Disclaimer: I own Amabelle. That's it. Please don't sue me. That said, I realize Stan Shunpike was put in prison in Book 6, but I do not remember when exactly that happened, so for the sake of my story, he's still working on the Knight Bus.
Purposefully, Harry strode out of Number 4, Privet Drive under his invisibility cloak, having told his relatives that his friends had invited him somewhere for the day. There was a lot of grumbling and glaring involved, but eventually, they had given him permission to 'get his freak self out of the house'.
Harry pushed the baseball cap he had borrowed from Dudley further over his head. Now he was going to have horrible hat hair, a realization which made him sulk for a bit because really, his hair was already messy enough! It didn't need to be tortured anymore!
At that point, his mental Hermione told him to get a move on. He obeyed because Hermione, even mental Hermione, was scary.
Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had convinced the twins to help them get the guard schedule for the summer. Today afternoon, Mundungus was on guard duty, which had surprised all of them. Harry had assumed he wouldn't be allowed anywhere near him after the fiasco last summer. Ron had promptly decided this was because Dumbledore was clearly senile. Thankfully, he hadn't said this out loud.
Harry snuck past a tipsy Mundungus by a stealthy combination of tip-toeing and holding his breath. Not that it really mattered, since he was invisible and all.
Oh, well. He had other things to think about. Like the giant purple bus he had just called to him. Whipping off his cloak, Harry bounded up the steps to the bus face Stan Shunpike.
"Dragon's Lair Amusement Park," Harry said before Stan could get a word out. "No, I don't want any of your useless money-making trivialities, and no, I'm not Harry Potter. Thanks."
He took a seat next to a bubblegum-chewing little girl who looked like she was running away from home as the Knight Bus started up again.
"Hey, there," he said affably. "Running away from home?"
"Yeah." She frowned suspiciously at him. "You too?"
"Just for a day," Harry answered brightly. "What's your name?"
"Raven Black," she said promptly.
Harry stared. "Er."
She snickered. "I'm kidding. I wish it were, though. My name's Amabelle Florina, which sounds ridiculously flowery, if you ask me."
"I didn't," Harry said helpfully.
Amabelle rolled her eyes. "I know you didn't. That's why I said 'if'."
She had a point, he conceded.
"What's your name?" she continued as though he hadn't spoken. Which he hadn't. But that's not the point.
"I'm Harry Potter," Harry said cheerfully. "I have a murderer after me."
Amabelle blinked. "Oh. That's nice."
Harry nodded, and they sat in comfortable silence for the rest of the ride, mostly because she was too busy chewing her bubblegum and he was too busy scaring Stan Shunpike by making weird faces at him.. As it happened, they reached the amusement park first (though, he wasn't sure Amabelle really knew where she was going in the first place).
"Well, see you!" Harry waved to Amabelle as he made his way to the exit.
"You too!" she called back before he exited and joined the DA which was slowly gathering at the front of the amusement park.
"Hello Ron, Ginny, Hermione," Luna Lovegood greeted the trio at her door courteously. "Do come in, and mind the wrackspurts."
"Hi Luna," Ginny greeted brightly to make up for Hermione's eye roll and Ron's amused grin. "Is your father home?"
"Oh, no, he's searching for Indigo Pallites in Wales. I declined in favor of going to Dragon's Lair," said Luna calmly.
"Good choice," Ron grinned. "Where's your Floo?"
"In the living room," Luna answered as the three of them entered her house. "Did you tell your parents where you'll be?"
"Well, no," admitted Hermione, looking guilty. "They'd have never let us go, not with Death Eaters around. We told them we'd be spending the day with you."
"But we didn't say where," Ron piped up. "So, technically, we're not lying."
"We're still lying by omission," Hermione pointed out.
"Would you relax?" Ginny asked, following Luna into the living room. "If something happens, we can deal with it."
A half-hour, several arguments in the same vein, Neville's late arrival, and a hunt for Ron's lost shoe (how it ended up lost was anyone's guess) later, the five of them had Flooed to the main entrance of Dragon's Lair, ready for a day of fun and relaxation.
At the entrance desk, a bored-looking twenty-year-old greeted them. "How many tickets?"
"We're waiting for a few friends," Hermione said delicately. 'Few' was quite an understatement, after all.
"Where's Harry?" Neville—rather foolishly—wondered out loud. The wizard, who had returned to looking bored, snapped his head up.
"Harry Potter?" he asked, wide-eyed.
Ginny groaned. Ron smacked his forehead. Hermione sighed. Behind them, Harry crept forward, having donned his invisibility cloak again.
"Hello, Harry," said Luna to the air in front of her. Everyone jumped. Neville looked over her head and waved.
"Hi, Luna," answered Harry's disembodied voice. "Hi, Neville. Don't I get a hug, Hermione?"
"Well, I'd give you one if I knew where you were!" Hermione huffed, frustrated.
"Oh, I'm right in front of you," said Harry from behind her. Hermione rolled her eyes, turned, and yanked his invisibility cloak off.
Harry, now completely visible, grinned at her. It took two more eyerolls before she gave in and hugged him.
"So," Harry asked once he was done greeting everyone. "Where's the rest of the DA?"
"We're going to have to wait for them," Ginny told him. Unsurprisingly, this took a lot longer than was strictly normal.
Stan Shunpike was feeling hassled. Stan Shunpike was feeling more than hassled, he was feeling completely beleaguered. And considering he didn't even know what that word meant, it was quite a feat.
It all began with that dark-haired, green-eyed boy who said his name wasn't Harry Potter, despite looking exactly like Harry Potter. Then Not-Harry-Potter sat next to that annoying brunette girl who chewed her bubblegum far too loudly and struck up a conversation with her. And before he left, he was making strange faces at him! He had looked really scary, though Stan would never admit he had been frightened by a teenager.
When the boy had finally left (unfortunately leaving the girl behind), the bus had been called to a different muggle neighborhood. Here, a group of five, three girls and two boys had entered, asking to go to Dragon's Lair Amusement Park which was, funnily enough, where he had just dropped off Not-Harry-Potter. The five teens didn't really seem to care and instead sat down in the seats surrounding Bubblegum Girl and began to chatter loudly.
Two hours later, Stan had begun feeling hassled. Why? Because several more groups of children, all of whom seemed to know the first group of five, had summoned the bus around the country. Eventually, only the teenagers and Bubblegum Girl were left. Some were constantly trying to converse with Stan, others were simply annoying him by being obnoxiously loud.
"Hey, Shunpike!" called an Irish boy with a smirk on his face. "Are we there yet?"
Stan grits his teeth, glanced at an unhelpful Ernie, and shook his head. "We're waiting for more of you monsters to board," he snapped.
As if on cue, the bus was summoned again. Stan sighed. Why him?
Author's Notes: I planned for this to include the specific DA members actually escaping and meeting up on the Knight Bus, but I thought that would get repetitive. So, I decided to mention Stan's POV of the entire thing instead. Also, don't worry about Amabelle; she's just an extra comedic touch. She has nothing more to do with the story. Review if you like it, and I promise you blueberry-Snape is coming up in the next two chapters, so I hope you stay tuned!
