Note to Reader: I am from Canada and I don't know how British Pounds work. All the muggle money used in this story is in dollars. My apologies to British readers.

Chapter Three: Transportation Tribulations

Ron woke up to the sound of his magical alarm clock in his ear. (The clock went off at the specified time in the morning saying "Get out of bed… Get out of bed!" and if you tried to sleep later it got louder and said "You're late… You're late!" It was a gift from Hermione strange enough.) He got out of bed and the clock shut off. He took a fast shower and tried to decide what a muggle would wear to the museum on a Saturday.

After picking out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with a picture of the Weird Sisters on it, he thought about how to get to the museum. He knew that in order to use muggle transportation he would need muggle money, and for that he would have to visit Gringotts. Ron thought about it and decided that it wouldn't be cheating to use magic to get to Diagon Alley as he wasn't using it to actually get to the museum. He didn't want to be all messed up for his date with Hermione, so rather than taking the Floo network, he went outside and apparated.

He drew some strange looks in Diagon Alley because of his attire. Although it did happen, it was rare for people in muggle clothes to enter Diagon Alley. Ignoring the stares he went straight to Gringotts. After exchanging some money, he left Diagon Alley, sending a longing gaze at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes as he passed. Fred and George's joke shop was still going strong, and Ron spent as much time there as he could. It was too bad that Fred and George were still adamantly against letting him have anything free.

On the street outside The Leaky Cauldron, he looked around for the "bus stop", or was it "sub stop"? He couldn't remember.

"Excuse me, Ma'am? Could you tell me where the sub stop is?" He asked one bewildered woman. After giving him an odd look, she walked off, muttering about how there were always strange people in this part of town. Ron realized that he had gotten it wrong. He approached another woman and this time received directions to a stop on the opposite side of the street. After waiting what seemed like an eternity, the bus appeared.

Ron got on the bus and was stopped on his way to a seat by the driver,

"Excuse me young man, but you forgot to pay the fare." She said.

"Oh, right… How much is it anyway?" The driver gave him a look. Ron was getting sick of receiving these looks.

"The fare is two dollars and twenty-five cents," the driver replied. Ron fumbled in his pockets for the muggle money and found some coins. He started handing them to her when she said with exasperation, "Put them in the coin tray please!"

Ron put the coins in the change tray until she said "Stop that's enough already", and then went to sit down, his whole face hot with embarrassment. He watched out the window for the Museum. The bus drove and drove and drove. It occasionally stopped to let people on, and let people off, but he never saw the museum. An hour went by, and an hour and a half, he was late; he was worried about what Hermione would say. Finally he got up and talked to the driver again.

"When does the bus get to the museum?" he asked politely.

"The museum?" the driver exclaimed. "This bus doesn't go to the museum! This is the route 27B; the bus that goes by the museum is the 14C! It'll take you hours to backtrack."

Ron gulped as a sinking feeling started in the pit of his stomach. Hermione was going to kill him.

"What would be the fastest way to get to the museum then?" he asked. "I have to be there for 11:00!"

"The best way to get there now would be by cab. You're still going to be late though. It would take a miracle to get you there on time now." She said.

Ron got off the bus and stepped into an alleyway. This was time for drastic measures. He decided to apparate back to Diagon Alley and take a cab from there. That way, he would still show up using muggle transportation, but he would have a chance of getting there on time.

After arriving at The Leaky Cauldron, he wasn't sure how to hail a cab. He tried several things, such as waving his hands, shouting and sticking out his tongue. (It was the tongue one was supposed to stick out to hail a ride wasn't it?)

Finally he was able to flag down a cab by emitting a loud whistle. He got in and instructed the cabbie to take him to the museum.

During the course of the ride Ron talked to the cabbie about small things. Did he like his job? Wasn't it cramped in here all the time? Why didn't he expand the interior to have more space and allow for more fares? The cabbie gave him another of those looks that Ron had been receiving all day. Ron knew that he wasn't as informed about the muggle world as he should have been, but he was starting to wonder if he had a smudge on his nose, or something stuck in his teeth. He started to realize why Harry was so sensitive about his scar.

After a long cab ride, they arrived at the museum. Ron felt immense relief at the sight of the building. He hadn't been sure that he was going to make it. As he was about to get out of the cab, the cabbie stopped him.

"Excuse me son, but you have to pay the fare…" The cabbie said.

Once again, Ron started digging in his pockets for his muggle money. He couldn't believe how much this was costing him. He was getting so frustrated that he took out everything he had and handed it to the cabbie.

"Here, take it and keep the change!" He said, and turned to leave. The cabbie stopped him again.

"Change! Son, this only covers half of your fare! What are you trying to pull here anyway?" The cabbie looked at him with a shifty eye and sized him up. "You look like a starving student you do, I expect you don't have enough for the full fare do you?"

Ron started to panic. He had used up all his muggle money and hadn't even enough to pay his way to the museum! He started to stammer.

"Well… erm… sir, if you would… I dunno… give me your address maybe I could mail… it…" The look on the cabbie's face said that this was not going to work. Just at that moment, rescue arrived in the form of Hermione Granger.

"What is the problem here Ron? Just pay the man and let's go."

Ron leaned over to whisper in her ear that he hadn't enough money to pay the fare.

"Oh honestly Ron! I knew I should have come with you from the start!" Hermione gave the cabbie the remaining balance of what he was owed and pulled Ron to the museum doors. "I take it this means you have nothing left with you? You sure know how to show a girl a good time Ron, since I guess I'm paying our way for the rest of the day. I should be giving you chivalry lessons, not muggle lessons really"

And with that she pulled the increasingly reluctant Ron into the museum for his first lesson.