Hello again, another update from me. This is mostly just silly fun on the Knight Bus ride.
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As the group made its way outside, Ron could only feel a bit of apprehension at the thought of riding the Knight Bus. It was very convenient of course, given the situation they were in but he'd heard a number of things about the transport and not all of them were good. Unfortunately he couldn't think of another way for them to get where they needed to go on such a short time schedule.
With the marine's and vehicles out front having departed with Admiral Whitcomb and the two gentlemen from the Home Office, the warehouse area was relatively deserted. His mother stopped, looking both ways before turning back to the group.
"All right, I want everyone to stay behind me. The Knight Bus is… unpredictable sometimes."
Ron managed not to shake his head at his mothers words, merely glancing up at Summer who seemed a bit uncertain. She seemed like that most of the time though so it wasn't a particularly helpful indicator. At least she wasn't on edge.
Seeing everyone line up to her satisfaction, Mrs. Weasley turned and raised her wand in the proper position. Everything was quiet for a second, two…
*Bang*
A bright purple bus appeared out of nowhere, skidding to a stop in front of Mrs. Weasley.
Ron didn't have much chance to notice, as at the sound of the sound of the bus arriving Summer had reached out and grabbed him with an "Eep!". Already getting familiar with the sensation, his head impacted her midriff, even as a soft weight brushed against the top of his head.
Waiting a few seconds, Ron raised his arm and patted Summers with his hand.
"It's ok. That's just the bus arriving. Nothing to be worried about."
Knowing looking up wouldn't do any good for the moment, Ron waited until she released him and then did so. Summer looked between him and the bus once before nodding.
Standing at the side entrance to the bus was a pimply faced wizard who didn't look all that old, no more than his late teens. His appearance was sloppy, with ragged hair and an unkempt uniform that wasn't helped by the way he was staring at Summer, Duke and Warspite. Though he knew he didn't have to do anything, Ron felt himself bristling slightly at the man. It was one thing to look, Ron knew that all three of them were almost unnaturally attractive by most standards, but it was quite another to be almost leering.
Thankfully his mother wasn't about to take any of it either.
"Stanley Shunpike! My word boy, you'd think you were raised in a barn! What would your mother say about this! Stop gawking like you've never seen a woman before and let us on!"
Ron recognized his mothers full power "Wrath of Mom" voice quite easily. Though he'd had his fair share of it in his time, lately it was a rare occurrence. It was always fun to see it turned upon somebody else, especially somebody he felt deserved it.
Stan jumped as if he'd been zapped by a tazer, attempting to straighten out his appearance and his spine at the same time.
"Apologies Mrs. Weasley, I err… I just never seen someone like your friend before."
Ron looked back at Summer, who was pulling her large hat down over her face in attempt to hide.
"Haven't you ever seen a Frost Giant before? No of course you haven't, doubt you've been out of those pubs I hear you like to frequent. How much is it from here to the Leaky Cauldron? I don't have time to dawdle and I know prices have been going up."
If there was one thing Ron truly appreciated about his mother, it was that when she wanted something she knew how to get it.
"Err… it's going to be about a Galleon a piece from here to London." It was clear Stan was doing math in his head, rather badly at that.
"Five galleons! My word, you'd think everyone was made of money for that price." Ron remembered when his family would have been hard pressed to have five galleons for an important purchase, much less casual travel for shopping but his mother reached into her bag and pulled out five gold coins to give to Stan, who finally stepped aside.
With his dander still up, Ron let the girls go before him and then climbed up the stairs in front of Stan. Though he had started with good intentions, he got a view of Summer's seemingly impossibly long chitin covered legs. Thankfully her dress was relatively long otherwise he would've felt bad.
Thankfully the bus didn't have any issues with Summer's size, merely rocking down slightly until she got in the main portion. Unfortunately it was very clear to Ron that there was nowhere for her to sit since all of the armchairs were much to small for her. Though as he studied the setup Ron wasn't sure that was a bad thing since none of the chairs were bolted in place, merely setup in a semi-random pattern.
Though his mother had taken a chair near the back seemingly without care, Warspite and Duke were much more familiar with the proper way a bus should be laid out and seemed to be having trouble deciding where to sit. Rather, they seemed to not be sure sitting was a good idea.
