Chapter 3
After running as far as we could from the Dursley's house, we finally sat down on the sidewalk in front of the local park. The cold wind froze me down to the bone, but I was still steaming from my encounter with Aunt Marge. I could tell that Harry was feeling the same way. "You know how unfair this is? I mean, she drove us to blow her up!" I stated angrily as I stood up to look down at him.
"Yeah, well it doesn't matter now," he grumbled.
I was astonished. Here was Harry Potter, a man of action, surrendering. "So that's it, then? You're just going to give up?"
"What do you expect us to do, Elliot? We performed magic while underage! We could go to prison!"
"You disappoint me," I muttered as I sat down. A wind began to pick up, reminding me that I wasn't wearing a coat. As I began to shiver, I felt a coat being draped over my shoulders. When I looked up, I saw Harry placing his coat on me. "Harry, you need it more than I do."
"Nonsense, I'm alright."
As we sat there, I saw a gleam of yellow eyes glaring at us. "Harry," I whispered.
But Harry had seen it too. Slowly, we stood up to get a closer look when we were blown off of our feet and onto the pavement. The reason for us being knocked over was the appearance of a purple triple-decker bus. At the entrance stood a man, ragged and homeless like. Without noticing us, he said, "Hello, welcome to the Knight Bus for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor for this evening."
Finally, he looked down at us. "What you doing down there?" he asked.
"We fell over," replied Harry.
"What you fall over for?"
"We didn't do it on purpose," I replied.
"Well, hurry up then. Let's not wait for the grass to grow," said Stan.
Harry and I looked over to where the eyes were, only to find them gone. Shunpike turned to look what we were looking at. "What you looking at?"
"Nothing," replied Harry.
"Well then hurry up. No, I'll get it! You get on!" he ordered as I went for our stuff. Hen we got on, we saw a row of beds with a chandelier hanging overhead. Harry and I sat on the bed next to the front as Stan gave us our stuff and handed us our tickets. As we examined our tickets, Stan knocked on the window and said, "Take it away, Ern!"
"Yeah, take it away, Ernie!" came a voice from a shrunken head. The driver woke up and quickly sped away from the location. Harry and I had been flow down onto the beds as w continued our passage through London. The bus swerved and sped around cars and other objects. "Where are ya headed?" asked Stan.
"The Leaky Cauldron that's in London," replied Harry.
"Did you hear that, Ern? The Leaky Cauldron that's in London," smiled Stan.
"The Leaky Cauldron? If you order the pea soup, make sure you eat it before it eats you," laughed the shrunken head.
As we continued through the Muggle streets of London, I asked, "Can't the Muggles see us?"
"Ah, the Muggles don't see nothing, do they?" replied Stan.
Of course, the magic world had to conceal themselves from the Muggles. I was sure we would be exposed if they saw a purple bus speeding past everything. "Hey Ernie, there's a little old lady at twelve o'clock!" shouted the shrunken head.
Suddenly, Ernie hit the brakes, causing Harryand me to fly forward and hit our faces against the window. When we regained our composure, the shrunken head counted down, "Five…four…three…two…two in a half…one and three quarters…ONE!"
The bas went speeding off again, causing Harry and myself to fall back on the bed. When the bed rolled back to Stan, he looked at us in confusion and asked, "What you say your names were again?"
"We didn't," I replied. We didn't tell them for a reason; Harry was tired of the fame and I didn't want people to know just yet…but they were sure to find out sooner of later. We continued our way through London when the shrunken head stated, "Two double decker buses at twelve o'clock."
But Ernie didn't look like he was going to move. "They're getting closer, Ern."
Ernie continued straight towards the. "ERN! THEY'RE RIGHT ON TOP OF US!"
Ernie pulled a lever that made everything move in slow motion. As he pulled another lever, the bus began to squeeze and the shrunken head laughed, "Mind our head."
I could barely breathe in, but I couldn't breathe out. I felt like I was suffocating. "Hey, hey guys, why the long faces!" laughed the shrunken head as the bus returned to it's normal size, allowing me to breath and speeding off again.
As we sped up, Harry and I noticed a crazy man on the cover of Stan's Daily Prophet. "Who is that? That man?" asked Harry.
Stan looked at the picture and at us as if we were crazy. "Who is…who is that? That's Sirius Black, that is. He's a murderer…got himself locked up in Azkaban for it."
"How did he escape?" I asked.
"That's the thing, in't? He's the first one who done it! He was a big supporter of…You-Know-Who. Reckon you've heard of him."
"Yeah, him we've heard of," replied Harry. Great, there was a mass murderer who supported Voldemort out on the loose. How fun. Suddenly, Ernie stopped, sending me and Harry flying again. After we hit the window and regained our composure for the last time, Stan said, "The Leaky Cauldron."
"Next stop, Knockturn Alley," replied the shrunken head. As Harry and I grabbed our things, a man with a hump on his back came in. "Mr. and Ms. Potter, we were expecting you."
"Potter? Hey Ern, did you hear that? That was Harry and Elliot Potter, that was!" I heard Stan shout.
Harry and I shook our heads as we walked off the bus, allowing the bus to speed off and disappeared into the night. The man led us up through the Leaky Cauldron to the rooms upstairs. When he opened the door to a room, we saw Hedwig ad Felix perched on a…well, perch. "Felix! Hedwig!" Harry and I smiled at our owls as we walked in to pet them.
"Right smart birds you got there," said the man as the sound of someone clearing through filled the room.
Harry and I turned to see Cornelius Fudge staring out the window as a quill scratched down something on a bit of parchment. "We'd like to inform you, Mr. and Ms. Potter, that earlier this evening, we found your aunt floating around Northern London."
As Fudge continued to speak, his little servant shoved us into a pair of chairs and offered us food. "It is my pleasure to announce that she has been properly deflated and her memory modified. So that's that…and no harm done! Care for some pea soup?"
Harry and I stared at Fudge in confusion. As we both shook our heads, Harry I asked, "Sir, I don't understand. We broke the law. Underage wizards aren't allowed to use magic outside of school."
Fudge gave a smile as he came closer. "Come now, Harry, we don't send people to Azkaban for blowing up their aunt. But I must say that it was very irresponsible of you running out of your Aunt and Uncle's house."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"We have a killer on the loose."
"Sirius Black? But what does he have to do with us?" asked Harry.
"Nothing my dear boy. Now, I took the liberty of getting your supplies for your new year at Hogwarts and they have been delivered to your room."
"Thank you, Minister," I replied as we were lead to our room. After we called our owls and were just about to leave, Fudge stated, "Oh, one more thing, you two. While here, it would probably be best if you didn't wander."
With that last statement, the quill finished scratching and we left. Our room was far from the Minister's. Our books were stacked neatly with a book with eyes and buckle around the mouth. Curiosity took a hold and I unbuckled it. Big mistake. The book opened and tried to take my face off. Harry laughed as I dropped the book and it ran under my bed. "Very funny!" I laughed sarcastically at him.
I got on top of my bed and peered under to see the book staring at me. Suddenly, he came scurrying at me. I jumped up, causing the book to disappear again. Furious, I whispered, "Harry, come here…and stay off of the floor."
After he jumped onto my bed, I told him, "I'm going to jump down. When the book comes into view, you'll jump on it."
Harry gave me the thumbs up as I took a deep breath and jumped away from the bed and onto the floor. The book came towards me, allowing Harry to jump on it and stop its erratic behavior. I replied the belt buckle and placed it back on the pile. Realizing that I was growing tired, I fell back on my bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.
TBC…
Please R&R!