Fall is here, hear the yell
Back to school, ring the bell
Brand new shoes, walking blues
Climb the fence, books and pens
I can tell that we are gonna be friends
- We're Gonna Be Friends - The White Stripes
Chapter Twenty-Three
On Our Way
The long-awaited day finally arrived, and it was time for the fledgling wizards and witch to leave for school.
Hermione was outside helping Youssef load the trunks onto the roof of the van, while Draco comforted an inconsolable Nova inside the house. Lily wasn't coping well either; she had been tearful all weekend. Hugo had been sent to his room after a few too many 'good riddance' comments over breakfast.
As everyone was climbing into the van, they saw Taj standing outside the gatehouse holding a duffel bag and a broomstick, and talking to an old man.
'That's Samir,' Youssef said, pointing to the man. 'He's the new gatekeeper.'
'Why?' Nova sniffled. 'Is Taj in trouble?'
'Not at all! He only works during the summer. He's headed back to school. Actually, do you mind if we offer him a ride?'
Everyone agreed that was fine, and shuffled together to make room.
'Hey, Taj!' Youssef called, pulling alongside him. 'Need a lift?'
Taj glanced at the full car and shrugged. Up close, they saw he was about fifteen. Draco tied Taj's bag and broom to the roof while the boy squeezed into the seat next to Hugo.
'What kind of broom you got?' Rose asked him as Youssef pulled out into the street.
'Cleansweep.'
'That's cool,' she smiled. 'Do you play Quidditch?'
Taj nodded then turned to look out of the window. Rose's smile faltered, and she fell silent.
*****
Youssef pulled the van into the car park outside the market, which was closed for the day. The space had been magically expanded, and was now filled with hundreds of green school buses. He parked in one of the few remaining spaces, and handed the trunks down to the waiting parents below. Taj grabbed his backpack and wandered off towards his bus.
'First year buses are over there,' Youssef said, pointing to the furthest line of buses.
The three children took their trunks, pulling them towards the vehicles. Although the trunks had wheels on the bottom, they were heavy and threw up clouds of dust. They stopped nervously outside the buses Youssef had pointed to, each with a giant "1" on the front. Crowds of nervous parents were lingering nearby, waving to their children on the buses.
'Hello!' The bus driver said, smiling brightly. 'You all first years?'
They nodded to her, huddling together slightly.
'Great, there's room on this bus for all three of you. I'll just load up your trunks.' She took the trunks from their hands and slid them onto the compartment under the bus. They could see several suitcases, bags and trunks already stuffed into the space. 'We'll be heading out in just a couple of minutes, so say your goodbyes.'
They were all swept up into a huge group hug, everyone getting smushed up against each other as they all tried to talk at once.
'Be good!'
'Write soon!'
'We want to hear all about your adventures!'
'What? No! No adventures!'
'See you at Christmas!'
Nova had burst into tears again, and was sobbing into Draco's shoulder as he carried her. Lily's chin wobbled as she fought back her own tears. Hugo looked bored, but his eyes glistened as he watched them board the bus.
They found a seat near the window, waving and blowing kisses to their family below. Albus was ashen, and Scorpius' grey eyes were full of tears. Rose smiled shakily to her family, her lips quivering as she sat in the row of seats in front of the boys. The other children on the bus were all pressed against the windows, waving frantically at their families outside. The door to the bus swung shut, and the engine started with a loud, rumbling roar. They saw all everyone step back, still waving and shouting their goodbyes.
'Alright, soon-to-be witches and wizards,' the driver said over the intercom. 'Get ready to roll, we are on our way!'
Some of the children cheered quietly, but most looked utterly terrified. A young girl slid down into the seat next to Rose. A black hijab covered the girl's hair, and Rose could see a moonstone pinning the fabric into place.
'Hi,' Rose said, smiling gently at the young girl, who had tears streaming down her face. 'What's your name?'
'Sara,' she sniffed. 'What's yours?'
'I'm Rose.'
'Nice to meet you,' she said, ducking her head and wiping her eyes on her shirt sleeve.
'So, do you know how long we're on this bus for, Sara?'
'No idea,' Sara said, her eyes welling up again. 'I don't know anything about this school or...or...anything.'
'Me neither,' Rose said, reassuringly. 'Well, not about the school anyway. I'm sure we'll figure it out together, though. Here, this is my brother, Scorpius, and my cousin, Albus.'
'Hi,' she said quietly. 'Where are you all from?'
'We're from England,' Scorpius said. 'Our parents are ambassadors to the Ministry, so we're attending school here for the year. Are you from Burkina Faso?'
'No, I'm from Togo, my parents drove me here to catch the bus.'
'Drove? In a car?' Albus asked. 'So, you're from a muggle family, right?'
