to?”

I probably should have given that a little more thought.

“Uh… I need to go to Little Whinging first,” I decided.

I gave him my home address, thinking I needed to get the rest of my stuff for Hogwarts. Then, hopefully, the bus will still take me to London. I tried to pay now, but I only had my muggle money, which Stan just looked at oddly. I promised I had some coins back at my place so I could pay him then. Fortunately, Stan accepted.

“Did you here?” Stan called to the front. “Take it away, Ernie!”

The bus made a sudden jolt forward, causing me to fall flat on my stomach on one of the beds. I looked to my right at the man snoring in the bed across mine. How can he sleep so soundly? I wondered.

Only a few minutes later, the bus came to a stop. I gazed out the window and saw that we had arrived in front of my house. A couple years ago, my mind would have been blown, but now I had grown more accustomed to how magic works.

“Miss Rosen,” Stan called.

As I walked to the door, I turned to Stan and asked, “Will I be allowed to get back on for another trip tonight?”