Jesse sighed as he slung his bag over his shoulder. It had been another long day at his Drama College, repeated numbers to sing and dance. All tedious as he knew he could do them all on the night of the show next month without any practice at all. Of course, he was at a different level of talent to the rest of the people there so it was understandable he felt not challenged.
Feeling fed up, he trudged out of the doors of the building, onto the surprisingly quiet London streets. Lamp lights were flickering on the rain covered foot paths, making glimmers of light bounce back from them.
Suddenly a brighter light hit his eyes, it shone in the distance, moving faster than it seemed possible. He stared as it then slowed down, throwing all common sense out of the window and stepped out into the road. He held his breath for a moment, for a second expecting to be hit by something. But nothing happened, he could just see the light constantly blaring right in front of his closed lids.
When he opened his eyes and shielded the light he focused in on what was stalled in front of him – a tall, narrow bus.
A slim figure of a man stepped out of the doors and stood awkwardly.
"Uh, excuse me?" the man shouted over, "You a wizard?"
Jesse laughed, "A what? You're kidding right."
The man's brow furrowed, "But... how did you see us then? We're only visible to magic folk. Not muggles."
As confusing as the words he spoke may have been, Jesse just wanted to hear this man speak more. His voice, however thick with accent, was almost soothing in the foggy evening air.
"I can't believe this. Never happened before..." He seemed to be mulling the situation over in his head. Concentrating hard from what it looked like.
"Do you, uh, wanna jump on? I mean, it's really rare this happens. Never actually. I just... you seem kind of special."
Although still not sure of what was happening, Jesse grinned, stepping into the lights to greet this man.
His hair, though quite scruffy, was dark brown and ruffled from the wind that blew through the streets that night. Jesse felt as if he should be shivering from the cold feeling, but he was stuck to his spot. Just staring at him.
"Right... well, my name is Stan Shunpike. I'm your conductor, but seeing as though you ain't like us, I can skip all of this stuff."
He held out a skinny hand to Jesse, smiling slightly.
Jesse took it, intrigued by what he would find on this bus. Looking around him when he stepped on it seemed just like normal.
"This is the Knight bus." Stan said from behind him, "It's for witches and wizards. But I guess, you don't know anything about that do you?"
Jesse shook his head silently, sitting down on one of the free beds in the corner. Stan shuffled around the tight edge and sat on a stool next to him.
"Well then, you better get comfortable."
It could have been many minutes Stan talked to him of the wizarding world, maybe hours. Jesse relished every word, looking deep into his eyes whenever he could. When so much time had passed he lay down on the bed, eyes drooping from exhaustion.
Stan watched him sleep; saw his light curls on the pillow, his lips looking as soft as his hand had been. He leant over the boy, smiling as he placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. Whispering,
"I can show you so much more."