'Um, I don't know what that means?'
'Are your parents magical?' Rose asked.
'Oh, no, they're not. They thought I'd been possessed when I started showing magic!'
'Awkward!' Rose grinned. 'Did they try to have you exorcised?!'
'The Imam came to visit a few times and blessed me,' Sara said, smiling slightly.
'How did you find out what it really was?' Albus leaned over the seat between them. 'Was it the Dream Messenger? Or did someone actually come visit?'
'The Headmistress came to my house and talked to my parents. They were very relieved! How about you? Are your parents magical?'
'Yeah, all of them are,' Rose said. 'Though my mum's parents aren't. She's the first generation witch in her family, like you!'
'That's cool.'
They fell silent, watching as the bus drove through the streets of Ouagadougou. As with the Knight Bus back home, this one seemed to be invisible to the nearby muggles. It drove with more care than the Knight Bus, though, adhering to road signs and driving rules.
A girl across the aisle leaned over to them, flicking her braids over her shoulder.
'Did I hear you asking how long we're on here for?'
'Yeah,' said Rose. 'Do you know?'
'Yeah, my brother's a third year. He says it only takes a couple of hours once we get going.'
'That's good! We were on the train for fourteen hours last week, I don't think I could take something like that again!'
'Ouch, that sounds awful. I'm Danai, by the way,' she said, extending her hand and shaking everybody's. 'My whole family is magical, we've been going to Uagadou for generations.'
'Awesome, we know who to go to if we have questions, then!' Scorpius said, smiling.
'I'll do my best to answer them! Do any of you play Quidditch?'
Albus and Scorpius pointed in unison at Rose, who had lit up at the question.
'Do they play Quidditch at the school?' Rose asked, eagerly.
'Yeah! Everyone learns to play, and there's a Quidditch Club in the evenings too. Each year-group has a couple of teams.'
'YES!' Rose pumped her fist in the air. 'The first years can't be on the Quidditch teams at Hogwarts, and I was worried it'd be the same here.'
'They can't?' Danai looked surprised. 'That's so weird!'
'Tell me about it!'
'So, you guys don't have Houses, right?' Albus asked.
'Excuse me?!' Danai looked offended. 'I don't know what they teach people about Africa over in Europe but we don't all live in huts thank you very much! I mean, some people do, but not everyone!'
'No! Oh no! That's not what I mean! I...bugger. Let me try again. Um, so at Hogwarts each person is split off into a school House. There's four of them. All the people from that House lives together, and they stay in that throughout their years at school.'
'Oh!' Sara said, understanding dawning. 'So it's a vertical boarding system, right?'
'Um?'
'Yes, it is,' Scorpius said, nodding. 'Uagadou is horizontal boarding, I think?'
They all looked expectantly at Danai, who looked slightly less affronted.
'I don't know what that means?' She said.
'Horizontal boarding is where the school is split into year groups,' Scorpius explained. 'So, like, you move up each year, and the kids from that year stay together.'
'Uh, yeah, I think that's right? When you're a first year, you live at the base of the mountain. As you get older, you move on up towards the top of the mountain.'
'Oh, so you literally go up with your year, that's cool.'
'I still can't believe we don't get Sorted,' Albus muttered.
'Oh, get over it,' Rose snapped. 'You're going to Hogwarts next year and you'll find out then if you're a Slytherin or not. Honestly, you need stop letting James get under your skin. So what if you're a Slytherin?! Dad is, and we don't hold it against him! We're not all going to turn against you!'
'Do you have any idea what they're talking about?' Sara whispered to Danai.
'Not a clue.'
Scorpius grinned at the two girls, ignoring Rose and Albus' bickering. They had left the city, and were driving through a vast desert. The air conditioning poured from the vents, keeping the bus cool from the sun beating overhead. In the distance they saw a caravan of camels trudging through the dunes.
'Alright, witchettes and wizardlings,' the bus driver said. 'Hold onto your sunglasses, we're about to enter...The Tunnel!'
She veered off the road and drove straight at a tall sand dune that towered above the bus. Some of the children screamed. Most of them clung to their seats and each other as she ploughed into it. A few nervous giggles filled the bus when, instead of crashing, they entered into a long tunnel. The walls of the tunnel were carved from stone, with strange runes etched into them. It glowed with an eerie light, emitting from hundreds of jewels sunk deep into the stone.
'This is so weird,' Sara whispered.
Rose nodded, unable to respond as she stared out of the window at the strange tunnel.
*****
A/N: I've been doing some more reading online and discovered that mixing Islam and magic is highly problematic. If Muslims have an issue with Sara, and any other Muslim characters (hijabi or otherwise), PLEASE let me know. I'm trying to appropriately represent the diversity across the African continent, but not at the expense of offending my readers.