DISCLAIMER:
I do not own, nor am I affiliated with the Harry Potter/Wizarding World universe. This is purely fan fiction, written for fun. All original and canon characters, events and places are owned by J K Rowling.
The Australian school, places and characters are of my own invention.
Witchery
Chapter 4 - The Lime Green Bus
On the 4th of February, Iris awoke suddenly and completely at the crack of dawn. She got herself a quick breakfast of cereal before the rest of her family had awoken and returned to her room to pack for school. She'd deliberately not packed the day before, because she knew she'd be too excited with nothing to do as time dragged slowly that morning.
One of the items they had purchased in Rocky Road was a large wizarding trunk for her to pack all her clothes and belongings into. The trunk was navy blue like her uniform with large brass hinges and a brass clip on the front.
It had come with a magical lock which did not have a key, but only opened when Iris placed the tip of her wand in the keyhole and said the word 'recludo'. The saleswitch assured her that once set, the lock would not open for any other wand or person. Even if somebody else should try to use Iris' wand they would not be able to open the lock. Naturally as soon as she got home, she had her brother try and was delighted to see that no matter how hard or often he tried with her wand, he was unable to unlock the trunk.
She had been nervous at first to let Taj try given what Madam Rosier had said, but nothing at all happened to him and she wondered if Madam Rosier had just been trying to scare her on purpose. She supposed that somebody who seemed that mean may think it quite funny to try to intimidate her.
Iris began carefully packing her books. She had read a little from each so far, finding them fascinating and instructive. She hadn't dared try a spell of her own yet, though. They'd been thoroughly warned at Orientation that students were strictly forbidden from practicing magic at home and the last thing she wanted was to be expelled from school before she had even started.
Next were her other school items, the small cauldron in which she had carefully wrapped her Potions equipment up and placed into for safety. Her scales, dragon-hide gloves, parchments, a couple of folders, her quills and inks. It intrigued Iris how old fashioned the wizarding world was. Hadn't anyone progressed to the ballpoint pen? She wondered if it was purely for aesthetic reasons or whether there was a different meaning behind some of these things. At least the telescope was modern, shiny and new.
She packed her clothes and then her robes on top, keeping one set of robes out to wear once she was at school. She packed her hair brush, some navy hair ties and clips, a couple of favourite necklaces and the beautiful bracelet with the silver star charm that Granny Petunia had sent her for Christmas. Her toothbrush and other necessary (and several unnecessary things her mother bought for her) toiletries were also packed. It took no time at all for her to finish and she carefully locked her trunk. Turning to her bed, Iris packed her one set of school robes, her wand and her purse into a small bag to carry onto the bus with her. There. She was all done.
She waited impatiently for the rest of the family to get up and organised for the day, fussing with her room trying to speed up the dragging time by straightening the things on her desk and rearranging everything in her drawers.
Finally, she heard her family stirring and reluctantly turned off her smartphone and stowed it in a drawer. Professor Daku (as she now had to call him) had explained at the orientation that electronics were forbidden at Nyambi, because the magical interference meant they wouldn't work and it often damaged them completely. She was sad to lose this connection with her friends from her old school at St Stephens, but excited to make new ones at Nyambi. She towed her trunk out to the dining room, huffing and puffing and straining under its weight.
Taj spent the morning whining that he still had to attend St Stephens for another three years and couldn't go to Nyambi with his sister and couldn't even tell anyone about it. Iris wished she knew a spell that could seal his mouth shut, he was getting on her nerves.
"Taj Amir Dursley! If you breathe one word, just one solitary word, to anyone about anything to do with this magic business, I will ground you until next Christmas!" Nadia Dursley flared up like an angry dragon. Taj froze mid-sentence and nodded dumbly. He stopped complaining after that to everyone's relief.
They all knew the cover story, and Iris had already explained to her muggo friends Rachel and Stacey that she had been accepted by a school for gifted children, into their special science program. When pressed to say what school and where, Iris simply told them it was a boarding school a long way away and she wouldn't be back until the Easter holidays. She was casual and evasive enough that the other girls soon moved the conversation on to other topics. Iris knew she would miss them.
