Little Brave Hearts || Neville Longbottom

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

With the need to catch her breath after running for a long time, Maykha had to stop and sit on the pavement next to her. She had no idea where she wanted to go, only that she needed to go somewhere far from home. She felt the need to get out of there, or it would only suffocate her even more.

Holding her knees against her chest, she buried her face beneath her arms. She left her jumper inside her room, and it was freezing outside. If only she could use magic to warm her body.

Just then, she remembered the wand she put inside her back pocket. It was with the unsigned paper, now crumbled, when she took it out and held it out. Much to her disappointment, even if she was with a wand, it was still useless as they were not yet allowed to perform magic outside the vicinity of their school.

Suddenly, a bright light shone from the end of the street, followed by a loud honking sound. She squinted her eyes as she tried to look through the light when it stopped right in front of her. It was a purple triple-decker bus that she had never seen before. While she studied the bus, its door opened and a man stepped out. He held a small piece of paper, reading it as he spoke.

"Welcome to the Knight bus, emergency transport for a stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stanley Shunpike, and I will be your conductor for the evening," It was a young wizard who looked like he was in his late teens or in his early twenties. He had big ears and lean, but tall stature.

"What are you waiting for?" Stanley said, snapping at Maykha. "Well, come on in. We just picked up a young wizard earlier that you can be acquainted with. Have you got any luggage with you?"

Maykha shook her head no. Though hesitant, she got up and went inside the bus. She knew she was being reckless, and if she did not come home anytime soon, her parents – well, they would be worried about her. But that was the least of her worries for now.

Inside the bus, there were beds lined up and were not attached to anything to have it stationed, making it look like it was anything but safe.

"Uh, Stanley," Maykha started as the conductor closed the doors behind her. "Well, how likely do you think I will come out of this bus alive?"

The conductor looked confused, but before he could answer, someone called Maykha, making her look over her shoulder. There, sitting on one of the beds, she saw Harry looking like he was about to throw up.

"Ha-"

"I'm Neville! Neville Longbottom, remember? We have classes together," Harry interrupted, giving her a weird look.

"Oh, you two were already acquainted? That's good," Stanley said, but Maykha did not break her look at her friend, confused at what on Earth he was on. "Are you two going to the same place? If so, that'll be eleven Sickles."

Maykha just realized she did not have any money with her as she stormed out of their house with nothing but a wand. Harry seemed to have taken the hint as he volunteered to pay for his friend's fare.

"What the hell, Ha-Neville?" Maykha asked in confusion as she walked towards her friend, careful not to mention his real name for a reason she did not know.

"Let's talk later, my friend. For now, be ready to have your whole life flash in front of you."

She did not have enough time to process her friend's words when the bus started moving at a speed her mind was not capable of catching up. She screamed at the top of her lungs and tried to hold onto whatever she could hold. The pieces of luggage were being thrown left and right, and the beds bumped into each other. It was almost unbelievable to see a witch occupying one of the beds, sleeping peacefully as if the ride was smooth.