Chapter 3: On the Knight Bus
Rose walked purposefully to the end of her driveway, and then stopped. She stared into the dark evening, realizing one crucial element to her sudden plans: she had no idea where Scorpius lived. She sat down on the curb to think.
Scorpius never voluntarily gave information about his home for obvious reasons. The more he didn't have to think about the place, the better, she knew. However, she did know that he lived in a small manor, and she learned from the Pegasus story that he had a large expansion of land.
She rubbed her forehead, wracking her brain to think of details about Scorpius. Favorite subject astronomy… favorite food steak and kidney pie… favorite Quidditch team the Appleby Arrows…
Rose lifted her head quickly. The Arrows! They were his favorite team, but he was only able to watch them play (if he was able to sneak away) when they came into town to play the Tutshill Tornados! And Rose knew from a Quidditch obsessed father and brother that the Tornados were based out of Wiltshire.
With excitement, Rose stood up quickly and raised her wand hand. She waited eagerly for the purple triple-decker bus to show. After a few seconds, she heard an earsplitting bang and was blinded by lights shining straight into her eyes. The bus sputtered and settled, making a racket that reverberated through the neighborhood. In all her enthusiasm, she forgot how loud the vehicle was, and suddenly she wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Rose grabbed her bag and ran to the door of the Knight Bus before it opened. She bounced from one foot to the other, continually looking back at her family home, until the doors squeaked open and a short man in a purple conductor uniform and a bushy mustache jumped off the bus and cleared his throat.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus!" he read loudly and enthusiastically from a piece of paper. "Merely wave your wand hand, step on board, and we'll happily take you were you need to go. My name is Phillip Turnstrout, and I will be your conductor this evening," he finished with a flourish and a bow to Rose.
"Uh, yes," Rose whispered. "Listen, can we just move along quickly, please?"
"Oh yes!" Phillip answered boisterously. "Allow me to take your bag-"
"No, no, I've got it," Rose voiced, trying to shove past the man and onto the bus.
"Not so quickly, madam!" Phillip shouted, standing in her way. "There is a matter of payment!"
Rose took the bag off her shoulder and reached into it, grabbing several Galleons—nearly her entire life's savings.
"I will give you ever Galleon in my hand if we can leave now," Rose whispered determinedly.
Phillip looked to her hand, his eyes widening. "Come along, miss, we've not got all night!" he beckoned, bowing her into the bus. Rose handed him the money and ran onto the bus. "All right, Ernie, quickly now! We're on our way to…" The short man looked to Rose, who was sitting anxiously on the edge of the bed that the bus provided her with. "Where exactly are we going, miss?"
"Wiltshire, please."
"To Wiltshire, Ernest!" Phillip proclaimed dramatically, pointing his finger far into the air.
Ernie nodded his head and shifted the bus in gear. The next second, there was another very loud bang, and the Knight Bus was on its way.
Rose let out a deep breath, relieved that her family didn't waken with all the extreme distractions outside their home. She sat back further on her rickety beds and rubbed her face.
"Miss?" Rose looked up to see Phillip sitting in his armchair, watching her with interest. "May I ask what your name is?"
"Um… Hannah," Rose answered.
"Hm… you have an amazing resemblance to the Weasley family," Phillip deduced, rubbing his mustache.
Rose huffed. "And you look like someone who shouldn't be asking so many questions with how much money you've just received," she impolitely informed him, narrowing her eyes.
Phillip stared at Rose with wide eyes for a moment, and then chuckled lightly. "Right you are, Hannah. You're welcome to rest your head; we'll ensure that you arrive to your destination safely."
Rose blushed. She knew she shouldn't have been so rude to the conductor. She smiled at Phillip apologetically. "Thank you Phillip. And you, Ernie."
She saw Ernie raise a hand, indicating his acknowledgement of her appreciation, causing him to lose control of the bus for a moment. She saw a light post jump across the street in order to avoid the careening vehicle.
Rose let go of the bed post, which she just realized she was gripping quite tightly, and laid on her bed. She lay her head down and fell into a restless, bumpy sleep.
She stood in a foggy forest. It reminded her of the thicket on the Hogwarts grounds. She began to walk, the fog providing her with the light she needed. She travelled forward until she saw a bright light in the mist. She continued faster, curious as to what the glow was. As she approached it, she saw the light take a human form. She recognized that form…
"Scorpius!" Rose yelled, running up to the young man. When she reached him, she saw that he was gazing forward, as though he wasn't aware anyone was there.
"You promised," Scorpius voiced in a monotone.
Rose looked into Scorpius' eyes, confused. "What?"
"You promised," Scorpius repeated.
"What did I promise, Scorpius?" Rose asked, touching his cheek. It was as cold as ice.
"You promised no matter if we fought," Scorpius started. Rose suddenly knew what it was she assured him of.
Rose grabbed both sides of Scorpius' frozen face and looked him in the eyes. "I promised I'd find you. I did find you, Scorpius."
"You promised no matter how mad we are at each other," Scorpius continued in an eerily calm way.
Rose released his face and grabbed his shoulders. "Scorpius! Look at me!" she yelled as she shook him.
"You promised that you would always come find me," Scorpius finished.
Suddenly, his appearance began to slowly fizzle around the edges. Rose let go of Scorpius quickly, surprised at the change. She back up and watched as his form became slightly taller, slightly balder, and slightly more menacing. Before she knew it she was looking up into Draco Malfoy snarling face.
Rose gasped and slowly backed away. The ominous form of Draco Malfoy followed her slowly, looming over her.
