The Knight Bus

The delivery of the materials to Ollivander was quick; Mr. Ollivander was so fascinated by the Mizutsune whiskers that he practically shoved Barnaby out the door to close up and begin studying them.

The visit to Gringotts, however, was far less pleasant—cursed ugly, greedy creatures.

And they say it's the vampires who are the bloodsuckers!

His mood improved, though, when he saw the curious news from a few days ago: the Weasley family had won a Daily Prophet lottery and had gone to Egypt, with a photo of the whole family on the front page.

"Good for them. It doesn't seem like they could have afforded a trip like that otherwise," he reflected aloud. "Maybe I should think about going to Egypt sometime."

"As long as it doesn't end up like your trip to Japan..." Sanshi laughed.

Barnaby didn't take it to heart; he knew that doing so would only give his familiar more ammunition to use against him in the future.

Now, the nervousness he had felt in Diagon Alley became understandable when he got his hands on yesterday's copy of the Daily Prophet, which announced the escape of the prisoner and murderer, Sirius Black.

"How strange, this man's been in Azkaban for years. I don't see any reason why he'd suddenly decide to escape," Barnaby mused, not overly worried about one more dark wizard added to the already large pile.

Unless his escape had required years of planning?

Barnaby disagreed with the existence of Azkaban. Dementors were repulsive creatures, and few people deserved to be exposed to them. If someone was evil, cruel, or mad enough to deserve being sent there, he believed it would be better to execute them.

Eliminate the roots without leaving room for future problems.

"Well, I'm done with my business here." Barnaby was about to find a corner to use magic and return to Hogwarts but stopped when something came to mind as he looked at the starry night sky. "Sanshi, would you like to see the Knight Bus?"

"I thought wizards despised Muggle inventions?" Sanshi blinked in confusion. "And aside from the elevators at the Ministry of Magic, I don't think they use anything mechanical… Well, if you don't count the Hogwarts Express."

In Barnaby's opinion, the Knight Bus was infinitely better than Apparition, Floo Powder, and Portkeys. As for why there was only ONE in all of Britain…

He could only conclude that the Ministry was too narrow-minded.

It could also be that, since it's considered transportation for "wizards in need," it might not have enough active customers to justify making more of them. But Barnaby thought that if it became a popular mode of transportation, it would be for the best.

Still, he believed that, economically, it was cheaper in the long run to use this transportation than to buy an expensive jar of Floo Powder and rely on a few exit points.

Barnaby left Diagon Alley through a different exit from the Leaky Cauldron and stood on a road while raising his staff. The next moment, the magical transport arrived with the sound of its horn.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, my name is Stan Shunpike, conductor, at your service," introduced a young man in uniform with pimples, a rather informal and somewhat carefree attitude. "We offer... Oh, if it isn't Barnaby! It's been a while."

"Hello, Stan, how've you been?" said Barnaby as he took out 30 sickles and handed them over. "Two tickets with the corresponding hot chocolate, please. Hey, Ernie! The destination is Hogsmeade," he said familiarly as he climbed aboard and sat on one of the wheeled beds.

Business seemed slow today, as he didn't see anyone under the large chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Since he had first ridden the Gringotts carts, only this bus had excited him as a child, so he had taken it so many times that he was familiar with the conductor and the driver. Even the shrunken head gave him a nod of recognition when it saw him.

"Yeah, you know, everything's quiet as we go from place to place," Stan commented with his classic "couldn't care less" pose. "But if you want two cups of chocolate, you don't have to pay for two tickets—just buy one ticket and pay the extra two sickles," he advised.

"Oh, I'm traveling with company, and I think it's appropriate to pay for both," Barnaby clarified, pointing to his shadow, from which Sanshi's tail emerged to wave a greeting.

Stan stared at the tail for two seconds before shrugging and handing over the tickets for both of them. Although they had initially been a bit hesitant about Barnaby bringing his pets on board, they never had any problems, and Barnaby always paid honestly for both, so everything was fine.

Who would turn down some extra money earned honestly?

"Give me a moment while I get your hot chocolate," Stan said, knocking on the wall of the vehicle. "Let's go, Ernie!"

"Yeah, step on it, Ernie!" cheered the shrunken head with laughter.

The elderly driver with thick glasses jumped, took a bite of his sandwich, and stepped on the accelerator, generating an overwhelming burst of speed for the bus in less than 0.3 seconds.

The bed on which Barnaby was sitting swayed back and forth, but the redhead was so accustomed to it that he waited patiently for the hot chocolate without flinching.

"Here you go," Stan handed him two cups of hot chocolate, which, defying the laws of physics, didn't spill despite the violent turns of the vehicle.

"Thanks," Barnaby took both and handed one to Sanshi, who skillfully grabbed it with her tail.

"Did you see yesterday's news?" Stan pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet and waved it. "Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban! He... Oh, wait, we've got another call," he interrupted his speech as a light came on. "Ernie, we've got another wizard in need on Privet Drive, Magnolia Crescent!"

"Why does that address sound so familiar?" Barnaby murmured to himself as he took a sip of hot chocolate.

It didn't take long for him to find out.

"Harry?"

"Barnaby?"

"Since when do you know how to use the Knight Bus?" The redhead stared in disbelief at the bespectacled boy with his trunk. "Besides, there's still some time before school starts—you don't need to bring all your stuff, do you?"

"I didn't even know there was such a thing as this bus!" Harry defended himself as he clumsily paid for his ticket and stood, unaware of what was about to happen next.

"You should—"

VROOMMM

As the bus resumed its movement, the sound of Harry's face smashing into the glass of the bus was all the signal Barnaby needed to know he didn't need to finish his sentence.