Sunlight streamed through the window, hitting Marak's eyes. He tried prying one open before shutting it to block out the brightness. With a yawn he sat up rubbing his eyes. It took him a few minutes but then all which happened last night rushed back to him. Marak sat up and jumped out of bed, seeing his Hogwarts letter sitting on the bedside. Marak's face lit up with a grin. Marak paused a little to look around, wondering where Hagrid was.
After a few minutes of waiting in his room he opened the door and exited into the hallway. Sunlight streamed through the windows, and birds could be heard outside. Quickly, Marak went back into his room and changed.
After changing Mark left and walked to the cafeteria, wondering if it all was a prank, I mean he thought, this is too crazy to be true.. I mean, wizards? Magic? I bet it was all some sort of prank...
As Marak rounded the corner and entered the cafeteria, he saw Hagrid's massive form at one of the tables. He was sitting on what looked like a couch, a few broken chairs next to him. He was sipping tea and kept on looking at a small silver watch. Marak strolled over to him.
"Hey Hagrid." He said, not sure what else he could say to the huge man. Hagrid looked up and smiled, before taking another sip of tea. Marak got a good view of Hagrid's watch and saw the face of it was quite different than normal watches.
The clock's face had only three "hours", 'On time', 'Late, and 'Something to do'. Right now it was on the 'Something to do' mark, but as Hagrid got up from the couch Marak could see the hand changed to 'on time'.
"Ya ready?" Hagrid boomed as he stood. Quite a few children who had woken for an early breakfast were watching Hagrid, and shrank back into their chairs when Hagrid rose off his couch. Marak followed Hagrid as he left the cafeteria and headed for the front door. Marak caught a glimpse of Joe as he rounded the corner out of the cafeteria with Hagrid. Joe must've thought that Marak had gotten this giant to pound the snot out of him for he let out a small terrified squeak and shuffled into his room so fast that a clattering and clashing could be heard.
Heh, probably tripped over his bed or something… Marak thought, feeling much better now. As Marak followed Hagrid out of the door and down the street, out of view from the Orphanage, he found he had some more questions he had to ask Hagrid,
"So where is this school? Will I be able get to it quickly fro the orphanage?" Marak asked, Hagrid looked at him confused for a moment then he finally realized what Marak had thought,
"No, no! These magic schools aren' just in every neighborhood you know." Hagrid said, but Marak didn't know. Hagrid continued on, "No, Hogwarts is far away from here. You need to take a train up to it." Hagrid explained, Marak's eyes opened wide,
"We take a train up there? Does that mean that we stay there?" Marak asked Hagrid, who nodded. Marak's heart did a jump; finally, I'm free of the Orphanage, no more disappointment, no more trouble with Joe… I'm free!
Hagrid had paused, looking around for anyone who might be around. Marak and him were concealed from the Orphanage by a large clump of trees.
"How did the Headmaster of the Orphanage react to the news I was going to a Wizard school?" Marak asked, knowing that his old Headmaster hated anything to do with fiction; Marak guessed that too many little kids dreaming about crazy fantasy things had broken his nerves.
Hagrid looked a little nervous, which was unusual for Marak to see someone twice his size fidget.
"Err… I didn' exactly tell him you were goin' to Hogwarts, just kinda made him think you were being transferred to a different orphanage." Hagrid said, "Then I kinda used magic to make him forget about that there wasn't any orphanage where I told him I was transferring you." Hagrid said. "But mind you don't tell anyone at Hogwarts I used magic, I'm not allowed to use it." He said. Marak nodded, not wanting to get Hagrid in trouble. Hagrid smiled,
"Good." He said, raising his right hand. A loud BANG echoed throughout the street and out of seemingly no where a huge triple-decker bus rested where just a moment ago there was nothing. Marak found his mouth was hanging open and he shut it quickly. The Bus loomed over Marak and even Hagrid, and it was painted all in dark blue, except for the windows of course which were very numerous all over all three of the busses levels.
Some steam hissed out of the tailpipe of the bus, and Hagrid stepped foreword. The doors of the bus opened with a hiss to reveal a very large man in a dark-blue jacket with gold clasps, matching the bus itself. He had a patch over his right eye and grizzled grey hair, although his suit and shoes looked new and straitened out, behind him stood a man who seemed in his early twenties. The younger man had black hair which was combed back and just as the older man his shoes were brightly polished and his suit looked brand new.
"Welcome to the Knightbus." The Younger man said from behind the older.
"Hey Jones, how's the bus been?" Hagrid said as he boarded the bus, putting a couple of silver coins into the younger man's outstretched hand, but talking to the older man.
"Aye, the bus has been just fine, she's been carrying me and my crew just fine." Jones said, rubbing the smooth blue paint of the bus affectionately. The younger man rolled his eyes. Hagrid addressed him next,
"Will, an how have you been?" Hagrid said, sidling past him further inside. Will nodded politly and said in a formal voice, "Just fine Hagrid. Good to see you." Hagrid sat down on one of the larger beds. Jones took his eye off Hagrid and peered down at Marak.
"Well? Are ya getting on?" He asked. Marak nodded and stepped inside. Marak looked around the inside in amazement. There were beds lining the walls and inside were floating lamps which hovered over each bed, as it was day all the lamps were off. Jones closed the door with an arm and Will nodded curtly. Marak dat down next to Hagrid.
