As Jack continued to storm down the street, he came to a playground, stopped, looked at the playground, and imagined the sound of children playing. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, he sat his suitcase against the sidewalk, sat down on the sidewalk, and turned his head to look at the playground. Jack smiled when he imagined him and all his friends playing in the playground, not when they were kids, but playing and having fun at a playground at the age of thirteen. "So much fun." Jack said to himself.
Then the streetlight began to flicker above him…
He looked up at the flickering light and it turned off.
A wind picked up – the chains on the swing set rattled as the seats swung, the wind became heavier, sounding like a ghost moaning about, a teeter-tooter hit the ground; Jack jumped to his feet and watched the playground come alive.
Jack gulped and heard a rustling behind him. He turned and saw a black horse with gold eyes come out of the bushes, with its head down…ready for a fight. Jack pulled out his wand, pointed it at the horse, and a large purple bus stopped in front of Jack!
"Whoa!" Jack jumped back and fell to the ground.
A skinny redheaded boy with unruly hair came out of the bus and stood on the back stairs with a piece of paper in his hands. "Welcome to the Night Bus." He read from his paper. "Emergency transport for an abandoned witch or wizard…my name is: Johnny Samberg (Johnny from Hotel Transylvania) and I will be your conductor for this evening." He then tucked the paper into his shirt pocket. Johnny looked down at Jack and blinked. "Uh, dude." Johnny cocked his head to the side. "Why are you on the ground?"
Jack huffed and sat up. "Well it's not like a huge bus abruptly stopped in front of me or anything." He sassed.
"Hey." Johnny put up his hands defensively. "We honked our horn."
"Whatever." Jack rolled his eyes, stood, and looked back to where the horse was – but it was gone.
Johnny looked out to where Jack was looking. "What're you looking at?"
"Nothing." Jack shook his head and went to grab his suitcase.
"Whoa; no way, bro." Johnny said and quickly picked up the suitcase. "I got it." He turned to the bus.
"You sure?" Jack asked.
"Oh yeah." Johnny got onto the bus. "I've carried heavier stuff than this before." He then sat it down at the back of the bus.
Jack came onto the bus, looked around at the beds and one man sleeping on a bed, and got to the front of the bus. When Jack saw the driver, he smiled widely, and yelled: "Grand-Vlad!" (Vlad from Hotel Transylvania 2 (I know it's not out yet, shut up))
Vlad turned to Jack and smiled widely. "Jackson!" He quickly stood, opened the door between them, and they hugged.
"When did you start driving a Night Bus?" Jack asked.
Vlad looked up and shrugged. "Well, if I retire from work – I'm gonna die faster."
Jack laughed and buried his face in Vlad's chest.
When they separated – Vlad held Jack's face.
"What are you doing out here, my boy?" Vlad asked.
Jack looked down solemnly. "Dad finally told me and Eugene the truth about mom."
"Oh, my sweet boy." Vlad said pitifully. He put his right hand behind Jack's head and kissed his forehead. He then patted Jack's shoulders and smiled at him. "Your father loves you very much."
Jack exhaled loudly. "I know."
Vlad lightly chuckled. "Now sit down." He gently pushed Jack down onto the bed behind him. "It's going to be a bumpy ride."
The shrunken head hanging next to Vlad's seat said: "That's an understatement" (imagine Mavis' shrunken head on her doorknob).
Vlad closed the door between him and Jack, and Johnny handed Jack his ticket.
Vlad took a bite from his sandwich, put the bus in gear, and they were off!
The force from the bus caused Jack to fall back on the bed; and he laughed.
"Whoa." Jack smiled and sat back up.
Johnny smiled at Jack. "So, you're Vlad's grandson, huh?"
"Yep." Jack nodded.
"Well where to, Jackson?" Johnny asked.
Jack furrowed his brows at Johnny. "Only Grand-Vlad can call me that…and anywhere is fine."
"You hear that, Vladdy!?" Johnny yelled to Vlad.
Vlad smiled. "Loud and clear, Jonathan!"
The shrunken head laughed.
Johnny's eyes widened and he turned to Jack.
Jack smiled up at Johnny, completely amused.
Johnny furrowed his brows and pointed at Jack. "Only Grand-Vlad gets to call me that."
Jack snickered – he never heard anyone other than Eugene call his grandfather that. "I like you Johnny…you're pretty cool."
Johnny smiled. "Hey, man, you too." He put his fist out and Jack met it with his.
"Old lady!" The shrunken head yelled; and Vlad quickly stopped the bus…just a few feet away from the old woman.
Jack slowly peeled his face off the glass door and Johnny chuckled at him. "Shut up." Jack playfully punched Johnny's arm.
The shrunken head watched the old woman slowly walk across the street and sighed in delight. "I sure do wish I had a body."
Vlad chuckled and pushed the head, causing it to swing about.
"Hey!" The head yelled. "I don't take to kindly to this kind of treatment!"
Vlad saw the old woman finally get out of the way. "You'll forgive me!" He said to the shrunken head and took off once more!
