The Teacher's Son

Chapter 24

Harry cursed himself again in his mind as he stood in the cold.

His mum had left him at the Dursleys' for a week. He didn't know why, and she had apologized for doing it to him, but he had a suspicion that the Dursleys had been threatened into taking him.

The day he got there, another guest arrived.

"You're to call her Aunt Marge and to be respectful to her and to not talk about your strangeness." Vernon had growled to Harry before leaving to pick up the dreadful woman.

"Like I was going to talk about magic anyway." He had muttered in irritation.

Long story short, Harry had gotten angry at Marge when she brought up his parents and a bit of accidental magic had occurred.

And by accidental magic he meant that he inflated the vile, pudgy, bulldog woman into a balloon and made her float away.

Vernon had tried to make him bring her back and fix her, but Harry was done with the household in general. He'd threatened Vernon and stormed out with his things.

And now he was sitting out on the street, completely lost and shivering. He had the two weeks worth of clothing he'd packed, so he quickly dug in his trunk and grabbed a sweatshirt.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck stood up, like someone was watching him.

His wand lay in his trunk, right on top. Harry grabbed it and slowly stood straight, keeping it out of sight against his leg. He prayed it wasn't some ne'r-do-good muggle whose memory he would have to erase for seeing his wand.

He turned and peered into the shadows of the two houses behind him.

Slowly he began to make out the form of something hulking and black, with glowing eyes.

Panicking, Harry backed up, then tripped on the edge of the pavement and fell backwards into the street.

There was an immense bang and Harry had to frantically roll out of the way as a violently purple triple decker bus nearly landed on him. Looking up at it, he could see that there was gold lettering on the front, over the windshield, but he was too close to tell what it said, not to mention the thing was still moving so the letters were quickly past him.

The bus skidded to a stop with a loud screech and a pimply kid with big ears in a uniform that matched the bus's color jumped out onto the pavement.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transportation for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this eve-" He stopped when he noticed Harry on the ground. "What were you doin' down there?" 

"I fell over." Harry replied.

"'Choo fall over for?" Stan seemed to find this amusing.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Harry pushed himself up onto his elbows to glare at the other boy.

Suddenly remembering why he fell, he scrambled to his feet and peered into the alley behind him.

There was nothing there.

"'Choo lookin' at?" Stan asked.

"There was a big black thing," Harry explained, frowning, "Like a dog... but massive..."

He turned back to Stan to find the kid staring at him, mouth slightly open. It made him look rather like a monkey, with his big ears and all.

Stan's eyes flicked upward and Harry felt his stomach twist. He'd done accidental magic and the Ministry might be looking for him.

"Woss that on your 'ead?"

"Nothing." Harry pushed his bangs over his scar nervously.

"Woss your name?" Stan was being persistent now, like he was looking for something.

"Neville Longbottom." Harry said after a moment of panic. He hoped Neville wouldn't pay for this if he got arrested. "So - so this bus," He changed the subject quickly, "did you say it goes anywhere?"

Stan puffed up proudly. "Yep. anywhere you like, long's it's on land. Can't do nuffink underwater." He suddenly stopped and squinted at Harry with suspicion. "'Ere, you did flag us down, dincha? Stuck out your wand 'and, dincha?"

"Yes." Harry replied quickly. "Listen, how much would it be to get to London?"

[A/N the italics is direct dialogue, I don't own it, JK does]