This one's really short compared to the other two, but it seems fitting to end it where I did. Enjoy :)

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Without so much as a squeal of brakes, the long silver bullet-shaped bus pulled up in front of my house. I watched it from the kitchen window, through which I'd been staring anxiously at the street for the past few minutes, then yelled "It's here!" over my shoulder before running to grab my suitcases from the hall. Jane and her dad had come to my house for breakfast—Jane's dad had taken the morning off from work, and my mom was making a special meal for her daughter's last day home. As I ran past the kitchen table where everyone else sat, Jane jumped up and followed me.

There was a knock on the door as I grabbed my bags: a suitcase, duffel bag, and a backpack for the bus ride. The suitcase was heavy, but I managed to drag it to the front door, with Jane right behind me lugging her own belongings.

Both my parents and Jane's dad were at the front door, now accompanied by a formally-dressed man holding a roll of parchment. Looking sternly at Jane and me, he unfurled the parchment and cleared his throat importantly.

"Madams Patterson and Nelson?" he called loudly. Jane and I stepped forward. "On this morning the sixth of September, 1999, Madams Patterson and Nelson are to be collected by the Slipstream Air Bus of Burnside Academy of Magical Instruction, to be delivered to said academy by this same evening for the commencement of their education in the theories and practices of magic." He paused, then seemed to deflate slightly.

"Oh, honestly, do either of you two care?" he asked in a considerably more natural voice. "You're going to school, and this is how you're getting there. I'll take your bags if you like—" He rolled up the parchment, stuck it in his belt, and pulled a wand from inside his suit. "Wingardium leviosa," he muttered, giving the wand a little flick, and our bags hovered slightly above the ground. He flicked the wand toward the bus, and the suitcases went flying into the underside compartment of the bus.

"Now, if you'll just hop on the bus, we'll be going." He glanced past us towards our parents, gave a little nod, and climbed into the bus himself.

Mom had lost some of her airiness this morning, and was looking at me with shining eyes. Obviously, she hadn't expected for her daughter to be leaving her so soon, but she wasn't the type to go hysterical on me, for which I was glad. I was already on the verge of tears myself, even though I was terribly excited about leaving, and I didn't think I could handle anyone else being sad.

We'd already said most everything over breakfast, so I hugged my mom tightly and said I'd call the minute I got there. My dad was beaming and nearly crushed me when he hugged me goodbye. He'd been reminiscing about Burnside a lot lately, and he obviously expected I would have a wonderful time.

Then I was standing before the bus with Jane, staring up into it where the driver was sitting impatiently. We turned towards each other, grinning from ear to ear, and both of us gave a little squeal of excitement. After all this waiting, we were finally off!

Just as I was following Jane onto the bus, though, there were flapping footsteps behind me, and someone shouted, "Wait!" I turned around just in time to see my sister Phoebe running towards me in her bathrobe and slippers, arms outstretched. She caught me in a tight hug that lifted me off the ground.

"Phoebe!" I said indignantly, but I was laughing.

"Have a good time, sis," she said, still hugging me.

"I will," I promised her. She let me down, and I was a little surprised to see that she was crying. "I'm not going to be gone that long!"

"I know, I just wish I were going with you. You have to tell me everything, okay?" I promised I would, and she waved goodbye as I stepped onto the bus at long last.

The doors slid silently shut behind me as a drew level with the bus driver. He gave me a smile and a wink, and I turned to find Jane.

The bus was unlike any school bus I'd ever seen, much less ridden in. Despite its average length from the outside, on the inside it was much longer, though about the same width. Instead of the usual brown bench seats, this bus had individual swivel-chairs in pairs along each side. The bus was nearly full with chattering students of all ages, but I quickly found Jane near the front of the bus and took the chair next to hers.

"This is so cool!" I shrieked as I spun my chair around, my legs in the air. Jane laughed at me, her face a blur in my spinning vision. I brought my feet down and stopped the chair so I was facing her, but it took a minute for my eyes to see clearly again.

"How is the bus so long?" I asked over the soft purring of the motor as the bus picked up speed. "It'll never get around corners." I remembered how much shorter the bus looked from the outside, and wondered if that was the answer.

"Oh, there are no corners to get around the way we're going," Jane said mysteriously. She laughed at the look on my face and pointed out the window. "Look!"

I got up from my chair to stare out the window and saw houses flashing by at an alarming speed. Then they seemed to be dropping away, as if…

"We're flying!" I yelled, and a few people nearby laughed.

"Of course we are, dumb butt," a boy about my age said with a condescending snort. "It's magic, duh?" I glared at him.

"Well, excuse me if I haven't seen a lot of magic before. I suppose you're one of those from a magical family?"

"And I suppose you're not?" he retorted. "In fact, I am from a purely Muggle family. I was the first in all my relations to have any trace of magic."

"Then how do you know so much?" Jane asked not very politely. She was looking at him with a slightly disgusted expression.

