The Knight Bus

Whichever way he looked at it, he had never been in a worse fix.

"Really?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Facing You-Know-Who?"

"Facing a Basilisk?"

"Trying to survive Acromantula?"

"Facing a troll?" Harry rolled his eyes at the twins.

"And that's just your first two years at school," Ron added.

"Alright, I'll admit. I can be slightly dramatic."

"Slightly?" Hermione asked.

"Ok. Very dramatic. But you've met my godfather, 'only one will die tonight' and my honorary uncle 'if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would'. You can bet my dad would have been just as dramatic. So I'm pretty sure it's inherited," Harry defended himself, making sure to keep his voice quiet enough that it didn't travel beyond their group; he didn't want to know how those who knew Sirius was his godfather but didn't know he was innocent would react to knowing they had met.

"He's not wrong about that Hermione," Remus admitted.

He had broken the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry so badly, he was surprised Ministry of Magic representatives weren't swooping down on him where he sat.

"Definitely dramatic."

"It's inherited."

Harry was sure that, criminal or not, Ron and Hermione would want to help him now, but they were both abroad, and with Hedwig gone, he had no means of contacting them.

"Wow. Talk about blowing things out of proportion Harry," Susan said, shaking her head.

"I had no clue what would happen. What was I supposed to think?"

It was a horrible prospect, but he couldn't sit on this wall forever, or he'd find himself trying to explain to Muggle police why he was out in the dead of night with a trunk full of spell books and a broomstick.

"Cosplay. Or part of a cult. Police don't question you having weird things in your possession with either of those answers, as long as it's nothing actually illegal and just weird," Tonks said with a shrug.

A funny prickling on the back of his neck had made Harry feel he was being watched,

"Were you?" Lavender asked. They had learnt pretty quickly to trust Harry's instincts, from both the DA and from the previous books they had read.

"Yeah. Nothing harmful though." After all, it had been Sirius watching him, checking up on his godson before making his way north and to Hogwarts.

"Lumos," Harry muttered,

"How was that not detected at the Ministry?" Hermione asked, confused. Had they had picked up when Dobby had done magic but not when Harry himself actually did?

"They would have already had a team of Accidental Magic Reversal Squad dispatched and would have just assumed that such a small spell was just a final flare of accidental magic. Especially because the first lot was so big," Tonks explained slowly, trying to remember what they had learned during her Auror training – accidental magic and underage magic had been briefly mentioned. Susan, since she was sitting close enough nearby to have heard the conversation, nodded.

"That' probably what happened," she agreed; she lived with her Aunt Amelia and had heard her talk about work a lot, so had a very good understanding of how those type of things worked.

He held it high over his head, and the pebble-dashed walls of number two suddenly sparkled; the garage door gleamed, and between them Harry saw, quite distinctly, the hulking outline of something very big, with wide, gleaming eyes.

Snuffles whimpered slightly, not liking that he had scared his godson.

There was a deafening BANG,

Majority of the hall flinched, having not expected such a loud bang to emerge from the book.

They belonged, as Harry saw when he raised his head, to a triple-decker, violently purple bus, which had appeared out of thin air. Gold lettering over the windshield spelled The Knight Bus.

"You summoned the Knight Bus by accident?" Hannah asked. Harry shrugged.

"Yeah. I didn't even know it existed, let alone how to call it, until then."

"Like a dog… but massive…"

"Like the Grim?" Lavender gasped.

"It wasn't the Grim Lavender," Harry said.

"But you kept having the Grim all year," Parvati added. Harry let out a quiet sigh, knowing how much those two loved Divination.

"It wasn't the Grim."

"Neville Longbottom," said Harry, saying the first name that came into his head.

"You used my name?" Neville asked in surprise.

"Well, he couldn't use a Weasley name, since we're all redheads," Ron said.

"And he couldn't use my name, since I'm a girl," Hermione added.

"So you were the first name that popped into my head that I could actually use. You're my friend, I don't know why you're surprised about that," Harry added, shocking Neville a bit; Neville hadn't realised that Harry had considered them friends before that year and the DA, even if he had.