"Marak, that lad there is Will Kyle, and that man over is Jones…" Hagrid paused at a one-eyed glare from Jones, ".. Blackeye…" Hagrid finished. Jones seemed content with that answer and went to sit down in the driver's seat. Hagrid whispered to Marak, "Actually, his last name is Muyer, but he likes to be called Blackeye since for some reason he thinks he's some sort of pirate." Hagrid said,
"It's unfortunate." Will said, who had overheard Hagrid's whispers.
"Unfortunate?" Jones boomed from the front of the bus. He hadn't heard what Hagrid had said, only that word from Will, "Aye, I can feel it too, We might have some rough current out here." Will just rolled his eyes again while Marak tried to hold back a laugh. With an enormous 'BANG!' the bus flew from the street and zoomed down the countryside.
"So where ya to, Hagrid?" Jones asked.
"Off to Diagon alley." Hagrid answered. Jones nodded, barely avoiding a farmhouse which was in his way. Marak was stuck in his seat on the massive bed, honestly terrified of Jone's crazy driving. They were as of now driving through a sea of long reeds, on which looked like was in a swamp, although Will, Hagrid and Jones seemed not to notice or care.
"Aye.. we just got a lad who was coming from Diagon Alley." Jones said. Will nodded and looked back at one of the far beds. Marak turned around and spotted a kid who looked about Marak's same height, maybe a little larger who had blue hair and next to him lay a large staff. On the ground next to the bed was a bag full of what looked like books and vials of green stuff. He was currently sleeping, which stopped Marak from going over there to see if the blue hair was real.
"Aren't you going to let him off before us?" Marak asked Will and Jones.
"No, he needs some sleep. He came onto the bus very tired looking and he did pay for an all night trip." Will said. Jones just nodded mutely. Marak looked ahead and gasped, for they were heading strait for a small building, but before they reached it the whole entire building seemed to jump out of their way. Marak had to kick-start his heart, which had decided to stop beating for a while.
"What…? How..?" Marak started to ask, but Jones looked back at him and Marak could've sworn he heard the man mutter, "Land-lubber…" before resuming his driving.
Hagrid, meanwhile, was reading a paper which was titled, The Daily Prophet.
"I hear the Lichewizard is causing more of a ruckus." Hagrid murmured to Jones.
"Aye, I've been hearing some dark things have been goin on." He replied back, peering through the windows as if this wizard was standing outside listening to what they were saying.
"The Lichewizard?" Marak asked. Hagrid looked up from his paper, a grave look upon his face,
"Yes. This wizard is an Auror gone bad…" Hagrid said about to continue,
"What's an Auror?" Marak asked.
"An Auror is a dark wizard hunter. Like your Muggles' Po-lice" Hagrid explained, trying to pronounce Police. He almost got it right.
"Oh, and he turned bad?" Marak asked. Hagrid nodded,
"Very bad. When he left he stole some dark spells and items from the Ministry of Magic…" Hagrid began but Marak cut him off,
"Ministry of Magic?"
"Yes. They are in charge of all Magic going-ons around the world." Hagrid said, " And the Lichewizard stole some of these dark items and scrolls from the Ministry. The reason he's called the Lichewizard is because for the past years he has been studying dark curses, they say he knows how to raise the dead, and Necromancy is punishable by death." Hagrid said. "They also say he's been trying for years to become stronger, turn himself into an immortal being. It's pretty scary Marak." Hagrid said. At these words even Marak started looking around the knightbus for any strange-looking wizards himself.
"The Ministry has been trying to catch him for 3 years now…" Hagrid said. Marak could see Jones' back shiver.
"Hagrid, lets move off the subject. That type of magic gives me the creeps." Jones said. Hagrid nodded, and resumed to his paper. Marak sat in silence. It wasn't too long before with another BANG! They were at their destination. Hagrid stood and thanked Jones and Will, as did Marak.
"Aye laddie, watch yourself there." Jones said, "You never know what type of dark wizard may be sitting right in front of you." He growled, behind him Will rolled his eyes.
"Right, right." Hagrid muttered, "I'll see you later." Hagrid said, and with a final wink of his left eye Jones closed the door and with another 'BANG!' he was off.
"How'd he lose his eye?" Marak asked as an afterthought, Hagrid laughed,
"He never lost it, he just put a patch over it, and you know what?" Hagrid said as they turned around to face a little pub by the name of 'The Leaky Cauldron', "I think he's forgotten that he still has his eye…"
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Author's Note:
Disclaimer: (See chapter 1) Anything recognisable is J.K. Rowling's not mine. Everything new is mine however.
Hey, thanks a lot for the reviews, and I have again taken all of them into account (Just as I said, longer chapter). Again, the reason the 3rd chapter was short was because I finished it before I put the first two chapters up here, so I didn't get a chance to change it, plus it was at a nice little stopping point. Although maybe I should've merged chapters 2 and 3 together, or 3 and 4. Well, at least now I can say my new chapters will ALL be much longer, unless by some reason I need to make it short.
I had finished this chapter when I put up Chapter 3, so I've been holding onto this puppy since Monday, and I've been working really hard on Chapter 4. In fact it'll be longer than this one, I'm almost finished with it. Also some more note, I added my bad guy. I think he'll work out very well, since... well, you'll see anyway.
I really like Jones though, he's a good character to become friends with since he's pretty ... um... interesting )
Thank you all who read my lil' novel! I'm glad some people enjoy it, at least I hope they do, and I hope to get more people to check this out, maybe get interested in it. Thanks for all the support! You guys keep me writing :D. I'm updating every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and either Sunday OR Saturday. I'd better get writing ;)
PS: They are erasing my smilie faces, so I now have to resort to ;), :), and :D cry 'tis sad.
Blackotter