"I read, of course," he replied, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. "There's a veritable wealth of books for Muggle-borns like us," he directed at me. "I could lend you a few if you want to brush up on the magical world a bit. You look like you need to." I glared at him, all the angrier because I was worried he might be right. How much was I expected to know once I got to Burnside? Should I have caught myself up to people like Jane, who were brought up knowing at least a little about magic?

"No thanks," I said anyway. As worried as I suddenly was, I didn't feel like borrowing anything from this snotty kid.

"Suit yourself," he said with a kind of sympathetic shrug, as if he knew what was in store for me. "What's your names, anyway?"

"Ryann," I said simply. "And that's Jane."

"I'm Alexander," he said cordially, and Jane and I both had to stifle laughs. How fitting! "I go by Alex," he added with a frown, sounding a little annoyed. Just then a boy sitting across the aisle leaned over to talk to us, saving me from having to apologize when I really didn't feel like it.

"We doing introductions?" he said genially, taking in all three of us with one glance. "I'm Kevin." He held out his hand and looked me in the eye as I shook it, and suddenly I couldn't speak. I was painfully aware that my mouth was open, but even after I snapped it shut I couldn't stop staring. With his wide smile, light brown hair, and bright blue eyes, he was so…

"So hot!" Jane whispered when Kevin was hailed by someone behind him. Her brown eyes were as wide as my own must have been, and she was grinning widely. "Did you see the way he looked at you?"

"What're you talking about?" I felt my face go red, and an excited giggle threatened to burst from my throat. But just then Kevin turned back to talk to us, so I had to make a great effort to control myself and calm down. Jane wasn't helping, giggling softly behind her hand.

"So, you guys new this year?" Kevin asked, still smiling. I hardly heard his question; I was too busy deciding whether his eyes were more of a cerulean or an indigo.

"Yeah, are you?" Jane replied when she saw I wasn't going to. Alex was looking slightly put out at this new arrival who'd taken attention away from him, and was glaring at us in a disgruntled way.

"Nah, I'm a rising freshman."

"What does that mean?" I found my voice, choosing to stare at his forehead instead of his eyes.

"Second year. You're called freshman, next year you'll be rising freshman. Then sophomores, rising, juniors, rising, then seniors—then you graduate." I frowned; I'd never heard of the term "rising" before. "Don't ask me who came up with that," Kevin said with a laugh when he saw the look on my face. Why was I blushing again? Would he notice? Of course he would… Feeling absolutely mortified, I sat back in my chair in hopes that my face might go into shadow or something.

"You have been at Burnside Academy for a year already, then," Alex addressed Kevin for the first time. "Is there anything you could tell us about it?" Kevin shrugged, thankfully looking at Alex now.

"What d'you want to know?" I lost track of the conversation as Alex peppered Kevin with questions about Burnside; I didn't really care at the moment, and memorizing Kevin's profile was somehow much more engaging. Jane was staring at him too, and every once in a while we'd exchange a glance and had to stifle giggles.

After a few minutes the guy sitting next to Kevin got up from his chair and moved to one closer to us. He looked like he'd just woken up from a nap, and was rubbing at a crick in his neck.

"What's up, Kev? What time is it?" he asked hoarsely, clearing his throat. Kevin glanced at his watch; it was nine-thirty. We were scheduled to arrive at the school around four; it was going to be a long drive. Well, flight.

"Where is Burnside?" I wondered aloud. "It must be pretty far away if it takes this long to fly there."

"Actually, we're not flying nearly as fast as Muggle airplanes do," Alex informed me. "Only about the speed of a car on a highway—that is to say, roughly sixty miles per hour. Besides, we have to stop to pick up passengers along the way. Thus it will take rather a long time to go a relatively small distance."

"A mile a minute isn't exactly slow," Jane muttered.

"What's an airplane?" Kevin's friend asked interestedly. "I hear talk about them once in a while, but I've never seen one." Alex launched into a lengthy discussion about airplanes, including random trivia about some of the first models and how things had improved since the Wright brothers' first flight. I could see the other boy's eyes glazing over, but he was polite enough to just nod and look like he was listening.

By the time Alex was done talking, we'd attracted two more listeners, both girls. They sat as close to the group as possible while still remaining separated, and sat close together and whispered a lot. Occasionally they would burst into giggles, and it was one of these laughing fits that first brought them to my attention. Bored with Alex's talk, I watched them instead, and though I was staring openly, they didn't seem to notice or mind.

They were acting like sisters, but looked nothing alike. One girl had dark brown hair, a round tanned face, and brown eyes. She was slightly overweight, but had a cute face and a dimpled smile. Her friend was of a lighter complexion, with golden blonde hair. There was a smattering of freckles across her nose and beneath her light eyes—I couldn't tell from my seat exactly what color they were. She was very skinny and bony, and her small face was perched on a long, elegant neck. In contrast with her friend's chin-length hair, this girl wore her golden locks past her shoulders, and though her hair was frizzy and unkempt now, it was still pretty.

When Alex stopped talking, Kevin's friend turned to these girls to invite them into the conversation; he looked glad to have an excuse to talk to someone else. There was another round of introductions; Kevin's friend was named Connor, the dark-haired girl was Melanie, and the other girl was Emily.

