Homeward Bound

The rest of the school year was a pleasant experience; those not taking owls or newts got exams off; after recent events, Dumbledore decided that we had been too preoccupied. So, in the last two weeks, we had revisions and were given our holiday assignments, which were quite a bit heavier because of the lack of exams. Finally, we boarded the Hogwarts Express back home.

I sat in a carriage with Tim, Grant and Luna. "plans for the summer?" I asked

"Camping again", said Tim. "Dad's really excited about getting away from the office."

"Mum said I will be studying under her this summer", Grant sighed. "She worried about my schooling, even tho I got mostly O's last year. Maybe because of the letter saying I won't be receiving a grade this year." 

"Dad's taking me on a trip. He won't tell me where just yet", Luna said happily. "um, I meant to ask; I wrote an article for the Quibbler about the Arcane Rhythms. Do you mind if it's published?" 

"I don't mind one bit" I smiled and patted Luna on the head.

"yeah, go ahead", Tim smiled. I think he thought nobody would read it anyway.

"Ummmm, Sure," Grant said hesitantly. 

"good. I already asked Tina, and she said yes as well" Luna smiled and returned to her copy of the Quibbler.

"what about you, Eddie?" asked Tim.

"Oh, I plan on learning a few new spells and maybe spending some time in Diagon Alley," I said my plans were much greater than that but I wasn't going to tell.

"new spells? How?" asked Grant, knowing that I come from a muggle family, so it's not like I could use magic outside of school.

"Mike made a training room in his basement", I explained, "As long as I'm there, the trace won't matter."

"right, the bodyguard", Grant mutters. "so how are you getting back home? Your family pick you up this time?" Grant asked.

"Nah, I'm going to head straight for a record store and pick up some new music, then take the knight bus home," I said with a smile, looking forward to the shopping trip.

"what's the knight bus," asked Tim.

"a purple triple-decker bus that you can hail by sticking your wand out like hailing a cab", I explained.

"What?" Tim and Grant looked like I was talking gibberish.

"no, I'm serious, I use it all the time", I laughed. "If you ever get stuck somewhere in Britain, you can summon the knight bus if you get to a road." 

"the wizarding world is weird", Tim said, shook his head and laughed.

Once we got to platform nine and three-quarters, I bid farewell to my friends and went to grab a cab to the leaky cauldron. There was a record store nearby that I frequented.

I was like a kid in a candy store, shuffling through the aisle, picking out albums that had come out in the first half of the year. Pablo Honey by Radiohead, Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz, Home Invasion by Ice-T, and Get a Grip by Aerosmith. I also picked up the Raidhead album and the Aerosmith album on vinyl as well. 

I headed back down the street towards the leaky cauldron. It was late in the evening. I walked down the alley where the leaky cauldron was and looked to make sure no muggle was around; I held out my wand and summoned the knight bus. 

*Bang* The bus rolled to a stop in front of me. I looked up to see a new face. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport 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 evening." Stan read from a card

"what happens to Henry?" I asked as I paid the eleven sickles.

"oh, Henry, retired," Stan said as he grabbed my trunk and henleys cage. "where too"

"spinners end, Cokesworth", I said, "hiya Ernie", I waved at the driver

"Good to see you, Eddie. How was school?" Ernie said.

"Not bad all in all. Though there was the whole basilisk thing going on," I said, just chatting. 

"basilisk at 'ogwarts," stan said, taking his seat.

"yeah, it petrified some people; they're all better now," I explained.

"We got a few stops to make the first, Eddie," Ernie said.

"no problem, just picked up some new music" I smiled and pulled out my Walkman.

"what's that?" stan asked, looking at the walkman inscribed with golden runes.

"muggle music player, it's inscribed with runes, so it doesn't get messed up by ambient magic." I pulled out the PabloHoney album and popped it into the Walkman, making sure it was in the start position.

"and it plays music?" stan asked.

"yeah, out of the earphones here," I passed him the headphones and hit play on the first song.

Stan put on the headphones and listened to the music, and bobbed his head, "THINK YOU COULD MAKE ME ONE" he yelled.

I laughed, miming taking off the headphones. "sure I can; it will take me a week or two, say three galleons, and I'll give you some mixtapes with some good music." 

"Okay, you got yourself a deal" stan smiled and pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet and started to read it. 

All too soon, we had arrived at spinners end, "see ya in a few weeks", I said, hopping off the knight bus.

"look forward to it, Eddie" stan yelled as the bus took off with another *Bang*

"home again, home again, jiggity jig", I said as I walked up to the Malhooks home.

-A/N-

This is the end of volume 1. hope you have enjoyed the ride so far.

Thanks all for the support.