Daughter of Black

3.02

Mr Weasley had won some sort of grand prize. I wasn't sure on all the details there but because he won a lot of money or gold or something, they all took a trip to Egypt to visit Bill, who is a cursebreaker in Egypt. They even brought along Charlie. While I was very happy for them, especially since they don't see Charlie and Bill often enough, I was incredibly lonely at the orphanage. This was the first summer I wasn't spending time with the twins or at the Weasleys. For the first couple of weeks, I didn't do much. I stayed at the orphanage, helped out Eliza, pulled some pranks. I was lonely but seeing smiles put on some of those kids' faces was worth it. As the summer progressed, I grew more and more restless. So I started spending time out of the orphanage, which actually led to me spending time with Harry. Well, time with him when he could escape from his house or whenever the evil parasites, that are unfortunately his relatives, left him alone.

    My favourite part about summer was the cool summer air. Especially at night when it's not too hot and not too cold. I've never been a morning person, but the evening is when I feel the most comfortable. I mean, have you ever just sat outside on a summer night and just stared up at the stars? It's just such a breath of fresh air. Sometimes, they let me out of the orphanage late at night so that I can walk around and... yeah ok, so I may have exaggerated a little bit. I may have possibly snuck out. That is a possibility, yeah.

As I walked down the street, I was greeted by the howling of a dog. It must have been a dog, since there are no wolves in London. There haven't been wolves in London since the 1500s. I suppose it could've been a wolf, but when I saw the figure dash across the street, I knew it had to be a dog. It had to be.

So I walked a little faster, finding myself on Privet Drive. As I come upon the house that I know fairly well, I see a ginormous balloon floating in the sky. Though it doesn't look quite like a balloon. It looks like an inflated human. Moments later, the front door opens and out steps Harry, luggage and all. My eyebrows are furrowed as I run up to him, seeing the plump human balloon continue to rise in the air. "What the hell just happened Harry?" He turned back to me, and upon seeing my face, he shook his head, sighing. "Let's take a walk, shall we?" He nods as we start to walk away.

    As we walk, we come up to a fork in the road. I think that's when Harry realised that he had nowhere to go. A playground was behind us and because of the breeze, a swing set was swaying slightly. "Ok... hold on, sit down." Harry sits down on the sidewalk next to me, huffing. Harry drops his trunk next to him as he runs a hand through his hair. "You wanna tell me what is going on?" I look over at him and he looks back at me, shaking his head.

"Uncle Vernon wouldn't sign my Hogsmeade form. And then that woman," Harry started, looking up at the sky at the floating woman, "She called my parents horrid things." I threw my arm over the boy's shoulders.

"Harry, I was told some very good advice by someone. They told me to make sure I got into enough trouble for the both of them." I looked over at Harry, smiling widely. He starts to chuckle as I shake my head at him. "Don't worry about this. We'll figure it out." It was silent for a moment before Harry looked back at me.

"That advice you got... was it Fred and George?" I shrugged, smiling slightly as I looked back at Harry.

"Maybe..." We both start laughing again before the breeze picks up. I think we both felt something as we heard rustling in the leaves across the street. Harry stands up, taking out his wand as he points it at the hedges. I stand up, looking across the street. I look back at Harry but he keeps his eyes on whatever it is on the other side. But there is definitely a shape in the hedges, dog-like. But what I really see is wide, gleaming eyes, just staring at us. Harry steps back a little, as the dog moves closer towards us. I trip over Harry's luggage and as I fall onto my butt, I see two gleaming bright lights coming towards us from the road. I pull Harry back as he falls, but at least he wasn't hit by the bus that stops in front of us.

    A giant purple triple decker bus stops in front of us. Gold letter glimmer as the moonlight hits the bus - The Knight Bus. The doors his as they open up, a man looking down at us in a pasty conductor's uniform. Harry and I look at each other confused. "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." Stan looks down at us and shakes his head. "Wha' choo doin' down there?" He asks us.

"We fell over..." I was still so confused.

"Wha' choo fall over for?" I look over at Harry and then back at Stan.

"We didn't do it on purpose." Harry told him as Stan eyes us suspiciously, nodding slowly.

"Well, come on then. Let's not wait for the grass to grow." As Stan grabs Harry's trunk, Harry peers into the shadows across the street before we both walk onto the bus. I look back at Harry and he looks just as confused as me.

    There are no seats on the bus. There were only a couple of beds. In one bed, a sleepy wizard tosses and turns in his sleep. Stan shouts something to the bus driver and before either of us have a chance, the bus rockets down the street, going way over the speed limit if I may add. All of the beds shift but I grab onto one, falling onto it as the bus continues to fly down the street. Harry drops onto the bed nearest, looking up at the lights above us that are swaying. Magic will never cease to amaze me. "Wot you say your name was again?" Stan asks us. I look over to Harry.

"We didn't." I tell him bluntly. Stan, huddled in an armchair, peeks over The Daily Prophet, eyes us coolly, before disappearing once more. I watch as Harry brushes the fringe of his hair over his scar. He looks over at me and I give him a small smile, squeezing his shoulder.

"Whereabouts you headin'?" Stan asks, coming back into sight. I look back at Harry as he hesitates. He obviously hadn't thought about this.

"I'm going to the Orphanage." I tell Stan and he sighs, scratching his head.

"There's a lot of those..." I chuckle to myself and nod.

"The uh London Orphanage." I look back at Harry. "The Leaky Cauldron is only a few minutes away from me. I'll meet you there." He nods.

"Get that, Ern? The London Orphanage." Stan grins with delight, showing his wretched teeth. As the Shrunken Head in the front of the bus cackles with delight, I peer out the window, watching the sights of London pass by. Even in its busyness, London was still one of my favourite cities. I guess I was so out of it that I hadn't realised the bus was close to my stop until Ernie, the bus driver, hit the brakes hard. Both Harry and I went flying forward as we hit the window. "Ow..." I mumbled as I pulled my face from the glass, standing.

    Later, I would hit myself for not noticing the newspapers scattered all around me. But at that moment, as I stepped off of that bus, I was only focused on how I was going to explain to Eliza that I was leaving a day or two early. Surely, she wouldn't be that troubled... right?