Ruby Dellamark ⍎ Malfoy

Prologue (TPOA)

The Knight Bus was a triple-decker, purple AEC Regent III RT that assisted stranded individuals of the wizarding community through public transportation. Harry was one of those stranded wizards. Of course, he didn't intentionally mean to blow up his Aunt Margie like a blimp, but the old bat should've put a filter in her mouth. How dare she speak about his parents the way she did. Anybody else would have had it coming.

Harry looked up in awe at the large blue bus, with a skinny conductor hanging off the door oh-so casually.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus. Emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shuntby and I will be your conductor for this evening," he read off the card. Harry stared up at him in awe, then Stan looked down at him and scowled.

"What' you doing down there?" he asked. Harry had tumbled over from a sudden shock earlier, frightened when he saw a rather large dog growling at him from the bushes.

"I fell over," Harry said.

"What' you fell over for?" Stan asked.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" he argued as he stood up.

"Well come on then!" Stan exclaimed, "Let's not wait for the grass to grow," he sighed. Harry looked past the bus, into the shrubs where the dog once stood. But now he was gone. Stan looked over to.

"What' you looking at?" he asked.

"Nothing," Harry replied.

"Well come on then! In," he said. Harry went to grab his bag, but Stan grabbed it for him and lifted with all his might. He picked up the bag with his skinny form and followed Harry inside the bus.

Inside, he found another old witch snoring away on a bed. On the other side of the car was a girl, who couldn't have been older then Harry himself. She had frizzy honey brown hair tied up into a tight ponytail, and wore ripped jeans and an old sweatshirt. She looked up at Harry and smiled politely. He took a seat next to her.

"I'm Ruby," she introduced herself.

"Harry," he shook her hand. Stan stood over them and handed Harry a slip of paper, then banged on the glass behind him.

"Take her away Earn," he said. Ruby grabbed on tight to one of the poles sticking out from the floor.

"You might want to hang on to something," she warned him.

"Why?" he asked. She didn't get a chance to reply, as a split second later the bus was suddenly flown forward in hyper speed. Harry was forced down onto one of the beds. Ruby was having a tough time hanging on as well.

"So! Where're you off to then?" she asked him.

"The Leaky Cauldron, that's in London," he replied. Stan chuckled to himself.

"Hey! You hear that, Earn? The Leaky Cauldron, that's in London," he laughed.

"Well, that's cool. I'm heading to the Ministry myself," Ruby replied. She suddenly lost her grip on the pole she was holding onto and fell forward, landing right next to Harry.

"What for?" Harry asked. Ruby sat up and dusted herself off.

"Wand insurance claim. My rotten cat broke me last one, I'm cashing in for the latest model," she replied. The two kids were then flown to the right as Earn made another sharp turn, dodging through the busy traffic.

"The muggles! Can't they see us?" Harry asked.

"Muggles? They don't see nothing, do they?" Stan asked.

The bus zipped through the streets and down another road, rapidly approaching an old lady hobbling across the walk-way.

"Hold on tight!" Ruby warned him. Harry – again – didn't get the chance. As fast as the bus started, it came to an immediate stop. Harry was thrown from his seat and his face was plastered against the glass window pane. "I warned you," Ruby said.

They waited for ten seconds, then ten seconds and a half, then ten and a half seconds and three quarters, then they were off again. Harry was thrown back onto the bed, nearly nailing Ruby in the face with his elbow.

"Oi! Watch it!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry," he replied. Stan broke out his news paper and started to have a read.

"Did you say your name was Harry?" Ruby asked him.

"Yeah!" he replied.

"Harry Potter? The one who escaped death from you-know-who?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's me I guess," he replied.

"Ruby Dellamark, never been close to death before," she said.

"Hopefully you'll never have the opportunity," he replied. The bus threw the kids every which way, but Harry had to opportunity to look at Stan's front page of the Daily Prophet. There was a man was chained, screaming like a mad man as he took behind prison bars.

"Who is that?" Harry asked, "That man,"

Stan turned over to look at the front page, then gawked at Harry. "Who is that? Who is that? Can you believe this?" he asked Ruby.

"That's Sirius Black. You never heard of him?" she asked. Harry shook his head 'no'.

"He's a murderer; got himself locked up in Azkaban for it," Stan said.

"How did he escape?" Harry asked.

"Well that's the question, isn't it? He's the first one that done it!" Stan exclaimed, "He was a big supporter of...you know who," he whispered.

"Alright now, Stan. That's enough of your tall tales!" Ruby scolded him.

The bus came upon a bridge, just as two regular, muggle double-decker buses were headed their way. Ruby knew what was coming.

"Oh dear, here we go," she groaned. Harry suddenly felt the walls around him collapsing as the bus squeezed between the two red buses. He was smushed against Ruby for five to seven seconds, and he found he wasn't able to breathe properly. But when the bus was free, it deflated, and Harry and Ruby were free.

"I hate when that happens," Ruby said.

The bus zoomed down a dark road, approaching Harry's destination at lightening speed.

"Here we go again," Ruby said. The bus came to another sudden stop, sending Harry flying face first against the window again, while Ruby held on tight to one of the bed frames. "Told you so,"

"The Leaky Cauldron," Stan said, little to no enthusiasm in his voice. Harry recovered quickly and turned around, finding a hunchback had boarded the bus.

"Ah! Mr. Potter! At last," he grinned. Harry turned to Ruby.

"Nice knowing you, mate. See you at school," she said.

"Nice to meet you," he hopped off the bus and followed the hunchback, then watched the bus fly away again and disappear into thin air.