BAD LUCK BLACK! ─── Harry Potter

i. Late-Night Escapades

Oh, Lonnie's gonna kill her.

Incredibly reckless. Stupid. No, more like insanely stupid. Lorelei Yates knows Lonnie'd say those very words. He might have good reason too. For once.

Leaves crinkle, twigs snap, foreign midnight creatures hiss deadly hymns, and Lorelei sucks in her breath with each tip-toed step taken. One rickety leather suitcase clamped in one hand with her wand shakily illuminating darkness in the other. The moonlight could only brighten so much through the thick, towering reeds protecting her uncle's property. Lonnie's usual strings of lights were shut off along with the various lanterns and crackling garden lights littered throughout his jungle of overgrown plants.

On top of it all, Lorelei couldn't remember the amplifier for Lumos. Of course when she needed it, she couldn't remember. She's stuck facing the dry darkness full of swarming insects and crawling reptiles. Each rustle in the reeds felt like the drop of a bomb, a Lonnie bomb. And why did no one tell her sneaking out is so hard?

Lorelei could see the faint outline of the bus stop hidden in dense shrubbery as she grows closer. The thing had to be covered in webs and insects considering how little it was used—Lonnie is much too paranoid nowadays. Come to think of it, only recently had he upped the protectiveness, still annoying. However, Lorelei isn't planning on taking non-wizard transportation. If her research is correct (Asking Hermione is, for once, out of the question), she wouldn't need a simple bus.

Huffing, Lorelei drags her baggage over to the side of the rickety bench and plops down, dangling her legs in front. Ignoring the looming abyss of darkened trees and midnight eyes, Lorelei glances behind her at Lonnie's house in the distance. It stands only a couple miles away atop a hillock. She's really quite surprised she made it this far without turning around. Clambering down Lonnie's death trap of a staircase was almost enough, and the shrill growls sounding from his attic didn't help. The second floor with its oddly designed roofing and misshapen windows peaked over the reeds. No light. No Lonnie.

With a sigh of relief, Lorelei turns her back on the house, shifting her wand to her other hand. It crackles for a moment as she momentarily loses focus. Despite knowing Lonnie is tucked away in his house, she feels like he'd spring out the darkness anyway. Anything is possible. Last year when the chamber of . . . What was it? She couldn't remember the name—opened, Lonnie nearly pulled her from Hogwarts. Immediately afterwards he was petrified which made his threat pretty useless, but the point still stands!

After further silence besides the ringing bugs lurking around her continues, Lorelei groans. "C'mon you stupid bus!" She mumbles, tapping her leg up and down.

Harry said, to roughly quote, 'a magical bus appears to wizards in need.'

Well, Lorelei feels she is in terrible need.

If it doesn't show up anytime soon, she knows she'll drag herself back to bed much to her chagrin. That might've happened before, but it's really not important. Harry didn't need to know; he'd tease her forever. The humiliation!

And just as she was about to turn around to make sure Lonnie hadn't woken up and turned on all the lights, a sudden hurricane of wind nearly toppled her over. Lorelei sputters as she knocks backwards into the bench, hair falling in front her face. Through the tresses, a big blue bus with two stories rattles and puffs black smoke. She could only blink.

The door shoves open to reveal a man with a crooked smile. He extends a hand towards her, beckoning her on. "Well c'mon, girl! 'eve ain't got all day!"