The morning dragged on but at long last, it was time to get in the car and head to the big bus terminal in the city. Dudley puffed and struggled with the weight of Iris' full trunk but manhandled it into the boot of the car where it only just fit. "Goodness knows what we'll do when there's two trunks." Nadia commented.
Iris managed to pass the time during the car ride playing a game of I Spy with Taj, her excitement mounting. When they arrived at the bus terminal, she realised that there was a huge ball of anxiety sitting in her stomach as well.
The terminal was busy, full of cars and people, Dudley had to spend a good few minutes looking for somewhere to park. Finally, they were winding their way through the carpark toward the open platforms. Platform 1 was closest to the carpark, Platform 2 on the other side.
"What was the Platform number?" Dudley asked, confused. "2 and a half?"
"Yes, Dad." Iris answered, having memorised her bus ticket that her parents had been given once they'd signed her up for Nyambi at the Orientation.
"Well, where is it?" he blustered, looking from one to the other. Iris glanced around, unsure. The bus would be leaving in only fifteen minutes and she didn't want to take the risk of being left behind or she'd never find her way to her new school.
"Er…" she looked around trying to find anyone that may look as though they belonged to Nyambi as well. Or anyone she had met at the Orientation. Anyone at all who could help them. She clearly saw the train platform, and the two bus platforms 1 and 2. But no sign whatsoever of Platform 2 and ½.
"Where did cousin Harry go to get to his school train?" she asked her father while still looking around for help. People were everywhere, queuing to get onto busses, waiting for the train and towing luggage behind them.
"Don't know." Her father repeated absently, "We never saw it. Just dropped him off and picked him up from King's Cross Station in London."
"Well I for one would have thought that we would have received a little more information for this bus." Nadia began huffily, "How they expect us to find it on the first time without so much as a sign I don't know…"
"Look!" Taj said suddenly. "I saw somebody with an owl walk through a wall." He said loudly. Several people nearby turned to stare at him but most paid him no attention whatsoever.
"Hush! Shhhh Taj." Nadia quietened him down. "Where, my dearest? Tell me quietly."
"Just there, Mum!" Taj pointed a finger toward the spot, to a piece of unremarkable wall of the main building. There was nothing there but a row of steel seats currently occupied by a a single drab gentleman reading a newspaper. Everyone looked at the place where Taj pointed but saw nothing to indicate that there was any magical way through to the Platform. Just as Iris was about to express her doubts, the old gentleman glanced up over his newspaper and winked at her.
"It's Professor Daku! Come on." she exclaimed, and led her family across the bus station toward the wizard, weaving in and out of the muggos to reach the old man. As she got closer, she saw his blue-streaked beard clearly but it seemed nobody else noticed anything odd about him.
"Good morning, Miss Dursley. Master and Mr Dursley, Mrs Dursley." The Professor greeted them with a grin. He tipped his head to the patch of wall beside him. "Go on through, it's clear."
"Er, what. Just walk into a wall?" Dudley asked.
"That's right. It's an illusion. The way through will seal themselves again at eleven to prevent any chance of muggos stepping through accidentally, though you will be able to get back easily once you've seen Iris off." He explained. "Now off you go, so you're not late!" he said and turned back to his paper which Iris couldn't help notice was called 'The Western Wizarding News'.
Squaring her shoulders, Iris walked forward with determination. Right as she braced herself for impact and raised her spare hand to protect her face, she was suddenly through. It was as though she had walked through a doorway with nothing at all to obstruct her passage. She glanced behind her, seeing what appeared to be a solid wall.
So weird. she thought to herself. Just like at London Court, she was in a new place, a new platform with a big shiny sign above saying "Platform 2 & ½ - Nyambi School Bus.
