Harry Potters Twin Book Three

Ride On The Knight Bus

"Ar," said Ern, making me snigger. He sounded like a pirate! But I was quickly silenced as Harry jabbed his elbow deep in my ribs.

"How come the Muggles don't hear the bus?" asked Harry, making Bonnie snort. If she didn't stop showing off she was going to get kicked. The same thought seemed to have struck Harry as he glared at her.

"Them!" said Stan contemptuously. "Don't listen properly, do they? Never noticed nuffink, they don't."

"Best wake up Madame Marsh, Stan," said Ernie. "We'll be reaching her street in a minute.”

Stan passed us and disappeared up a narrow wooden staircase. I stared at Harry as he stared out the window; he looked completely nervous, and I don't think it had anything to do with the bus like it did for me. Ernie didn't seem to master the use of a steering wheel. The bus kept mounting the pavement, but it didn't hit anything. Things jumped out of the way when it came and jumped back into place once it passed.

Stan came back a minute later, followed by a slightly green witch wrapped n a traveling cloak.

"'Ere you go, Madame Marsh," Stan said as Ernie slammed on the brakes, making the beds slide forward to the front. Madame Marsh clamped a handkerchief over her mouth and tottered down the steps of the bus. Stan threw the bags out after her and slammed the door shut right after she left. There was another loud BANG and we were lurched back into our beds, though Bonnie made it seem like she was doing it on purpose, making me grit my teeth and kick her.

"OW!" she screeched, then looked up and glared at me. "NIXIE! THAT HURT!"

"Exactly," I snapped back.

"Nixie?" Stan asked suspiciously. "I thought yer name was Penelope."

"It is," I said flatly.

"But she called you Nixie," Stan narrowed his eyes at me, they started to slide up my forehead.

“No, she didn't," I said, struggling to keep a straight face and succeeding.

Stan was confused, but decided to let it go, it looked like thinking hurt him. I know this because he got the same constipated face Ron makes when he's thinking.

The bus wasn't at all enjoyable, and I knew I would never be able to fall asleep, and by the looks on Bonnie's and Harry's faces, they couldn't either. I had built up the courage to tell Ernie to slow down, but then it shrank when I realized how rude that was.

I thought dreamily of what Seamus would do if he were here. No doubt he would be ready to barf, but being the gentleman he always had been he would give me comfort. Probably throw an arm over my shoulder, rub circles around my back, or keep me distracted by telling me his stories.

I was sitting there dreamily for a moment, then a disturbing picture formed in my mind. Seamus and I, laughing and talking together, then Bonnie appears in the bathroom, gagging loudly. I mentally kicked Bonnie, but it was useless. Even in my fantasies she was deadly annoying.

Stan unfurled the Daily Prophet and was now reading it with his tongue between his teeth. A large photograph of a man with a sunken face and long, matted black hair blinked slowly at me in the front page.

'That man," Harry blurted out, seeming momentarily distracted. "He was on the Muggle news!"

Stanley turned to the front page and chuckled in a I'm-about-to-tell-you-a-dramatic-story-so-shut-up-and-listen kind of way.

"Sirius Black,” said Stanley. "'Course he been on the Muggle news, where have you been?"

"Watching the Muggle news," I replied, smirking as Stan gave me an annoyed glare.

Stan then turned to Harry and Bonnie like I didn't even exist. He gave a superior chuckle at their blank looks, ignoring my death glare. He took out the front page and handed it to Bonnie.

"You ought to read the papers more than the Muggle news, cause they know nuffink."

Bonnie scooted closer to us and held the paper up to the light so we all could see.

BLACK STILL AT LARGE

Sirius Black, probably the most infamous prisoner to have ever been held in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today.

"We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the wizarding community to stay calm."

Fudge has been criticized by some members of the International Confederation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of this crisis.

"Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He is a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Muggle Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word about Black's true identity to anyone. And lets face it - who'd believe him if he did?"

While Muggles have been told that Black has been carrying a gun-

I stopped reading. I would never forget Fudge – who had sent Hagrid back to Azkaban just so he could keep a good image. Anything he said was a lie, to me.

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