Harry Potter - Vengeance and Wrath: The Rise of the Dark Lord

- CHAPTER TWO -

Knight Bus to The Burrow

Standing at the end of the road, breathless from hauling his heavy trunk, Harry checked his surroundings. It was dark, and he knew that everyone in Little Whinging was probably inside, cowering behind shuttered windows in fear of the "plague", but second nature made him look around anyway, searching for anyone who might be clever enough not to believe in all the nonsense that had been printed in newspapers and magazines, and talked about constantly on T.V. Or even for someone who may be peering out of the windows.

But there was no-one. The street remained eerily quiet.

Harry inhaled deeply, then stuck out his hand, clutching his wand tightly. At once there was an almighty BANG as a bright purple triple-decker bus appeared out of nowhere. The conductor, dressed in a uniform which matched the colour of the bus, jumped from the vehicle and began his speech.

'Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency-' he stopped suddenly. 'Well, if it isn't 'Arry Potter!'

'Hello, Stan.' Harry replied, attempting a smile. Somehow he couldn't quite forget the first time he had flagged down the Knight Bus - or the ride that was to follow.

'Bit dangerous, hangin' roun' the streets on your own, when You-Know-'Oo's on the loose innit?' Stan asked, shivering at the mere thought of Voldemort prowling the country.

'That's why I flagged you down.' Harry stated flatly. He wasn't in the mood for another lecture about safety, especially from someone wearing a uniform so bright it was almost blinding.

'Where didja wanna go then, 'Arry?' Stan smiled jovially.

'Ottery St. Catchpole.' Harry answered.

'Where abouts in Ottery St. Catchpole?' Stan questioned, helping Harry to lift his belongings onto the bus.

'The Burrow.' Harry replied, a glow of happiness spreading through him. 'I'm going back to the Burrow.'

The Knight Bus was different to how Harry remembered it. There were still brass bedsteads in place of seats, but, on Harry's first trip there had been other wizards. This time Harry got the distinct feeling that he was the only other person here. Stan lead Harry to the front of the bus, and pushed his trunk under the bed nearest the driver.

'Ottery St. Catchpole, Ern.' Stan said to the elderly driver. ''Arry Potter's goin' to the Burrow.'

There was another defeaning BANG before the Knight Bus began hurtling down the road at terrific speed, everything from trees to houses leaping out of the way to avoid being flattened by the purple monstrosity.

'You should consider yourself lucky, 'Arry.' Stan said, trying his best to stay upright as the bus took a sharp corner. 'This business with You-Know-'Oo has put wizards right off travellin'. We can 'ead straight to Ottery St. Catchpole.' he grinned. 'We'll be there in no time.'

Harry remained quiet during the journey. He couldn't help thinking that he should have let the Weasley's know he would be arriving there shortly. It was more than a little rude just to turn up unannounced after all. But he couldn't stand to spend another second at the Dursleys, and he had nowhere else to go. Maybe if Sirius were still alive, he would be asking Stan to head to Grimmauld Place - his godfather's home and headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Lupin would be there, and Moody and Tonks - maybe even Dumbledore. A thought suddenly occurred to him - what if the Weasleys were at Grimmauld Place? Maybe that's where they would be taking him when they came to pick him up on Saturday. He was heading to the Burrow and there was a possibility that the Weasleys wouldn't even be there.

Harry was propelled forward suddenly, as Ernie slammed on the brakes and the Knight Bus shrieked to a halt outside a very familiar house. Relief washed over Harry in waves, as he noticed that a light was on in almost every one of the windows of the Burrow.

''Ere we are then 'Arry.' Stan smiled, dragging Harry's trunk off the bus.

'Thank you.' Harry replied, handing Stan some silver coins. 'Bye, then.'

There was yet another BANG as the Knight Bus disappeared, and Harry was left alone, standing outside the home of the Weasleys.

'Harry? Is that you?' Charlie Weasley's voice called from an upstairs window.

'Yes.' Harry replied nervously. 'Ummm, sorry to come on such short notice.'

Charlie's head disappeared from the window, and moments later Mrs. Weasley had opened the front door.