"Lets just sit by my mum." He said to Summer, who was simply waiting for him to choose a spot. She nodded, taking up a position against the wall to the back staircase of the triple-deck bus and then sitting down so she wasn't hunched over. Ron chose a chair next to her, while Duke and Warspite seemed to think that Summer had the right idea and braced themselves against the other side of the bus's back wall.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Duke asked, glancing over at him and his mother.
"Nobodies ever been hurt riding the Knight Bus!" Stan said cheerfully from the front, where he'd taken up position next to the grey haired, owl eyed driver. "Might'n get a little queasy from time to time but we've got a perfect safety record."
Duke's face gave the impression she wouldn't believe Stan if he claimed water was wet but she didn't say anything, merely nodding as she gripped the arms of her chair tightly.
"Right then Ern, off we go!" Stan grabbed one of the poles standing next to the drivers armchair and then they were off with a quite literal bang.
Ron felt his chair jerk with a start, sliding backwards slightly until it suddenly stopped. Since his mother's chair slid a few more inches Ron looked back and saw Summer holding onto his chair with concern.
"Heh. It's fine Summer. Just getting started!" He tried to give her a smile that was more confident than he really felt. He wasn't positive it worked but she let go of his chair. Driving down a country road, bouncing a little bit from side to side as trees flashed by wasn't too bad. At least it wasn't as bad as he'd thought, though Ron didn't feel like making conversation all that much either.
Eventually they pulled up to an even smaller lane with a screech and Stan went up the back stairs to get an older looking witch and help her out. She looked very happy to do so, not saying a word even when she got back on solid ground.
Ron didn't notice, having gone skidding forward until he was jerked to a stop by Summer once again. Luckily he didn't jerk out of his chair, just barely managing to hang on. Hearing an unhappy noise from Summer, he turned around to console her again just as the bus got moving again.
Having removed one of his hands from its grip to properly turn around, Ron went flying ass over teakettle and smacked into Summers chest. He had a few seconds to contemplate the softness he felt but thankfully for his sanity he was saved from more of this by Summer herself, who pulled him out and then placed him on her lap so he could see more than pure white. A large white arm locked itself around his waist and when he looked up, Summer smiled down at Ron with a pleased look in her eye.
It said something about his position and how distracted he initially was that it took two more stops for Ron to notice that Summer wasn't moving. Not that she was stock still, simply that she didn't seem to have any issue with the bus violently starting and stopping as it let off other passengers, swerved through traffic and had the occasional building jump out of the way. She was simply there, not sliding around and not perturbed a bit as long as Ron seemed to be safe.
It was actually quite an enjoyable ride to see various bits of countryside flash by without having to worry about being thrown around. Somehow his mother seemed unbothered by the ride, simply sliding back and forth as need be while she worked on her knitting. Duke and Warspite were much more bothered, neither of them appreciating the bus sliding back and forth. It was so bad that neither of them made any sort of comment about Ron's headrest.
The culmination of the ride was swerving through the streets of London, dodging other vehicles and navigating streets that were much to small for the oversize bus. To top it off, one last violent turn by the driver to pull them to a stop caused Duke to rock right over her chair and land face up in Ron's lap.
"Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley." Stan's voice called from the front. He was less excited than he had been, attempts to flirt with Duke and Warspite while he helped others off having fallen completely flat on their face.
Ron looked down at Duke, who seemed to be trying very hard to pretend she'd not just been thrown across the bus.
"We will never, ever, speak of this." Her face was completely impassive as she spoke.
Ron simply made a nodding motion with his head and zipped lips with is fingers.
Duke nodded minutely before sitting upright and then standing. She then helped Ron up out of Summers lap. Summer got up by herself, hunched over as she began to exit the door. In all it took over a minute for them all to exit properly but soon they were standing at the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.
"I will be happy to never ride that contraption again." Duke seemed most pleased when the Knight Bus darted off into the afternoon light.
"Well next time we can send you by Floo or maybe another portkey if we can set it up. Thankfully the Knight Bus is something we don't need to use very often." His mother seemed relieved as well, despite her seeming lack of care on the bus itself.
"That would be appreciated."
"With that out of the way lets get going, we can't be standing out here all day, we're an appointment and plenty else to do today."
With his mother taking control of the situation, Ron looked up to Summer and squeezed her hand when he saw she looked nervous. "It'll be ok."
Summer smiled back at him and seemed to straighten a little, following his mother through the door.
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It's completely canon for HP that the Knight Bus has unsecured armchairs to sit in during the day. The horror.
Comments appreciated as always.