"No," Rose whispered in fear, and turned to run away. She did not get very far, however, before she fell over a tree root. Rose turned just in time to see Draco quickly whip out his wand and point it at her.
Rose cringed, readying herself for the spell that she knew would take her away from her friends and family for forever…
Rose woke with a start. She sat up quickly, trying to gather her surroundings. She saw rows of moving beds, much like the one she was lying on. Knight Bus, Rose thought. She looked towards the front of the bus and saw Phillip looking at her with concern.
"Are you quite all right, Hannah?"
Rose rubbed her face with her hand to fully awaken herself. "Yes, thank you, Phillip," she responded. She looked out the window and saw city streets passing her by. "Are we near Wiltshire yet?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, miss," Phillip answered, shaking his head. "During your slumber we were called back for an emergency. We're going back to London."
"What?" Rose asked, panicked. She jumped from her bed and held on to the bed post to keep her balance. "But… we were…"
"I'm sorry, miss, but we had no other choice. We'll continue on your journey after we figure out what's happening."
"No!" Rose yelled. "We can't… I have to-"
"London, Leaky Cauldron," Ernie croaked, stopping the bus suddenly. Rose, not expecting the stop, flew forward towards the bus doors. She heard the doors open and looked outside to see a very red, very angry man standing outside them.
Rose gulped. "H… h… hello, daddy."
ABCDEFG
"You must have lost your mind, that's the only logical explanation!"
Rose sat in a chair in a room above the Leaky Cauldron, leaning her head against her hand while she listened to her father fume for the last forty five minutes. He had reprimanded her in every way possible-she was crazy, irresponsible, under a spell, dense, barmy, so on and so forth.
"Your mother was worried sick! Your brother just about had a nervous breakdown! You very lucky that your uncle Harry thought about the Knight Bus before I had the entire Auror department searching for you!" Ron's yelled, his voice becoming hoarse from scolding her so severely.
Rose felt terrible when her father found her. She had never seen his face so red, or his eyes so disappointed. She gladly accepted the belittling she was receiving when it began. However, after time she found she became irritated with his fury and wanted to continue on her voyage to find a handsome young blond.
"Father," Rose said softly, interrupting her father's tirade. Ron stopped his continuous pacing and stared down at her, almost as if he were surprised that she was there, he was so lost in his ranting. "I understand how angry you are at me. I'm mad at myself for doing something so foolish. But I have to go find Scorpius, and right now we're just wasting time."
Ron's eyes grew three times their usual size. "What… what did you just say?" he whispered.
Rose bravely stood up and walked to the bed where her satchel lay and began rummaging through it. "I made a promise to Scorpius, dad. And I don't intend on breaking it." Rose found what she was looking for and looked back at her father. Redness was crawling up his neck slowly, creeping towards his face to meet his enraged eyes. "Here, read these," she said quickly, holding out three letters to her father before she lost her nerve.
Ron eyed the letters suspiciously before grabbing them from her hands. He looked through each one, a scowl gracing his face whenever he read how much Scorpius missed Rose. He read the last letter quickly before handing them back to Rose.
"You see, Dad? His father… he's a horrible man. And if I don't go and find him, then he'll keep Scorpius away for forever," Rose tried to explain. "A few months ago I promised that I'd find him, no matter what. And now I have to keep the promise, because if I don't go and find him, no one else will."
Ron stared down at his daughter for a moment, as though he was calculating his next words. "This is a family matter and has nothing to do with us," he finally said briefly in a very business-like tone. He then grabbed Rose's arm and began to escort her to the door. "Now, let's go home before your mother-"
Rose saw red.
"That's bullshit!" she bellowed, yanking her arm out of her father's grasp. She saw her father give her a hard look and clench his jaw. Before he could admonish her for use of such strong language, she quickly and angrily continued. "If this were happening to someone else, like Chessie or Cici, you would have your Auror department out there right away, searching until you found them! But you won't go and find Scorpius because he's a Malfoy!" Rose wiped away a tear that trailed down her cheek. "Well I won't be pulled into your historical rivalry! I'm going to keep my promise! I'm going to go find Scorpius!" With that, Rose threw her satchel over her shoulder and began walking to the door.
She took three steps before her father grabbed her arm again, holding her tightly this time. "Are you insane?" he asked lividly. "You're in enough trouble as it is without giving me that kind of lip!"
"I don't care," Rose boiled quietly. She felt her emotions begin to get the best of her as another tear dripped down her cheek, followed by a few more. "You can take away my wand, try to shut me away, do whatever you want, but nothing is going to stop me." Her breath hitched. Her eyes became blurry as she looked at her father's enraged face. The tears must have been playing tricks on her, because she thought she saw his expression grow softer. She closed her eyes and let the wave of unbearable sadness and complete determination take her over. "I have to find him, Dad. I promised. I'm the only one that will. I just… I need to find him…" She sank to the ground with sudden weakness and covered her eyes as she cried.
Rose felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. She could holler and curse as much as she wanted to her father, but she was quickly realizing that even if she did continue with her expedition, she had no idea where he was or what she could find at his house. She needed to find him, but she just didn't know how.
Rose jumped when she felt a hand softly touch her shoulder. She looked and saw that the hand was attached to her father. She glanced up and saw his features hard, but his eyes soft.
"All right, fine. We'll go find him. But we're going to do this my-"
Ron's contract was cut short by Rose jumping up and squeezing him with a hug. She took a deep shaky breath and let the tears, new with relief, come. She felt her father squeeze her back and shake with a small chuckle. He let go of her and held her at arm's length to get a good look at her.
"Now, we better get you home before you r mother goes completely insane, and trust me, she's not far off."
