"YOU BRING HER BACK! YOU MAKE HER RIGHT!" the fat, purple faced, Uncle Vernon bellowed at the thirteen year old Harry Potter, a vein popping in his temple.
"No! She got what she deserved!" the boy shouted back shoving his wand into his Uncle's face as he aimed his meaty hands at his neck.
He stepped back eying the piece of wood warily like it was some poisonous spider or snake. His wife and pudgy son looking on with mixed looks of fear and horror. The pudgy boy's eyes following the movement of the want as if it was going to lunge at him and bite him.
"You're not allowed to use magic outside of school, they'll never take you back. You've got no where to go!" Vernon growled keeping his eyes locked onto the boy like a bulldog to a meaty bone.
"I don't care! Anywhere's better than here," Harry shot back wrenching open the front door and then storming out onto four Privet Drive.
He slammed the door behind him and lugged his heavy trunk and owl cage behind him as he trudged down the rain soaked street. For many minutes he walked quickly away from his Aunt and Uncle house his mind racing with left over adrenaline from the ordeal he'd just gone through.
'I lost control! I'm going to be expelled from Hogwarts and there's nothing I can do about it,' he though hopelessly as the one place he considered home seemed to become a distant memory.
Looking up he saw that he had walked up to the end of Privet Drive and there were two roads to choose from, one veering off to the right, the other to the left. In frustration he sat down on the curb in front of an old park and put his head in his hands. He was lost deep in his thoughts when the one street light above him flickered rapidly.
Harry looked up at the light, it flickered a few more times and then died leaving Harry alone in a dark street. A slight breeze rippled through the air chilling the already cool air and making the old swings in the park creak as they swung back and forth. Then it seemed to reach the merry-go-round and the rusty old thing groaned as it slowly spun around making droplets of water cascade off it's metal bars.
Harry jumped as the see-saw thumped downward with a wet thump onto the grass. It thumped in a constant pattern that echoed eerily with the squeak of the merry-go-round and the swings. The boy's hair prickled and he felt like he was being watched and he turned back around to look across the street. There in the darkness of some hydrangea bushes a black shape moved, it's bright eyes gleaming out at Harry.
The boy jumped up and whipped out his wand as the creature growled angrily but tripped backwards over his trunk. There was a sudden bang and blindingly bright lights followed by the squealing of brakes. Harry blinked rapidly as he saw that a violently purple, triple decker bus had just suddenly appeared in front of him. There was the tap of foot steps and he looked up to see a very pimply looking guy step down from the bus dressed in a very ratty conductor uniform.
"Welcome to the Knight bus emergency transport for any stranded Witch or Wizard, I am Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor fer this evenin'," the guy looked down abruptly and saw Harry still sitting on the ground.
"What choo doin' down there?" he dropped his professional voice and eyed Harry oddly.
Harry scrambled up from the ground picking up his wand that he had dropped, "I fell over, sorry," he said quickly.
"What choo fell over fer?" Stan asked accusingly.
"I didn't do it on purpose!"
"Well come on then," Stan ushered Harry onto the bus and then lifted his trunk and owl on after him.
Harry looked inside and saw several beds posted inside the bus instead of seats and many scruffy lloky wizards were asleep and snoring iin them. Harry walked forward and sat on an unoccupied bed and a moment later Stan dumped his trunk onto it beside him.
"So where are you off too?" he asked Harry itching the tip of his blotchy nose.
"Diagon Alley," Harry said the first thing to pop into his head.
"You 'ear that Ern, next stop Diagon Alley," Stan called to the driver of the bus, a small owlish man with large glasses.
The man nodded and then punched on the accelerator. The was a deafening bang and Harry was pushed flat on his back on the bed as the bus took off forward. He looked outside the window in shock as he saw the street lights of a city go by when only moments ago they had been on the dark suburbs of Scurry. He almost yelled out as Ern careened out of the way of two other red buses nearly hitting a row of buildings but they seemed to jump out of the way.
"Wait! Won't the Muggles hear or see us?" he asked as a tree also jumped out of the way.
"What? No those Muggles don't hear nuttin' and they don't look properly," Stan said casually looking at Harry's stunned face with enjoyment.
Harry gripped the edges of the bed as Ern took a corner at top speed making everything inside the bus slide to the right.
"It's magic you dope, you are a wizard aren't you?" a voice said from behind Harry making him turn.
In the bed directly behind his sat a young girl about Harry's own age. She was pale and had dark blue eyes but her most striking feature was that her shoulder length hair and eyebrows were silver. Each strand of hair shimmered as she cocked her head at Harry. Her eyes narrowed observing Harry with acute sharpness.
"Yes I'm a wizard," he answered back feeling rather embarrassed at his ignorance.
She shrugged her small shoulder and then stuck out a hand, "I'm Emily, and you are?".
Harry shook her hand but hesitated in giving his name. He had just broken wizarding law did he really want someone knowing who he was and where he had been going?
"I'm Neville," he said quickly thinking of the first name to pop into his head.
The girl nodded but not seeming entirely convinced though. Harry quickly flattened his bangs over his head to cover the lightning shaped scar on his forehead. The bus continued going at it's breakneck pace until it jolted to halt on a street that Harry didn't recognize. A few people got off the bus and then with another loud bang they were suddenly on the busy streets of London.
"So are you going to school soon?" the girl Emily asked bringing his knees up to her chest and then resting her arms on top.
Harry looked at her but then quickly looked away, dread settling back into his stomach as he remembered his aunt Marge floating up off into the twilight sky.
"I'm...I'm not sure exactly," he responded not wanting to lie but also not wanting to tell her the whole truth.
Emily looked as if she was about to say something when the Knight Bus screeched to a stop again nearly flinging Harry off the bed again.
"Here we's are, the Leaky Cauldron entrance to Diagon Alley," Stan Shunpike said looking over at Harry.
"Well I guess this is goodbye," Emily said giving the boy a small smile.
Harry returned the smile and then grabbed his snowy owl's cage and the handle to his trunk. He lugged it off the bus and onto the sidewalk outside the old pub. He sighed, different plans forming in his mind at what he was going to do once he got to Diagon Alley.
'I'll go to Gringots first and get as much money as I can, then I'll figure what to do from there,' he thought to himself steeling for the long walk to the bank.
"Oi! Wait a minute!" a voice shouted from the bus and Harry looked over to see that the silver haired girl was holding something in her hand.
It was thin, dark, and seemed to be made out of...wood...
"My wand!" Harry gasped and rushed forward.
Emily jumped off the bus and handed the wand over to it's real owner. "It was on the bed that you left, I thought you might need it," she smirked and turned back to the bus. But before she could jump back on there was a BANG and the Knight Bus disappeared.
"No! Nonono! I still need a ride!" she shouted back looking down the street at where the vehicle seemed to vanish.
Harry was quite perplexed at how quickly everything had happened and he stood rooted to the spot or at least until the voice of someone called his name.
"Harry my dear boy there you are!".
He turned to see a man dressed in a pinstripe suit and bowler hat stepping out of the Leaky Cauldron, a warm smile on his face as he approached Harry and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
Emily turned as well and her pale face turned a ghostly gray and her blue eyes dilated in shock.
"Y-you're the minister of magic! Fudge!"
Cornelius Fudge looked over at the girl and his eyes widened as well, "You? Why I thought you were dead!".
There was a moment of silence before Fudge also put a hand on the girl's shoulder and steered both her and Harry into the Leaky Cauldron.
"Both of you have some serious questions to answer," the Minister said severely.
Harry looked over at Emily and saw the same thing that he felt, that they both were in deep trouble.