Before her, the platform was just as crowded as the muggo one, and an old-fashioned lime-green bus was pulled up beside it. Her parents bumped into her from behind as they also stepped onto the platform and Taj gasped in delight. Iris wondered how on earth all the students would fit on the bus. She estimated there to be several hundred students crowding around, and more waving from the bus windows already on board yet the bus itself looked like it could seat maybe fifty people. Iris supposed there were other buses for the students that had not arrived yet.
There was a uniformed man with a peaked cap helping students load their trunks into the luggage compartment of the bus. A group of teenagers were climbing the two steps into the bus, laughing among themselves. Families stood dotted all over the platform, waving to their children who hung out of the windows waving back or hugging students goodbye before they too got onto the bus.
Younger siblings darted around in-between the adults, racing up and down. People were dressed in everything from plain ordinary clothing, to bright wizarding robes, to strange outfits that Iris and her family couldn't even guess at their origins. One boy was holding a box and several of his friends gathered around him, the girls squealing as he opened the lid and the boys sniggering at their discomfort.
A set of identical triplet girls with long blonde hair walked past Iris having just come through the wall behind her, towing identical trunks behind them, each with what the Dursley's assumed was their own name emblazoned on the side, Adina, Sabina and Jane. A boy with skin as black as ebony and the tips of his hair dyed bright red bumped knuckles with another boy who wore his school robes already in friendly greeting.
Many of the kids had pets, owls in cages or small lizards in carriers. One boy had a brightly coloured parrot on his shoulder and several girls had Popgliders peeping out of the top pockets of their shirts. Iris had desperately wanted one for a pet once she had seen them in a shop in Rocky Road. They were tiny, adorable little marsupials that looked just like sugar gliders, only they were able to magically pop from place to place. It reminded her of when Professor Daku had magically vanished himself from their living room. Iris' mother would not allow it, an owl was quite enough to be going on with, she'd said.
"I don't see the Rothschilds anywhere." Nadia murmured. Iris too, was looking for Arin but the family were nowhere to be found.
"I'm not surprised, in this lot." Dudley answered, indicating the busy crowd before them.
"Last call for luggage!" The man by the bus man cupped his hands and shouted above the noise. "Last call for luggage for the Nyambi bus!" he hollered.
Dudley helped carry Iris' trunk to him. "Put it down there please." He told them, "And say your goodbyes. The bus leaves in five minutes!" They put the trunk down among the hundreds of others and Iris hugged each member of her family.
"I'll write to you!" she said, "I will write every week and tell you all about it!"
"Our new owl will bring the letters!" Taj said.
"Still not chosen a name, Taj?" Nadia asked her son. Taj had been given the honour of coming up with a name for their family owl, though he hadn't yet decided on one he liked.
"We can't wait to read all about it." Nadia turned to her daughter and hugged her tightly. "Work hard and keep out of trouble."
"I can't wait until I can come, too!" Taj said, squeezing his sister hard. Iris pulled out of his hug laughing and rubbing her ribs. Then she looked to her father and her face fell. Iris screwed up her courage as she faced Dudley. A worried crease appeared between his eyebrows.
"You're not… you're not disappointed in me, are you Dad?" she asked him quietly. Dudley stared at her for a long moment. Then he bent forward and enveloped her in a huge bear hug just like he used to when she was little.
"Disappointed? No honey, I am not disappointed in you. I am afraid for you, but not disappointed." He told her and kissed the top of her head. Iris felt her eyes well up a little. One thing she'd truly feared after the little she had learned about her father's experience with the wizarding world was that he would be angry or disappointed in her for being magical and going to Nyambi. It was a relief to know that this wasn't the case at all.
"All aboooaaarrdd!" the unformed man cried and Iris was surprised to see all the luggage was already packed away and the compartment closed up already.
"Go on then. Have fun!" Dudley told her. Iris grinned and hugged him again, then scampered over to the line of students getting on the bus. She waved at her parents as she stepped up into the bus and then lost sight of them among the crowd of families.
