Chapter 3: The Knightbus

Daelin woke and didn't mind the sun filtering through the window this day. He checked the clock on his nightstand, it showed that it was seven thirty. Daelin bounded from his bed, quickly making his bed and getting through his usual morning rituals. By the time he reached the kitchen about thirty more minutes had passed, but his father was no where in sight, and the auto-chef simply sat at the stove mindlessly. Where is my father..? Daelin asked himself, wondering where the inventor/librarian could be. Daelin strode down the corridor and rapped on his father's door. A low grunt came from inside.

As Daelin pushed the door open a sad sight met his eyes. His father was laying on his bed, his eyes bloodshot; he looked like a mess. Daelin sighed,

"Come on dad, get up. Get some coffee…" Daelin said, pulling on the covers. His father gave him a weak grin,

"I've been up all night, trying to figure it out, how is it possible?" He asked meekly, "I mean, look at this!" He said, tossing the card Humphrey had given to him. Daelin picked it up and looked at it. The writing on the card read,

Sir Humphrey Magnus

Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

As well as

Head of Security and Delinquent Justice

Although the writing traveled from the bottom of the card to the top and looped over, much like movie credits. Daelin stared at it in fascination.

"How? Magic.. magic can't exist… can it?" Daelin's father continued to wail. Daelin tsk-ed

"You have to have more of an open mind." Daelin said with a grin, "Now, come on, lets make some breakfast, we only have an hour before Sir Humphrey comes to pick us up."

They managed to get ready and have breakfast cooked by the time that Humphrey arrived. The large coo-coo clock that Daelin's father made let out its call at precisely the same time that a gentle rapping was heard from the front door.

Daelin rushed over and opened the door to find Humphrey, in his full suit and top hat, waiting for them, this time he had a long black cane as well.

"Good morning sirs." He said to them, tipping his hat as he did yesterday, "I am here to help guide you through the possible confusion you could experience in Daigon Alley while shopping for your supplies."

"What is Diagon Alley?" Daelin blurted before he could stop himself.

"Why, Diagon Alley is the number one place in London where you can buy all your school supplies. You should be able to find nearly everything you could want to need there. The Wizard Bank Gringotts, run by Goblins, is located there as well." Humphrey patiently explained, "No need to worry about paying for now, I will guide you once we reach the bank." He continued, answering all of the questions Daelin was about to ask.

"All right, I suppose we have no choice but to follow then." Daelin's father said weakly, looking inside his wallet at the few bills he had in there. Daelin felt a pang of regret. Buying these wizard supplies could be a heavy burden on his father, and his father already had little enough income as it was. Daelin's father gave him a supporting smile as if to say it was ok.

"Right this way sirs." Humphrey said, stepping aside and motioning the two out the door. Daelin walked to the end of the street with Humphrey, looking around for some sort of transportation, but there was none. Humphrey seemed to be waiting at the sidewalk patiently as Daelin's father locked the house.

"So… how'd you get here?" Daelin asked.

"I apperated here, we will take the Knightbus however." Humphrey said simply as if it would answer Daelin's question, however, it just created more. At that moment Daelin's father joined them,

"So are we taking a magic carpet…?" Daelin's father said, chuckling to himself.

"Hogwarts cannot lend carpets out for common use." Humphrey replied back, making Daelin's father's smile wilt. Humphrey held out his right hand,

BANG! The noise echoed loudly down the street, and both Daelin and his father's mouths fell open. Precisely in front of where the three of them stood rested a triple-decker bus. 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. Daelin quickly shut his mouth as the door of the bus opened and steam billowed out of the tailpipe with a loud hiss.

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. The younger man reminded Daelin of Humphrey strongly.

"Welcome to the Knightbus." The Younger man said from behind the older.

"Good morning Sirs Will Kyle and Jones ... err… Blackeye…" Humphrey said politely, The older man had given him a dark glare as Humphrey was about to say his last name, but smiled when Humphrey corrected it to Blackeye.

"Good morning Humphrey, it's been too long…" Will said politely.

"This here is young Daelin Soren and his father." Humphrey continued, introducing them.

"Aye, good ta' meet yer. Welcome to the Knightbus! The best bus to sail these parts of London." Jones said, "Aye, she's been treating me an' my crew jus' fine…" He continued affectionately rubbing the smooth blue paint of the bus. Humphrey nodded and walked onto the bus and both Daelin and his father followed numbly.

Daelin 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. Daelin sat down in one of the spare beds and his father next to him.

"I apologize for Jones, but he has the delusion that he is some sort of a pirate… it's unfortunate." Will explained to them.

