Emerald [Cedric Diggory]

Chapter Ten

"This is your big surprise?" Maya asked Damien incredulously, taking in the grimy bar and filthy windows of the Hog's Head Inn as she stood in it's doorway. Even the floor was so dirty that it looked like the store was built on open ground. "This is why you were rushing me so much?"

Damien had been in a haste all morning, brisk walking all over the village, only stopping at Zonko's for pranking equipment, and Honeydukes for some sweets. When Maya had tried to visit Tomes and Scrolls- the only bookstore in the village- Damien had all but dragged her away from it, claiming that she had more than enough books already.

"Of course this isn't the surprise!" Damien replied with a snort. "We're here to pick up a parcel for Lucian Bole."

"The Slytherin beater? Whatever for?" Maya asked him, baffled.

"I'll explain later. You coming?" he asked, already making his way towards the barkeep. Maya looked around to find only a handful of patrons seated around rough wooden tables. Almost all their faces were hidden in one way or another. It was all quite shady, but what bothered her most was all the dirt that seemed to be omnipresent in this place. Maya hurried to keep pace with Damien.

"Can we make this quick?" she asked him uneasily. "I feel like I'm going to get hepatitis just by being here." Damien gave her an amused look and nodded.

"Aberforth?" Damien called out as he reached the bar. The man turned to look at him.

"Who wants to know?" he asked gruffly. The man looked ancient, his face covered with a long and wiry grey beard. Behind his dirty spectacles, his eyes were a brilliant blue. Maya thought he looked familiar, but couldn't quite place it.

"I'm here to collect a parcel for Bole." Damien said, leaning over the bar to hand the man a galleon. "And then my friend and I would like to have a Knight Hop."

He wants to drink here? Maya thought incredulously. Is he blind or just plain suicidal?

"Would you now?" the man asked, looking slightly amused. He walked towards a door and disappeared for a moment before emerging with a smallish parcel in his hands. "Here you go." he said as he tossed the parcel to Damien. "Now for the Knight Hop. Dobby!" he called out, and a house elf appeared next to him. The elf seemed to be wearing a tea cozy for a hat, Maya noticed with bewilderment. "They want the Knight Hop." the barman said and Dobby nodded.

"Come with Dobby." the house elf said, walking to a door towards the back of the pub. The two Slytherins followed- one less certain than the other. The door led to a dusty back alley. The elf waited long enough for them to step out before starting to walk again.

"Do a lot of barmen have house elves?" Damien asked Dobby as they walked towards the edge of the village.

"Aberforth is not my master." the elf replied. "Dobby is a free elf."

"You mean you work there voluntarily?" Damien asked, eyebrows raised.

"Folks in the wizarding world don't want to pay for an elf's work." Dobby replied miserably. "So Dobby takes paying work wherever he can find it."

"You should try talking to Headmaster Dumbledore." Maya said, absentmindedly. "We have elves in the school. I'm sure he'd employ you in a heartbeat." The elf's eyes lit up, and he smiled at her.

"Dobby will be sure to do that, miss." he said, coming to a stop. They had left the village now, Maya noticed. Maya could see the Shrieking Shack a little way off. "Here we are. Now give Dobby your wands."

Give him our wands? Maya thought incredulously.

"Do you still carry your wand box with you?" Damien asked her before she could protest. Maya nodded uncertainly. "Take it out. Please just trust me, May." he added when he noticed the look of uncertainty on his best friend's face.

Maya pursed her lips, but proceeded to unzip her pouch. "Empty wand box." she said, sticking her hand into the pouch. In an instant, the box flew into her hand, and she zipped up the pouch again. "Now what?"

"Put your wand into the box, and give it to Dobby." Damien said. Maya was getting more and more apprehensive by the minute but she obliged.

All wand boxes came with an enchantment which only allowed their owners to open them, so it wasn't like the barman or the elf  could do anything to her wand anyways, Maya reminded herself as she handed the box to Dobby.

"Now stand back." Damien instructed as he pulled out his own wand box from his coat's pocket. He put his wand into the box and handed it to Dobby. Then he held his right hand up, as if hailing a cab.

For a moment nothing happened. Then, there was a deafening bang, and Maya was hit by a blast of air so potent that she involuntarily took a step backwards. She looked around to see what had caused it- and promptly did a double take.

Standing in front of her was the largest bus she had ever seen. It was a violently purple triple-decker bus with gold lettering over the windshield proudly proclaiming it to be The Knight Bus.

"A Knight hop." Maya whispered to herself, finally getting it. Damien grinned at her.

"After you." he said gesturing to the bus. Maya let out an excited little laugh and climbed on board, Damien close at her heels.

"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'll be your conductor this afternoon. Where would you like to go?" a gangly looking man in a purple uniform recited from a piece of parchment the moment they boarded the bus. Maya looked at Damien curiously, waiting for his answer.

"Dufftown, please."

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