𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 127

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
AND TWENTY SEVEN
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY RETURN 
TO HOGWARTS

. . .

There was no time to dwell on the magic that allowed Number Twelve Grimmauld Place to simple fade into oblivion upon the perfectly normal, perfectly non-magical street. 

"Come on, the quicker we get on the bus the better." Tonks said, and Aviana recognised a certain nervousness in the glance she threw around the square. At the same time, Lupin flung out his right arm, wand concealed in his sleeve, and without a moment's notice, and a particularly loud bang, a violently purple, triple-decker bus appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearby lamppost. 

Aviana's nose wrinkled. Not once had she been subject to taking the Knight Bus before, her parents, their lifestyle, and all of her friends spreading the completely nonsensical belief that even the Hogwarts Express was miles below the level of elegance that any Pureblood should be travelling at, and the Knight Bus... well it was several steps even lower down on that system. Not to mention the number of rumours  that sprang from it, why, she heard several every years. 

Her expression didn't change as a thin, pimply, jug-eared man, hardly older than any of the students before him, uniform of that same violent purple, leapt down onto the pavement. "Welcome to the-" he began, but was quick to be cut off. 

"Yes, yes, we know, thank you." Tonks said swiftly. "On, on, get on!" She shoved Harry  forwards towards the steps, past the conductor, who goggled at Harry as he passed.

"'Ere - it's Arry-" 

"If you shout his name I will curse you into oblivion." Tonks threatened menacingly, now shunting Ginny and Hermione forward. 

"I've always wanted to go on this thing." Ron said happily, coming to stand next to Harry on board, looking around. It was crammed with an assortment of mismatched chairs grouped haphazardly around windows. Some had fallen in the speed of the bus and the abrupt stop, and a few witches and wizards were still getting to their feet, grumbling. Somebody's shopping bad had slid the length of the bus; an unpleasant mixture of frog spawn, cockroaches and custard creams was scattered all over the floor.

"You're the only person to think that ever." Aviana rolled her eyes, and Harry winced when she spotted the frog spawn. "Oh, Merlin!" She had gone pale, her look of disgust only enhanced, and she looked around blindly, finding the stairs and beginning to hurry up them.

"Well, she's bright." Tonks said, briskly, looking around for chairs. "Looks like we'll have to split up, Fred, George and Ginny, you take those seats at the back... Remus can stay with you, and I suppose we'd better follow that one." She nodded towards the stairs, and Harry, Ron and Hermione began to make their way up after Aviana. 

At the very top deck, Aviana had selected one of the spare back seats. Harry nodded towards her, and Ron begrudgingly followed him, whilst Tonks and Hermione took the only other spare seats right at the very front. Stan Shunpike had been following Harry all the way up, and Aviana gave him such a withering glare as they each handed him eleven sickles for the bus fare that he looked taken aback, just for a moment, before the bus jolted forward with a bang, and they were all launched backwards.

Ron's chair toppled right over Pigwidgeon, who had been on his lap, burst out of his cage and flew twittering wildly up to the front of the bus where he fluttered down upon Hermione's shoulder instead. Aviana, who still looked particularly sick at the thought of being on that bus was vehemently denying it's existence at all, eyes determinedly set outside of the window, where they appeared to now be speeding down a motorway.

"Just outside Birmingham." Stan said happily, as Ron struggled up from the floor. "You keepin' well, then 'Arry? I seen your name in the paper loads over the summer, but it weren't never nuffink very nice... I said to Ern, I said, ''e didn't seem like a nutter when we 'im, juust goes to show, dunnit?'" He handed over their tickets, giving up when it came to Aviana and giving it to Harry instead, before continuing to gaze, enthralled, at him. It appeared that Stan did not care how nutty somebody was if they were famous enough to be in the paper.

The Knight Bus swayed alarmingly, overtaking a line of cars on the inside. Looking towards the froont of the bus, Harry saw Hermione cover her eyes with her hands, Pigwidegon still swaying happily on her shoulder. Leaning forward, he managed to bypass Aviana's hunched shoulders and curled up knees to find that she, too, was no longer looking at where they were going and was pretending she was elsewhere.

Chairs slid backward again as the Knight Bus jumped from the Birmingham motorway to a quiet country lane full of hairpin bends. Hedgerows on either side of the road were leaping out of their way as they mounted the verges. From here they moved to a main street in the middle of a busy town, then to a viaduct surrounded by tall hills, then to a windswept road between high-rise flats, each time with a loud bang.  

"I've changed my mind." Ron muttered, picking himself up from the floor for the sixth time. "I never want to ride on here again." 

"Nobody in their right mind would want to ride on here in the first place." Aviana snapped.

"Glad to know you're still with us, Rosier." Ron called, humorously, despite his expression. 

"Listen, it's 'Ogwarts stop after this." Stan said brightly, swaying towards them. "That bossy woman up front 'oo got on with you, she's given up a little tip to move you up the queue. We're just gonna let Madam Marsh off first, though-" There was retching coming from downstairs, followed by a horrible splattering sound. "She's not feeling 'er best. A few minutes later the Knight Bus screeched to a halt outside a small pub, which squeezed itself out of the way to avoid a collision. Stan ushered this Madam Marsh woman off with the sound of relieved mutterings from her fellow passengers on the second deck.

The bus moved on again, gathering speed until all of a sudden they were rolling through a snowy Hogsmeade, past the Hog's Head with it's severed boar's head sign creaking in the wind and the colourful store fronts until at last, they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts.

Aviana was off the bus first, straight down the steps and disappearing around the side, looking all the more queasy, but had returned to take her luggage from Lupin and Tonks as they helped the rest of them off the bus. When they settled in the snow, Harry could see all the passengers staring down at them, noses flat against the windows.

"You'll be safe once you're in the grounds." Tonks said, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road. "Have a good term, okay?" She said. 

"Look after yourselves." Remus said, shaking hands all round and reaching Harry last, glancing momentarily at Aviana who looked happier than usual, simply to be on stable ground. "And listen..." he lowered his voice as the rest of them exchanged last-minute goodbyes with Tonks. Except Aviana, who as listening was interest. "Harry, I know you don't like Snape, but he is a superb Occlumens and we all - Sirius included - want you to learn to protect yourself, so work hard, alright?"

"Yeah, all right." Harry said heavily, looking up at his former professor. "See you, then..."

Remus and Tonks got back on the bus, the Knight Bus speeding off not a moment later, disappearing down the lane within seconds. They turned towards their trunks, readying themselves to haul them up to the castle, and finally looked towards the castle in the wintry bliss of Scotland.

Aviana was already halfway up the drive.

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