Despite its rather ordinary (if somewhat garish) outward appearance, Iris was thrilled to see that the inside of the bus stretched on and on, and was far wider than it appeared to be on the outside. Instead of the standard rows of small seats that she was expecting, she saw comfortable looking booths with well padded, high-backed benches either side of a small central table all the way down the length of the bus with a wide walk-way between. Each booth easily sat four people, though she noticed some groups of friends and squeezed in an extra person or two without too much trouble.
Dusty chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, the carpeted floor was a dark green and stretched on down the length of the bus, and there were shining brass racks above each both for students to put smaller bags, boxes or other knick-knacks in for easy storage. The inside of this bus was at least as big as a Boeing 747. She could even see a spiral staircase going up into the ceiling to a second floor, with two older teenagers climbing them at that moment.
Everything was in various shades of green except the staircase which was a polished brass. Iris followed the flow of students down the length of the enormous bus, past the spiral stairs (which had a 'Prefects Only' sign on it) and onward, looking for somewhere to sit.
She spotted several of the other muggle-borns she had met at the Orientation, but their booths were already full so she merely waved to them when they recognised her and moved on. Finally, down near the back she found a booth with only one other occupant so far.
"Hey Arin!" Iris greeted the other student cheerily, "I was looking for you!" she slid into one of the window seats opposite, settling comfortably into the high-backed bench. She placed her small bag on the bench beside her
"Hullo, glad you found me!" Arin replied with a happy smile. "We're finally on the way! I'm so excited."
"Me too," Iris replied, eyes alight. "I can't wait to see Nyambi House."
"Hey! OK if we sit here?" a voice interrupted and Iris looked up to see a girl and a boy standing beside them. "Everywhere else is full."
"Yeah sure." Arin invited them, gesturing toward the empty spots on in their booth and the boy slid in next to Arin and Iris quickly moved her bag so the girl could sit beside her. Before they could introduce themselves, the driver's voice echoed throughout the bus, everyone hushed immediately to listen.
"Alright you kids. The bus to Nyambi is about to leave." He paused as there were loud cheers from most of the students. "Yeah, yeah." The driver said. "Now don't forget, the dunnies are up the back, the top windows can be opened, and once we're underway you can move about as you like." he began. It was clear from his bored tone, he repeated this spiel every year.
"No magic on the bus, I am looking at you Josiah Rashbottle, and so help me if I catch anyone vandalizing my bus or fighting, they will find themselves walking to school. Miss Norbet will be coming past with the food trolley at 12:30 and again at 2:30. We will arrive at Woop Woop and Nyambi gates for 5pm."
"Please keep your pets with you at all times, if they get lost don't come crying to me." He finished and with that, then moments later there was a shudder as the engines sputtered to life. Finally the bus pulled away from the platform and their journey to school began.
"Woop Woop?" Iris asked, laughing.
"The small wizarding town. Only completely wizarding town in Australia, no muggos live there." the girl beside Iris explained quickly.
"So hello, I'm Fae Harper, and this is my cousin Eddie Fishase." She introduced herself and the boy.
"Iris Dursley." She responded, shaking their hands by turn. "Dursley? Say, you aren't related to Harry Potter, are you?" Eddie asked.
"Yeah, sure am." Iris replied.
"You never told me that!" Arin's face lit up. "What's he like?"
"Well, I only met him a few times, when I was little. He's nice, and his wife Ginny is nice too. But I don't remember them much." Iris replied.
"Wow, I wish we were related to somebody famous." Eddie replied. "All we have are a family full of Ministry under-dogs and an Auror or two.
"Auror?" Iris asked.
"Dark wizard catcher." Arin answered, "Like a police force for wizards."
"Your mum was famous too, wasn't she?" Iris suddenly remembered the exchange between Arin's parents when Taj had spotted the broomstick that day in Rocky Road.
"Yeah," Arin shrugged, blushing. "Jennifer Adams, she..."
"Jennifer Adams?" Eddie cried loudly in sudden excitement. "She's your mother? No way!" his whole face lit up with excitement. Arin blushed deeper and shrugged awkwardly. Clearly the spotlight wasn't something Arin felt comfortable in. "She's only the best Chaser the Thunderlerra Thunderers ever had and she dominated the AQL awards three years running!"