"Unfortunate?" Jones boomed from the front of the bus. He hadn't heard all of what Will had said, only that word, "Aye, I can feel it too, We might have some rough current out here." Will just rolled his eyes again while Daelin tried to hold back a laugh. With an enormous 'BANG!' the bus flew from the street and zoomed down the countryside.

"So, where are ya three off ta?" Jones asked from the front. Will and Humphrey were talking by themselves off on the side. Daelin realized that it was up to him to answer,

"Oh… umm.. We're heading to Diagon Alley." He said. Jones nodded his grizzled head,

Jones nodded, barely avoiding a farmhouse which was in his way. Daelin was stuck in his seat on the massive bed, honestly terrified of Jones' crazy driving. They were as of now driving through a sea of long reeds, on which looked like was in a swamp, although Will, Humphrey and Jones seemed not to notice or care.

"Gettin' yer supplies for school eh?" Jones asked, "Aye.. we just got a lad who was coming from Diagon Alley." Jones said. Daelin turned around and spotted a kid who looked about Daelin's same height, maybe a little larger who had black 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.

"Aren't you going to let him off before us?" Daelin 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 suddenly, breaking from his conversation with Humphrey. Jones just nodded mutely. Daelin 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. Daelin had to kick-start his heart, which had decided to stop beating for a while.

"What…? How..?" Daelin started to ask, but Jones looked back at him and Daelin could've sworn he heard the man mutter, "Land-lubber…" before resuming his driving. Daelin looked next to him and saw his father must've fainted a while back and now was lying on the bed.

Will, meanwhile, was reading a paper which was titled, The Daily Prophet.

"The Demon Lord has been causing trouble recently…" Will murmured to Humphrey, who nodded darkly,

"Who is the Demon Lord?" Daelin asked, Will looked up quickly, but before he could say anything Jones answered,

"You don' know who the Demon Lord is?" He said loudly surprised. Will jumped about a foot in the air, Humphrey's eyes narrowed, and suddenly a spear of fear jabbed Daelin in the chest. Even Daelin's father gave a startled snore from beside him.

"Don't say it so loudly!" Will shot back,

Jones nodded looking around suspiciously as if the wizard might be listening in right next to them, "All righ' all right," Jones replied, then continued on explaining to Daelin, "He is an Auror gone bad."

"What's an Auror?" Daelin asked.

"An Auror is a dark wizard hunter. Like your Muggles' Po-lice" Jones explained, trying to pronounce Police, he almost got it right.

"Oh, and he turned bad?" Daelin asked. Jones nodded,

"Very bad. When he left he stole some dark spells and items from the Ministry of Magic…" Will began but Daelin cut him off,

"Ministry of Magic?"

"Yes. They are in charge of all Magic going-ons around the world." Jones said, " and the Demon lord stole some of these dark items and scrolls from the Ministry. The reason he's called the Dark Lord is because it's rumored that he's made a dark pact with forces that are beyond our understanding. Some say he's allied himself with a demon, and he uses the dark powers bestowed upon him to reach his goals and destroy all who get in his path, they say he even knows how to raise the dead, and Necromancy is punishable by death." Jones continued. "They also say he's been trying for years to become stronger, turn himself into an immortal being. It's pretty scary." Jones admitted. At these words even Daelin started looking around the knightbus for any strange-looking wizards himself.

"The Ministry has been trying to catch him for 3 years now…" Jones said. Daelin could see Jones' back shiver.

"Lads, lets move off the subject. That type of magic gives me the creeps." Jones said. Will nodded, and resumed to his paper. Daelin sat in silence. It wasn't too long before with another BANG! They were at their destination. Humphrey stood and thanked Jones and Will, as did Daelin. They revived Daelin's father and started off the bus.

"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.

"Of course..." Humphrey replied politely, "Good Afternoon to you two, Will it was delightful to see you again." Humphrey 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?" Daelin asked as an afterthought, Humphrey sighed checking his gold watch,

"He never lost it; he just put a patch over it… however…" Humphrey 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…"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: All ideas and names from the Harry Potter Series are not mine, but J.K. Rowling's. Anything familiar from those Series are not mine, but the rest are mine, and only mine.

Well, as you probably noticed I did not post a new chapter during the weekend because I realized that I wanted to be at least a chapter ahead, and posting so many chapters so rapidly could get me behind, and would put unwanted stress on me, so I'll still stick to Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and try to always be ahead.

I hope you guys read and review my work, you may recognize a lot of lines from my last work in here, and yes, I am a little lazy at times and I do like the last lines, so I made new ones and kept old ones. The next chapters are getting longer, so there will be plenty of new things in there. Hope you enjoy! Chapter 4 is on Wednesday!

Onihawk