Can't do nuffink underwater.

"Has someone actually tried that?" Tonks asked curiously. Remus sighed.

"Peter made the comment about wondering if we could visit Atlantis and then James and Sirius dragged us along with them to try it out by asking the Knight Bus to take them there. We were stuck underwater for three hours before they could work out how to get the bus out of the water."

"Eleven Sickles," said Stan, "but for firteen you get 'ot chocolate,

"Don't get hot chocolate," all those who had been stupid enough to have done it said.

"Why?" Colin asked, curious.

"It won't stay in the cup for more than three seconds. Five if you're very lucky," Harry deadpanned.

There was another tremendous BANG,

Many people flinched again, but less than last time, more of them having been expecting it.

Never notice nuffink, they don'."

"Actually, the Knight Bus is completely covered in notice-me-not charms, muggle repelling charms, silencing charms, and many other charms and wards that prevent the muggles from noticing them," Amelia said.

His stomach churned as he fell back to wondering what was going to happen to him, and whether the Dursleys had managed to get Aunt Marge off the ceiling yet.

"They most likely had. The Ministry work very fast when it comes to accidental magic around muggles," Mr Weasley said.

A large photograph of a sunken-faced man with long, matted hair blinked slowly at Harry from the front page.

Snuffles growled slightly at the description; he hated hearing about what he looked like when he was in Azkaban and when he was on the run.

He looked strangely familiar.

"From the news or something else?" Hermione asked.

"Probably a mix of that and subconscious," Harry said.

"You think you recognised him?" Ron asked.

"Maybe. I mean, I vaguely recognised Snuffles, even if I couldn't work out why."

"Black is mad.

"Very true," Remus muttered, getting a betrayed look from Snuffles, even as those who had heard him, and knew the truth, tried to muffle their laughter.

Harry had never met a vampire, but he had seen pictures of them in his Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, and Black, with his waxy white skin, looked just like one.

Snuffles huffed. He had not looked like a vampire. If anyone looked like a vampire, it was Snape. And he did not like the comparison.

"What, Voldemort?" said Harry, without thinking.

"Harry," Ron and Hermione groaned.

"You refusing to stop saying the name is going to get you in trouble one day," Ron continued.

"I really wouldn't have said the name, Harry," Neville added.

"I know. It's why I've agreed to stop calling Spookyface Snakeypoof his real name. Riddle works just as well, and serves to annoy him too," Harry said with a shrug, even as many people choked at his newest name for Riddle.

"Spookyace Snakeypoof?" Remus asked in disbelief. Harry shrugged.

"His face is spooky and looks like a snake."

"Jus' stood there an' laughed.

"Shock," Harry murmured. "If that happened to me, I doubt I'd be sane." Hermione squeezed his hand and Ron nudged his shoulder, assuring him that they were right there and that he wasn't going to lose them.

"Gas explosion," grunted Ernie.

"It's an excuse that seems to cover a lot of magical incidents," Kingsley said.

"It's not an excuse that will work for much longer unless it's a gas line exploding. Most gas lines have a safety switch now that will switch the gas off if there's a leak," Hermione said. Mr Weasley frowned; they'd have to think of a new excuse for the muggles then, and that partially fell to him, since he worked closely with muggles to prevent them finding out about magic.

"Never been a breakout from Azkaban before, 'as there, Ern?

"Yes, there had been," the trio grumbled, thinking back to Barty Jn the year before. He may have had help, but he still escaped, and more than a decade before Sirius had.

Them Azkaban guards give me the collywobbles."

All those who had been at school during that year, meaning they had been close to the Dementors for a year, shivered, remembering how terrible that year had been with the Dementors so close.

BANG.

Majority of the hall jumped again at the loud bang that echoed through the hall, having not expected the bus to jump again.

Harry looked up at the owner of the hand on his shoulder and felt a bucketful of ice cascade into his stomach — he had walked right into Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself.

"Why was the Minister there?"

"The Minister of Magic doesn't get involved in underage magic."

"What's he doing there?"

"Harry didn't do anything bad enough to meet the Minister."

"He shouldn't be there because of accidental magic."