"Oh no don't get him started!" Fae moaned. "He'll go on and on about Quidditch for the entire trip to school."
"So, you two are both from wizarding families?" Iris interrupted quickly, and Arin shot her a grateful look.
"Oh yeah, our mums are sisters. My Dad and Fae's Mama are magical too, and all our families are." Eddie said.
"Except for Uncle Larry who's a Squib but we don't really see him all that much." he added thoughtfully.
"Squib?" Iris asked.
"Non magical child of magical parents." Fae clarified. "Sometimes families throw them up now again, just like muggo families have wizarding kids..."
At that moment, their conversation was interrupted when a shadow fell over their table. Iris looked up to see the dark-haired girl she'd seen in Rosier's Wands standing by them with another boy and girl flanking her.
"Sullying your family names there, Fishace? Harper? Slumming with dilutes now?" the dark haired girl sneered at Eddie and Fae. Her two friends smirked beside her.
"Bugger off, Kendra." Eddie rolled his eyes. "Nobody cares about your blood status garbage."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Kendra snapped in reply, "I hear that Jasper's father was demoted last week for marrying a muggo. You might want to watch who you associate with, in case your father has a similar problem."
"He wasn't demoted for getting married, you idiot." Fae replied coolly, "He was transferred to a new department that he's wanted to work in for ages."
"Like anyone of worth would want to work in Muggo Relations." the girl beside Kendra rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, being shipped off to Muggo Relations is a demotion." the boy laughed. "It's as low as you can go besides the cleaning staff."
"My parents are muggos." Iris said defiantly, glaring at the trio.
Kendra looked her up and down, mouth quirking with scorn. "That," she snorted, "Is nothing to be proud of." Kendra turned from her dismissively. Iris' cheeks burned and she stood up quickly, heartbeat thundering in her ears.
"Take that back!" she spat. Fae grabbed Iris' arm, trying to tug her back onto her seat but Iris snatched her arm away. She wanted to face Kendra directly but Fae was blocking her way and wouldn't move from her seat.
"Problem?" a voice interjected with cool authority. They all looked around to see an older girl with masses of black wavy hair and a shiny Prefect badge on the front of her Nyambi robes stride up to the group.
"No. Just saying hello." Kendra shrugged with indifference. The older girl put her hands on her hips, glancing from Kendra to Iris and back again.
"You've said it, now back to your seat." the girl told her. Kendra and her two friends turned and sauntered away down the bus.
Iris finally let Fae tug her back into her seat.
"C'mon Ed!" the girl turned on Eddie. "We haven't even left Perth and you guys are picking fights already?"
"Me!" Eddie protested indignantly. "I didn't do anything! It was Iris wanting a showdown." he gestured to Iris and the older girl turned her glare on her.
"She insulted my family." Iris defended herself. "I don't even know her and she came over picking at us. We didn't even talk to her first or anything."
"Iris, my sister and school prefect, Sarissa Fishase. Sarissa, Iris Dursley." Ed made a quick introduction.
"Learn to mind your temper, eh?" Sarissa suggested. "Keep out of trouble, you mob." and she turned and moved off down the bus. Iris heard her snap at a couple of boys further along who were running down the aisle.
"What is her problem?" Iris asked, "Kendra's, not your sister's." she clarified quickly.
"Kendra can't help herself - her whole family are blood purists and she's had her head stuffed with pureblood rubbish since she was born." Fae tried to sooth her. "Don't worry about it, she'll get too busy at school with classes and her housemates to bother us much."
"Yeah, her Dad is on the Pureblood Council 'cause he's a Gaunt and they're an old family." Ed agreed, "So she just repeats whatever daddy-dearest tells her. Don't worry about it."
"Mind you," he continued thoughtfully, "This is going to be the most interesting year."
"What do you mean?" Iris asked him.
"Well, we have the child of a famous Quidditch player." he began, nodding at Arin. "And Harry Potter's cousin," he nodded at Iris, "And bloody Voldemort's cousin too!"