When Jack sat up on the bed, after being thrown back down by the launch off, he saw Johnny reading a newspaper, with a man laughing maniacally on the front page. "Who's that?" Jack gestured to the front page.
Johnny looked at the page, shrugged, and continued to read what he was reading before. "That's just Pitch Black. He killed some people and recently escaped from Azkaban. First one to do it, you know. He was also a big supporter of You-Know-Who." He then casually turned to the next page.
Jack looked up at Johnny, expectantly. "That's all, huh?"
"Yep."
Jack glared at the picture as they continued down the road and then the bus slowed down. Jack looked ahead; they were going in between two buses.
Vlad pulled on different levers and the bus became skinny enough to go in between the other two, causing everything inside to become skinny as well.
The shrunken head snorted. "Why the long faces, darlings?" She, Vlad, and Johnny all started to laugh and Jack chuckled along.
They got out from between the buses, went back to normal size, and made it to the Leaky Cauldron.
Jack peeled his face from the glass once more…
"You have arrived to your destination." Johnny said.
Jack knocked on the glass and Vlad turned to him. "Bye, Grand-Vlad. I love you." He smiled and waved.
Vlad waved back. "I love you too, my boy."
Jack turned and saw a man with a hunched back, deformed head, and one large eye smile at him (Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame).
"Mr. Frost." Quasimodo said. "You're finally here."
When Jack stepped off the bus, he looked at where he was. "The Leaky Cauldron, huh?" Jack lightly chuckled and shook his head.
Quasimodo opened the front door for Jack as Jack watched the Night Bus drive off and disappear. When Jack got to the door, Quasimodo bowed to him, and Jack quickly stepped inside.
Jack and Quasimodo went upstairs and Quasi opened a door for Jack.
Jack came into the room and rushed inside. "Baby Tooth!" He quickly put his finger in her cage and petted her.
Quasimodo closed the door and said to Jack: "She got here five minutes before you did, Mr. Frost."
Jack looked astonishingly at Baby Tooth. "How?"
"Your brother dropped her off." Another man said.
Jack and Quasimodo turned to where the voice came from and saw The Minister of Magic: Hamed Agrabah standing behind a desk.
"It seems your father somehow knew you were going to be here." Hamed said and turned to Jack with a smile.
Jack looked down to the floor. "He knew my granddad would take me here."
Quasimodo grabbed Jack's arm, brought him to a chair, and practically forced him onto the chair.
"You should not have run away from home, Jack." Hamed said.
"I know, sir." Jack said and refused a dish of treats from Quasi.
Hamed turned to Jack. "Then why did you do such an irresponsible thing?"
Jack sighed and refused some bread from Quasimodo. "I just had to leave the house."
"You know we have a killer on the loose, correct?" Hamed asked.
"Yes, sir." Jack nodded and refused some pecans from Quasi; and Quasi bowed and backed away.
Hamed walked up to where Jack was sitting and sat down on the chair in front of him. "Pea soup?"
Jack shook his head. "No, thank you…but, sir. What does Pitch Black have to do with me?"
Hamed smiled and shrugged. "Nothing of course. All that matters is that you're safe and tomorrow you'll be back in Hogwarts. Oh!" He turned to his right, where Quasimodo was. "And those are your new school books." He pointed to the stack of books behind Quasi and Quasi gestured to them as well. "I went ahead and had them brought here for you." He then chuckled. "Seems like your father isn't the only one who knew where your grandfather would take you." He smiled and winked at Jack; causing Jack to smile a little. "Now, Quasimodo will show you to your room." Hamed got up and went back to his desk.
Quasi pushed Jack's chair, Jack quickly stood up, Quasi pulled Jack by his shirt, but Jack went and grabbed Baby Tooth's cage.
"Oh, and Jack." Hamed said. "While you're here, try not to…wander about."
The next day, Jack looked down at his book titled: 'The Monster Book of Monsters'. The book was bound by a type of belt.
Jack undid the belt and saw that the book had teeth and four eyes. "Gross." His nose flinched at the sight before him.
The book groaned.
Jack picked up the book and looked at its teeth. "Yuck."
The book growled and started snapping at Jack!
Jack dropped the book on the ground, little bits of paper going everywhere, and the book chased Jack. Jack quickly backed away and got on his bed.
The book jumped at Jack's bed, but couldn't get up there – so the book just went under the bed.
Jack stared at the floor, breathing heavily, but then he snapped out of it. "What the?" He went to the edge of the bed and looked underneath. He saw the book staring at him; it growled…and Jack gulped.
The book went towards Jack, snapping away, but Jack got back on the bed. The book came out from under the bed, looked around for Jack, and then went back under said bed.
Jack got an idea – he took off his shoe, got at the edge of the bed, and dropped the shoe.
The book came out and started biting the shoe.
Jack jumped off the bed and planted both feet on the book!
The book whimpered loudly in defeat.
Jack huffed and wiped his forehead. "Think I'll just wait for the movie."