Chapter 10: The Sealed Barrier
"I think we'd better go wait by the car," said Harry. "We're attracting too much atten-"
"Harry!" said Ron, his eyes gleaming. "The car!" "What about it?" "We can fly the car to Hogwarts!"
Harry looked at Ron sceptically. "Or," he said, "we can send your dad a note with Hedwig, and he can get help." Ron returned Harry's sceptic look. "We're stuck, right? And we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it's a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy…" He trailed off as Harry shook his head. "I bet there are conditions or something, like, you're only allowed if there's absolutely nothing else you could do. Besides, if we took the car, we'd technically be stealing it, wouldn't we, since it's your dad's?"
Admitting defeat, Ron started pushing his trolley back to the entrance of King's Cross, Harry following close behind, Hedwig still drawing stares from people. When they got to the car, Harry opened his trunk and pulled out a scrap of parchment. "Mr Weasley," he wrote, "the barrier to Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters sealed up and wouldn't let me and Ron through. We're by the car. Please help!" He gave Hedwig the note, and she gave a screech of celebration at being let out of her cage before flying off. A few minutes later, Mr and Mrs Weasley appeared out of the air with a soft pop, along with a man in a smart navy suit and peaked cap with a brass badge on it that read "Hogwarts Railway".
As Mrs Weasley fussed over them, the railway man gave Harry and Ron each a red ticket with HOGWARTS RAILWAY EMERGENCY TICKET: NO FARE written in large black letters, before disappearing with another soft pop. "Now, Harry," said Mr Weasley, "Once you get on, hold tight. You don't need a trip to the hospital wing before school's even started." Harry was about to ask what he was supposed to get on, as Mr Weasley stuck out his wand.
Suddenly, with a loud bang, a bright purple triple decked bus screeched to a halt in front of them, appearing out of nowhere. A man in a purple uniform got off. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this morn…" Mr Weasley cut him off by shoving the tickets in his face, before helping Harry and Ron get their luggage on the bus.
Harry did not enjoy the next several hours. The bus zoomed at a breakneck pace all over the country, ignoring roads, buildings, trees, and on one occasion, a river. Whenever the bus stopped to let somebody off, they always looked relieved to be going. Stan Shunpike gave Harry and Ron a packet of sandwiches each at lunchtime, but they didn't eat them for fear of bringing them up again as the bus jolted about violently.
Finally, the bus arrived at the gates of Hogwarts. Harry and Ron dragged their luggage off, looked around, then grinned. Draco Malfoy was lying on the ground on his back, his face as white as a sheet. It looked like the Knight Bus had come to a halt about an inch away from running him over. As Hermione came running over to them, Harry hoped that with such an amusing sight, Malfoy wouldn't bother him this year.