"Are you just starting too?" Jane asked quickly. They looked about our age, and it would be nice to meet some of our classmates early.

"Yeah, but I have a sister who's a rising sophomore this year," Emily replied with a proud smile. "She's told me all about Burnside." Melanie nodded vigorously to show that she knew everything about the school too. To Kevin and Connor, Emily asked, "What dorm are you two staying in? I'm hoping to be in Zephyr, that's the best one by far." Melanie nodded her agreement again.

"Dorms?" I couldn't help but asking. I immediately regretted it as everyone turned to stare at me. How was I the only one who didn't know what was going on??

"Y'know, where you sleep?" Kevin said a little sarcastically. Everyone laughed and I felt my face get very hot. "There's five of them at the school," he continued, more sincerely this time. "You can be in Zephyr—that's where I am," he added for Emily's benefit, "Donovan, Bryant, Hewitt, or Lavada. They're all different, and you go wherever you fit in." I longed to ask how you were supposed to know which one was best, but didn't dare risk embarrassing myself again. Instead I muttered that I remembered reading about that, and avoided looking at Emily, who was still laughing silently at me.

After that, I resolved to stay quiet unless I had something good to say. No one seemed to notice, so I contented myself with sneaking glances at Kevin. I told myself over and over that he hadn't meant to be rude, and anyway, he'd made up for it afterward.

Once the subject of school had been exhausted, Connor brought out a large deck of cards from his pants pocket.

"Wanna play Exploding Snap?" he asked the group at large, holding out the cards. "I got these from my cousin in England, the game's real big over there." Only Kevin had ever heard of it, and that was through Connor, so they explained the game to us while the cards were being dealt out. There were seven of us, and the game called for an even number of players, so Kevin wandered off to find someone to join us while Connor dealt out an extra hand.

The game was a little like BS, but not very. Players were supposed to try to trick each other into making their hand explode; this made me nervous, as I wondered how much it would hurt. But Connor spoke lightly of the exploding cards, so I decided to trust him and concentrate on playing the game.

Kevin came back with a girl who looked remarkably like him; they had the same hair and eyes, and shared a rather large nose that was endearing on Kevin but a little strange on his sister.

"This is my sister Paige," he told us as they each took a seat. "She's a sophomore this year." Paige already knew how to play Exploding Snap, so we got started right away.

The game moved pretty quickly, and was actually a lot of fun. The explosions were startling and loud, but not very painful. We played three games before Connor's cards were too charred to read properly. He put them back in their battered box just as the bus pulled to a stop outside a large white house, where three kids of varying ages were waiting with their bags. I hadn't been paying attention to the bus stops while we were playing, but now I watched curiously as the three kids waved to their parents and got on the bus. They must have been siblings, because only two parents stood outside with them to see them off.

By this time we were nearing our final destination, and the bus was nearly full. I was sure a magical bus would have enough seats for all its intended passengers, but perhaps there were only just enough. The three newcomers stood at the front of the bus for a long time, staring around at the crowded bus, before finally sitting in three seats right behind the driver; probably the only three seats that were together. Though I watched them out of the corner of my eye, they didn't strike up conversation, whether with each other or anyone else.

All three had dark, shiny black hair, and very dark brown eyes. They were Asian, but I had no idea how to tell the difference between people from China or Japan, much less the other countries in that region, so I didn't know exactly what origin. The two older girls were very pretty and slender, but their younger brother was still very short, and thus a little chubbier than they. While his sisters sat stonily facing the front of the bus, the boy looked around in silence. Once I caught his eye and smiled at him, but he looked quickly away.

Theirs turned out to be the last stop; it was getting late, and now that we were on the final stretch to Burnside, the driver sped up a little. Talk in our group had turned to an excited discussion on something called Quidditch, and not wanting to seem stupid again, I listened carefully without saying anything myself.

I gathered it was some kind of game, and that Kevin and Connor liked it a lot. They were hoping to try out for the team this year, and Kevin's sister was giving them advice on which team to go for based on their skills. It seemed there were four teams in the school, and they played each other for the privilege to go up against a team from Elk Creek, the wizard school on the east coast, and a team from Harvey Lee, which I gathered was another school.

At ten minutes to four the noise level in the bus was getting steadily louder as people began crowding the windows, hoping for a first glimpse of the school. I squeezed between two people to get a look, but we were still in the clouds and all was just white. Then we dipped lower, and someone in the back of the bus let out an excited yell.

"There it is! You see it, the red and green patch down there?" she said loudly to no one in particular. I strained my eyes, searching the earth below for a patch of red or green… I let out a little squeal and jumped excitedly when I saw it, about the same time as most of the bus did. The campus had to be huge, I realized, for us to see it so well from this height. Indeed, as we circled lower toward the school, I was amazed at the size of it. Out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains and forests and valleys and farmland, was a sizeable collection of different-sized buildings. Most of them were red, and probably made of brick, but here and there the sunlight glinted off the windows of a white or gray building, and I thought I saw one made of wood as we drew even closer to the ground.

Then there was a soft bump, and the bus was on the ground.