"Perhaps a pot of tea," said Fudge, who still hadn't let go of Harry.

Hermione and Ron both shot Harry sympathetic looks, knowing he must have felt extremely uncomfortable – they both knew he struggled with physical contact, after the summer holidays more so – which made sense now that they knew about the abuse – and especially from people he didn't know; it had taken him all of first year to stop flinching when either Ron or Hermione initiated physical contact with him, like hugs or an arm around the shoulder.

"'Ow come you di'n't tell us 'oo you are, eh, Neville?" said Stan,

"He's still calling you Neville even though he knows your name?" Neville asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Maybe he thought it suited me," Harry said with a shrug. "It was much better than to be ogled for my name and scar."

Harry already knew this, of course; he had seen Fudge once before, but as he had been wearing his father's Invisibility Cloak at the time, Fudge wasn't to know that.

"Yes, that probably would have been hard to explain," Remus said in an amused tone.

I'd started to think… but you're safe, and that's what matters."

"That didn't make much sense to me at all. I had no idea why people cared that I'd run away," Harry said.

"You're famous. What did you expect?" Hermione asked dryly.

"A bit of privacy in my life, honestly."

"I think you're out of luck there, mate," Ron said. Harry huffed, but didn't say anything – Ron was right, after all.

Miss Dursley has been punctured and her memory has been modified.

"Aw, but she made a good balloon," the twins said in a half whining voice.

So that's that, and no harm done."

Harry did his best to not scoff at that statement, like he had had to do when it had been said as well. If he hadn't found out about Sirius that year, then there would have definitely been harm done when he went back for the holidays.

"They are your family, after all, and I'm sure you are fond of each other — er — very deep down."

"If you can find any fondness towards me in them, then I don't want to know how far down you're looking," Harry muttered.

"What about my punishment?"

"Harry. What is wrong with you?" Fred exclaimed.

"You don't ask for punishment. I thought you knew better than that," George exclaimed.

"The Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry!"

"And if not that one, then the Statute of Secrecy. Because Aunt Marge definitely didn't know about the magical world, and I most definitely did magic in front of her."

"Circumstances change, Harry…

"Yes. Having a mass-murderer after you will do that," Harry said dryly, keeping his voice quiet enough that those outside their immediate group couldn't hear; after all, it wasn't common knowledge that Sirius had broken out to, allegedly, go after him.

And now Harry came to think of it, surely it wasn't usual for the Minister of Magic himself to get involved in matters of underage magic?

"No, they're not," Susan said, trying to think back to what had been happening during that year that would have made Fudge step in personally when it came to Harry. The only thing she could think of was Sirius Black escaping Azkaban, but what did that have to do with Harry? Unless it was simply the fact that there was a murderer on the loose...

The Azkaban guards have never yet failed…

"Crouch Junior," the trio coughed.

and they are angrier than I've ever seen them."

Many people shuddered at that. The Dementors were bad enough, let alone when they were angry.

D'you think you could —?"

"Wow. Go big or go home Harrikins," the twins said. Harry shrugged.

"Not like my uncle was going to sign it after what happened."

"Hedwig!" Harry gasped.

"How did she know you were there?" Tonks asked.

"She always knows where I am. I can normally give a pretty accurate guess about where she is too, if I spend a few seconds thinking about it," Harry said. That was just another thing that came with the familiar bond – his familiar could always find him.

Harry could hardly believe that he'd left Privet Drive only a few hours ago, that he wasn't expelled, and that he was now facing two completely Dursley-free weeks.

"The few Dursley-free weeks during summer were the best part of leaving that place," Harry said with a small smile. Those two weeks in Diagon Alley had been nice – it was cool to just see how witches and wizards went about their daily lives. Especially because there had never been any big spectacle about him made, so he was able to pretty much avoid the attention of the general public.

And without even removing his glasses, he slumped back onto his pillows and fell asleep.

Silence followed the end of the chapter before Dumbledore stood up.

"We will have a break there and resume reading in half an hour." At that, most people stood up, use to the routine now of having half-an-hour out of the hall to stretch their legs and do whatever they wanted before coming back for the reading.