~6~
The young fellow grabbed their things and hauled it on board the Knight Bus.
"ERN! It's 'Arry Potter!" he shouted at the bus driver as he panted.
"Well, I'll be, Stan, that isn't Harry Potter! This lad's name is Neville Longbottom," he winked at Harry, and Harry quickly smiled back, remembering the first time he had ever traveled on the Knight Bus. Stan and Ernie offered them free hot chocolate because of the bad weather.
"We should be heading to bed soon, though, for we have much a longer day ahead of us than I anticipated, Harry," she shivered and accepted the two hot chocolates, passing one to Harry as she gulped hers down her wrinkly throat.
Harry felt the magical concoction of hot cocoa slide down his throat and tingle all the way down to his toes, warming his blood.
During their ride on the Knight Bus, Harry spent time entertaining Stan with answers to his many questions about the Tri-Wizard Cup while Mrs. Figg chattered with a man she had known when he was younger and most likely less green in the face. Stan nervously whispered that he heard rumors about the return of You-Know-Who, and anxiously asked Harry if they were true as he twitched uncontrollably.
Mrs. Figg turned around and answered for Harry, "Voldemort, return to power? You must know that he is now not even what could be considered a living creature. You must be joking, my dear boy! Little Harry saw the last of him 15 years ago. There should be no reason for you to worry," and she ended it in a notation as so to signal that the conversation was over, no more questions to be asked.
Harry would have liked to have told Stan the truth, but knew Mrs. Figg had said what she did so as to not worry him. Even though Harry didn't know Stan very well, he did know that he was a very excitable man.
"You better rest up, then, Harry," Stan winked at him and ran to the second level of the bus as a quiet bell somewhere rang.
Harry tried to go to sleep, but he was too excited. He was happy about spending the rest of the summer without the Dursleys, although thoughts of Voldemort should have been scaring him. As soon as Harry was beginning to drift off, he noticed something on the night stand. He glanced over to the bed next to his to see Mrs. Figg in deep slumber, snoring lightly.
Harry picked up the paper on the nightstand, it was the Daily Prophet. On the first page was an article entitled Return of the Dark Lord? The article went over the recent events of oddities reported by both Muggles and Witches and Wizards. Many suspicious figures in dark cloaks had been seen just "hanging" around. Muggles link it to "the bad influence of music on our youth's fashion choices". But the Daily Prophet reporter, Lars Plunnelle, developed it as a Death Eater story as much as he could.
Before putting the paper down, Harry scanned all of the stories for anything by Rita Skeeter. She must be too embarrassed to return to work and risk her reputation. Harry doubted it that Hermione would have still kept that Skeeter woman in a jar this long. Although, the thought did humor him.
Unfortunately, it didn't humor Harry enough to keep him from going to sleep that night a bit more scared than he had been before he had read the article in the Prophet.
The young fellow grabbed their things and hauled it on board the Knight Bus.
"ERN! It's 'Arry Potter!" he shouted at the bus driver as he panted.
"Well, I'll be, Stan, that isn't Harry Potter! This lad's name is Neville Longbottom," he winked at Harry, and Harry quickly smiled back, remembering the first time he had ever traveled on the Knight Bus. Stan and Ernie offered them free hot chocolate because of the bad weather.
"We should be heading to bed soon, though, for we have much a longer day ahead of us than I anticipated, Harry," she shivered and accepted the two hot chocolates, passing one to Harry as she gulped hers down her wrinkly throat.
Harry felt the magical concoction of hot cocoa slide down his throat and tingle all the way down to his toes, warming his blood.
During their ride on the Knight Bus, Harry spent time entertaining Stan with answers to his many questions about the Tri-Wizard Cup while Mrs. Figg chattered with a man she had known when he was younger and most likely less green in the face. Stan nervously whispered that he heard rumors about the return of You-Know-Who, and anxiously asked Harry if they were true as he twitched uncontrollably.
Mrs. Figg turned around and answered for Harry, "Voldemort, return to power? You must know that he is now not even what could be considered a living creature. You must be joking, my dear boy! Little Harry saw the last of him 15 years ago. There should be no reason for you to worry," and she ended it in a notation as so to signal that the conversation was over, no more questions to be asked.
Harry would have liked to have told Stan the truth, but knew Mrs. Figg had said what she did so as to not worry him. Even though Harry didn't know Stan very well, he did know that he was a very excitable man.
"You better rest up, then, Harry," Stan winked at him and ran to the second level of the bus as a quiet bell somewhere rang.
Harry tried to go to sleep, but he was too excited. He was happy about spending the rest of the summer without the Dursleys, although thoughts of Voldemort should have been scaring him. As soon as Harry was beginning to drift off, he noticed something on the night stand. He glanced over to the bed next to his to see Mrs. Figg in deep slumber, snoring lightly.
Harry picked up the paper on the nightstand, it was the Daily Prophet. On the first page was an article entitled Return of the Dark Lord? The article went over the recent events of oddities reported by both Muggles and Witches and Wizards. Many suspicious figures in dark cloaks had been seen just "hanging" around. Muggles link it to "the bad influence of music on our youth's fashion choices". But the Daily Prophet reporter, Lars Plunnelle, developed it as a Death Eater story as much as he could.
Before putting the paper down, Harry scanned all of the stories for anything by Rita Skeeter. She must be too embarrassed to return to work and risk her reputation. Harry doubted it that Hermione would have still kept that Skeeter woman in a jar this long. Although, the thought did humor him.
Unfortunately, it didn't humor Harry enough to keep him from going to sleep that night a bit more scared than he had been before he had read the article in the Prophet.