[3] Reconciliation: Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and the Prisoner of Azkaban

3: through the night they went

"Harry, seriously, where are we going?" Percy trailed behind his brother, still a small bit wary of him.

"I don't know, and I don't care," Harry replied. They had long since left the Dursleys', having made it to the other side of the neighborhood in less than a half hour. Unfortunately, they still had no idea for as to where they were going. At this point, Harry was leading randomly, still simmering in his anger, and Percy could do nothing but follow. They walked for a few more minutes in silence, Percy waiting for Harry to calm down before he made any more attempt at further conversation. Suddenly, Harry stopped dead in his tracks and turned to Percy, startling him. "Percy, I just realized-"

"What? What did you realize?"

"I did underage magic."

"But ... it was accidental, wasn't it?" Percy asked. "If it's accidental I don't think-"

Harry rolled his eyes at him. "I still did magic, Percy! Underage wizards aren't allowed to magic outside of school and I'm an underage wizard!" He dragged his trunk and his owl's cage over to the curb and sat down, his head in his hands. "Oh, what am I going to do? I'm gonna be expelled and thrown into prison..."

Percy sat down next to him. "Harry, you're not gonna be thrown into prison. Don't be ridiculous. The worst that could happen is you get..." he trailed off. In the bushes across the street from them, illuminated only by a flickering streetlamp, was a massive black dog. It slowly rose from where it was sitting and started to stalk towards them. "Harry," Percy whispered. He nudged him in the ribs, trying to get his attention. "Harry, look."

Harry looked up at him, scowling. "What? I'm having a crisis at the moment, in case you couldn't tell." Percy only nodded his head at the dog, which was now even closer. "HOLY-" he scrambled backward, throwing his arms out as if to protect himself. Percy didn't move, keeping his eye on the dog, which had stopped moving towards them and had cocked its head curiously.

All of a sudden there was a loud BANG and a dark purple triple-decker bus had appeared out of nowhere and pulled up to the curb right in front of them. The bus's door opened and a man stepped out and said, "My name is Stanley Shunpike, you can call me Stan, and this is the Knight Bus, emergency transport for any stranded witch or wizard." Stan looked up from ripping ticket stubs and blinked as if he had just noticed them. He looked at Harry, sprawled across the sidewalk, and then at Percy, who was still sitting calmly on the curb. "What's he doin' on the ground for?" he asked Percy.

Harry got up quickly and indignantly said, "I fell over." Percy only shrugged and stood up as well, grabbing his things.

Stan looked at them curiously for a moment, then stepped aside. "Well, welcome to the Knight bus, I suppose." Percy helped Harry pick his trunk up, only for it to be stolen away by Stan, who said, "I'll get that, you don't worry..." When Percy turned back to Harry, he saw him wander over to the back of the bus and peer around it. He was looking for the dog. Stan came back for Percy's trunk and asked, "Now what's he doin'?" Percy once again only shrugged. "Your friend's weird, mate." He took Percy's trunk from him and receded back into the bus.

Percy took a moment to think - was it obvious now after only a summer that they weren't related at all? Did they really only look like friends and not like brothers, like before? The thought was unsettling. Percy shook those thoughts from his head and called Harry over and led the way inside the bus - there were beds, some surrounded by curtains, lined up against the walls and a staircase that led to the next floor. Strangely, there were quite a few chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, slightly swaying. Their trunks and animals were set on one of the beds so they sat on the one across.

"This is Ernie," Stan said, motioning to the sleeping driver. "He's half blind, but that don't stop him. What did you two say your names was?"

They hadn't introduced themselves, in fact. After exchanging glances, Harry said, "I'm Neville Longbottom."

After a moment of hesitation, Percy said, "I'm Grover Underwood." He saw Harry glance at him curiously from the corner of his eye.

Stan only nodded and pounded on the window separating them from Ernie. "Take it away, Ern!" Ernie jolted awake with a snort, put the bus into gear, and stomped on the accelerator. They were off. "Where we goin', boys?" Stan turned back to them.

"Er, the Leaky Cauldron - that's in London," Harry said, gripping onto one of the bedposts. Percy was similarly holding onto the bed; the bus was anything but smooth.

Stan chortled. "You hear that, Ern? 'The Leaky Cauldron - that's in London.'" They both laughed. "Get comfortable, I suppose. We've got seven stops before the Leaky Cauldron."

When Percy looked outside through the fogged windows of the bus, he noticed that they were going much faster than should have been possible for a bus of that size. "Hey, Stan? Won't the muggles notice us?"

"Muggles?" Stan laughed again. "Grover, I thought you was the normal one out of you two." Harry looked faintly offended. "The muggles don't notice nuthin'." He pulled a newspaper out of seeming nothingness and opened it to somewhere in the middle, revealing what was on the front cover. It had been a while since either of the boys had seen moving pictures from the wizarding world. Something about the man in the picture was familiar though...

Percy nudged Harry and motioned at the paper that had hidden Stan from view. "Isn't that Sirius Black?" he whispered to him. "He was on TV, wasn't he?"

"Who's that?" Harry suddenly asked. Percy sighed at his brother's lack of subtlety. Stan looked up. "On the cover of the paper, who's that?"

Stan turned the paper over and looked back at them again. "Where've you two been all summer?" They didn't answer, only waiting for him to continue. "That's Sirius Black, that is. Serious nutter, that one. Killed thirteen people about ten years ago, confessed an' everythin', chucked into Azkaban for the rest of his life." The atmosphere on the bus became much heavier very quickly. Stan leaned closer as if he was going to tell them a secret. "But he escaped," he said, "just at the start of this summer. No one knows where he is, an' the Ministry's been goin' bonkers trying to look for him." He leaned even closer. "There are people that are sayin' he was his biggest supporter - You Know Who's. An' that's why he escaped; he's gonna try an' get him back."

Neither of them asked any more questions the rest of the bus ride.

****

Seven stops later, they were finally at the Leaky Cauldron. There was someone waiting outside, but Percy couldn't see who it was through the fogged windows. Once again, Stan picked their trunks up before they had a chance and brought them outside. Percy and Harry were left to collect Kasper and Hedwig.

Stan suddenly came flying back onto the bus, his eyes wide. "You're Harry Potter!" he said. Ernie turned around in his seat to look back at them. "And - you're Percy Jackson." He was much less excited when he identified Percy. "The Minister - the bloody Minister's waiting outside for you.

Harry looked at Percy, panicked. "I told you, I told you-"

Percy shoved Harry towards the door. "It'll be fine, just go."

The Knight bus was gone as soon as Percy's feet hit the pavement.

****

Would you look at that, I finally updated. Hopefully, I'll do more before summer ends, but knowing me, I don't actually know how likely that is. Oh, well.

Grammar and spelling is a thing, don't know how good I am at those. Correct me in the comments if you find a mistake.

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