'Harry?' she cried in disbelief. 'What are you doing here? Not that we're not pleased to see you. But we were going to come and get you on Saturday - didn't you get Ron's letter? He did say we would be coming to get you on Saturday?'

'Ummm, yes. But, well...I, er... thought I'd come early.' Harry mumbled.

'Harry! You could have been killed!' Mrs. Weasley cried, her voice taking on the tone she used when she was telling off one of her own children. 'You know better than anyone, that You-Know-Who is out there - no doubt looking for you. And you put yourself...in ... in mortal danger!' she finishedsuddenly enveloping Harry in a suffocating embrace.

'Mum, maybe Harry would like to come inside the house?' Ron called from the doorway.

'Oh, of course. Of course.' Mrs. Weasley whispered, breaking away from Harry and ushering him into the warmth and light of the house.

'Cup of tea, Harry? Or maybe some hot chocolate? We've already had our tea, but I could fix you up some toast, or some nice, warm soup?' Mrs. Weasley fussed, sitting Harry down at the kitchen table.

'No, thank you. I'm OK.' Harry refused politely.

'Well, if I can get you anything, just ask.' Mrs. Weasley smiled.

'All right, Harry?' Ron asked, sitting himself down next to his best friend. 'Ginny had such a shock when she heard the Knight Bus - she thought You-Know-Who had come to get us!' he laughed.

'Ronald Weasley! He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is not a laughing matter. Ginny had every reason to be frightened.' Mrs. Weasley snapped.

'Yeah, but it's just the thought of the most evil wizard in Britain, hopping aboard the Knight Bus.' Ron smirked.

Harry had to smile as he imagined Stan talking to Voldemort.

'What didja say your name was?... Lord Voldemort, eh? Didja 'ear that Ern? He's a Lord!... an' where is it your goin'?... Ottery St. Catchpole, eh? What's a Lord doin' in Ottery St. Catchpole, I wonder? ... Murdering people, you say? Do that sort of thing often, do you?'

'So, what's been going on around here then?' Harry asked his friend.

'Let's go upstairs, I'll tell you all about it then.. You can put your stuff in my room.' Ron replied.

Ron's room was exactly how Harry remembered it. The same posters of the Chudley Cannons (Ron's favourite Quidditch team) lined the wall, giving the room a decidedly orange glow, and the fish tank on the windowsill was still home to the enormous frog. In the corner of the room, Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon, was fluttering excitedly in it's cage.

'I just got your letter when you arrived.' Ron stated, sitting down on his bed. 'You could have told me you were coming.'

'I know. Sorry.' Harry apologised. 'It's just that the Dursleys have been acting weirder than usual with Voldmort getting stronger, and I honestly couldn't take another second of it.' he explained.

'He's getting stronger in the Muggle world too? That's bad.' Ron whispered nervously.

'Yeah, but they don't know it's Voldemort. They think it's a plague.' Harry said.

'A plague?' Ron snorted. 'Those Muggles can be really thick sometimes.'

'Yeah, tell me about it. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon have boarded up all the windows, so infected spores can't get into the house!' he laughed.

'Didn't you tell them there wasn't a plague?' Ron questioned happily.

'Of course I did, but they didn't believe me. Anyway, what's been going on here?'

'Well, Lee Jordan went to work with Fred and George in the joke shop they bought down Diagon Alley - and guess what they've called it?' Ron smiled.

'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?' Harry guessed, recalling the incident with the Ton-Tongue toffees just before the Quidditch World Cup.

'Exactly.' Ron grinned. 'Anyway, business is doing really well and Mum's nearly forgiven them for dropping out of school with no N.E.W.Ts and only a handful of O.W.Ls.' he continued. 'How did you do in your exams anyway? You didn't say in your letter.'

Harry was just about to confess that he hadn't even opened his O.W.L results yet when the bedroom door swung open and Percy's head peered around the door.

'Oh, hello Harry. I was just coming to ask you to keep the noise down. I have a very important essay to write on the standard length of broomsticks bristles.' he said pompously.

'Oh, yeah, and Percy's come crawling back.' Ron added flatly.