Patrick Stump and the Flying Car Brigade

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

The Hogwarts Express finally arrived at King's Cross Station and as I shoved the last bite of my pumpkin pasty into my mouth, I stepped off of the train and hoped that my dragon leather jacket and fedora wouldn't draw too much attention from the Muggles. I adjusted my glasses and followed Pete up the escalator. Thankfully, none of the Muggles noticed us. We made our way out of the train station and onto the street, which was packed with Muggle commuters. "Where do we go?" I asked Pete.

"The convention centre is just east of here," Pete said. "I'll use the Four-Point Spell to direct us."

Pete reached for his wand, but I shook my head. "There are Muggles here," I told him. "You can't just do magic in the middle of the street!"

"What are we going to do then?" Pete asked. "We need to get to Pizza Con!"

Our answer came in the form of a bright purple triple decker bus racing through the London streets. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board..."

"Doesn't it feel like our time is running out?!" Pete screamed. "WE NEED TO GET TO PIZZA CON AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE!" He then rapidly told the conductor the address of the convention centre and paid him a few Sickles. We then boarded the Knight Bus and sat down. The bus roared to life and flew right through all of the traffic, ending up at the convention centre.

"Thank you so much," I said to the driver and the conductor as we disembarked. Pete, meanwhile, was already running into the building, more than ready to eat all of the pizza that he could. I reluctantly followed him, digging out a few Muggle pounds to pay the entrance fee. We got in, and Pete ran around, eagerly sampling pizzas.

"Trick, try this one!" Pete exclaimed, taking a slice of pizza. "It's delicious!" I took a slice of pizza with spinach, onions, and pineapple on it, and I took a bite. Pete was right. It was very tasty.

Pete took at least forty two more slices of pizza, while I wondered just how he was able to eat that much and still look gorgeous. "Oi Rickster!" he shouted after his forty second slice of pizza. "There's a pizza-making contest! We should enter!"

"You can if you'd like to, but it says that you have to be of age to enter," I noted.

"I'm of age!" Pete said. "I'm seventeen, so I can enter. Let's get started on our pizza. There's a kitchen in the back where we can work on it." Pete took my hand and dragged me into the kitchen, where he immediately started working on the dough. I tried to help wherever I could, but there wasn't much to do. I didn't know as much about pizza as Pete did, so as Pete shot tomato sauce out of the tip of his wand, I watched in wonder.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked Pete.

"I've got it," Pete said as he sprinkled cheese onto the pizza. He placed a few toppings on there and then used a spell to heat the pizza. He finally placed the pizza on a tray and set up a booth for us to hand out the pizza. "I have to sign us up, and then taste a few more pizzas," Pete explained. "Just stand there and look pretty for me, Pattycakes."

Pete then ran off, leaving me to attend the table. A few Muggles took a slice of pizza, and all of them seemed to enjoy it, but many more seemed content to ignore the bespectacled emo kid. This continued for a while until a security guard came up to the table. "Are you Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III?" she asked.

"No," I said. "I think he's off trying different pizzas. He did make this pizza though."

"That's what I thought," the security guard said. "It appears that Mr Wentz is a minor, and therefore, not allowed to participate in the pizza-making competition. He gave us an invalid form of identification."

The security guard gave me a card, which upon further inspection, turned out to be Pete's Licence to Apparate. I wasn't sure why he thought that he could get away with that, but I shrugged and took the card. "I'll give this back to Pete," I said.

"We're going to have to ask that you two vacate the premises," the security guard said.

"What's this all about?" Pete asked as he returned to our table with his mouth full of pizza.

"You got disqualified because you're not eighteen yet," I explained, handing him his Licence to Apparate. "We have to leave."

Pete cursed under his breath and then took my hand. "Let's go," he said. Once we got outside, he sighed and said, "That was a tempest in a teacup."

"Let's go back to my house," I said. "You'll have to Apparate though. I'm not starting Apparition lessons until the spring."

"That's fine," Pete said. He squeezed my hand, and all of a sudden, it felt like both of us were being shoved through a tight rubber tube. I had nearly forgotten just how uncomfortable Apparition really was, but seconds later, we arrived in front of my house.

I knocked on the door, and my mum answered the door. "Hello boys," she said. "Come on in. I know it's cold out there. How was the convention?"

"We got kicked out, but the pizza was good," Pete said. Both of us entered the house and immediately went into my room. I crashed down onto my bed, and Pete cuddled up next to me. The day at school and the pizza convention had been exhausting. "So long and goodnight, Trick," Pete whispered as I drifted off to sleep. It had been a long day, and Christmas Eve was the next day, so I desperately needed my rest. This was what the holidays were for.