bioinnovel Chapter 159 Heavy with Thoughts
Chapter 159 Heavy with Thoughts
Chapter 159 Heavy with Thoughts
The Knight Bus first began operating back in 1865.
In order to provide a discreet mode of transportation for minors and frail wizards, the imaginative wizards came up with many interesting but unreliable ideas.
Finally, then Minister of Magic Dougd McPhee came up with a brilliant idea: to create a wizarding bus service, modeled after the buses that were just becoming popular in Muggle society at the time.
After the Knight Bus officially started operating, although it was welcomed by most wizards, a small group of people raised objections and their attitudes were quite vehement.
Pureblood fanatics have publicly announced a boycott of the Knight Bus, deeming it a "Muggle insult," just as they did with the Hogwarts Express.
The Knight Bus was not banned due to resistance from pureblood fanatics and has continued to operate to this day, but Minister Dugold McPhell resigned in the same year.
The man who succeeded McPhee as the new minister was none other than Faris Spavian, the one who almost got kicked to death by a centaur.
The Knight Bus at night had no seats; several brass-framed beds were placed by the windows with curtains drawn, and candles were lit on the brackets next to each bed, illuminating the wooden walls of the bus.
The swaying car, lit candles, curtains and sheets, wooden walls—the motorcyclist bus poses a significant fire hazard!
Stan Sampak looked at Belvina, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, and asked again, "Where do we need to take you?"
Under Belvina's gaze, Harry, while rubbing his hair, subconsciously sat down next to her.
From their first meeting, Harry felt a sense of warmth and familiarity with Belvina. The unfamiliar environment of the Knight Bus made Harry subconsciously want to get closer to Belvina.
Harry, sitting on the edge of the bed, was being watched by two pairs of eyes. His little mind raced, and his forehead, which was covered by his hair, became sweaty.
After a while, Harry looked at Belvina and asked, "Where are we going?"
"Fertile Soil, Mr. Sampark," Belvina said, glancing at Harry, "you'll like it there."
"No problem, Fertile Land!" Stan Sampak said. "Eleven silver sicos per person, fourteen for chocolate, fifteen for a hot water bottle and a toothbrush, and you can choose any color."
Upon hearing this, Harry immediately went to rummage through his suitcase. Before he could find the money bag at the bottom, Belvina had already taken out two Galleons.
"Two chocolates will do, Mr. Sampark," Belvina said. "Keep the change. Thank you."
"Thank you for your generosity, beautiful lady," Stan Sampark said, taking out two chocolates.
Two Galleons, after deducting two train tickets and chocolates, don't leave much, but even a small amount is still extra income.
Stan Sampark returned to his seat as a ticket seller and said to the person next to him, "Ern, let's go." He then said to Belvina and Harry, "This is Ern Plain, our driver for tonight."
Ern Pran was an elderly wizard, wearing thick glasses. He was honest, quiet, and didn't talk much. He was with Stan...
Sampark is the complete opposite.
With a deafening crash, the Knight Bus lurched forward, and the inexperienced Harry fell flat on his back onto the bed. The speeding bus then threw him backward.
Harry, who had finally managed to grab the bed frame and regain control of his body, regretted it. He shouldn't have had any expectations for how wizards traveled; this was no bus ride, it was torture.
Compared to Harry, who was swaying and on the verge of motion sickness, Belvina, who was also sitting on the edge of the bed, remained completely still; she could even steadily put her long hair up in a bun.
It took Harry quite a while to get used to the Knight Bus's intense rhythm and stop being tossed around.
At this point, Harry's curiosity kicked in.
For example, can a Muggle see a motorcycle bus? Can a Muggle hear the loud noise caused by a car? And will riding a motorcycle bus really not hit a pedestrian?
Harry couldn't help but wonder if Ernst Pran, who was driving, actually knew how to drive at all, as the Knight Bus drove recklessly along the way.
It would occasionally veer onto the sidewalk, but thankfully it didn't hit anything.
The constant jolts of riding the dirt bus made Harry feel terrible, and his stomach churned.
Belvina handed the chocolate to Harry and said, "Eat it, so you'll have something to throw up later."
"..—" Harry.
After Stan Sampark saw Ms. Marsh off the bus, Sampark, now with some free time, started chatting with the swaying Harry.
As they chatted, the two came to the Daily Prophet in Sampark's hand. The first page featured a photo of a haggard man with long, messy hair.
Harry stared at the photo in the newspaper for a while, and he found the man in the photo very familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
With nothing else to do, Harry and Stan Sandpark started chatting again, and the topic of their conversation turned to the man in the photo—Sirius Black.
Looking at the Daily Prophet in his hand and at the photo of the fugitive Black, Harry seemed to suddenly become smarter. He turned to look at Belvina, who was resting with her eyes closed beside him.
Harry finally remembered where he had seen Sirius Black before. Although Sirius looked like a pale-skinned vampire, he had many similarities to Professor Black.
"Professor, Sirius Black?" Harry asked cautiously, lowering his voice.
Belvina opened her eyes, glanced at the newspaper in Harry's hand, and casually said, "Sirius, the escaped convict, is my brother, our own flesh and blood. Scared?"
Others know there are tigers in the mountains, so they don't go into those mountains they know are in.
But Harry is different; he knowingly walks into danger.
More than the fact that Belvina and Sirius were blood relatives, Harry wanted to know Sirius's crime, why he was in prison, and why he escaped.
"Just like the newspapers said, he committed a serious crime," Belvina said. "When the Ministry of Magic caught him, he was standing in the street laughing hysterically, killing thirteen people and blowing up half a street with a single spell."
Belvina paused for a moment, then continued, "The Ministry of Magic and the public believe that Sirius Black is a secret supporter of the Dark Lord, and he has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban."
As Harry looked at the contents of the newspaper and listened to Belvina's retelling, he felt inexplicably irritated. Instead of being afraid of the distorted faces on the newspaper, he felt an increasing sense of closeness and familiarity with them.
Harry handed the newspaper back to the incessant Stan Sampark, then stared intently at Belvina, a growing suspicion creeping into the scarred man's mind.
The siblings, Belvina Black in front of him and Sirius Black in the newspaper, both made Harry feel close to them and familiar with them. But what was the source of this feeling of closeness and familiarity?
This was the first time in over two years that Harry had thought about this issue, and the first time he had doubted the sense of closeness and familiarity that the Black siblings had brought him.
If Harry could accurately recall events before he was one year old, he would know where this closeness came from, because Sirius was his godfather, the one who once held him in his arms.
Unfortunately, people tend to forget things from their childhood. Harry didn't remember who Sirius was or what he looked like until he met Belvina on the Hogwarts Express.
With her jet-black hair, pale skin, and similar features, Harry naturally felt a sense of closeness and familiarity with Belvina, mistaking her for the man from his memories, even though Harry still couldn't recall Sirius Black.
After an unknown amount of time, Ernst Pran slammed on the brakes, and the swaying Knight Bus came to a sudden stop, throwing Harry, who was deep in thought, out of the car once again.
"We've arrived at Fertile Plains, beautiful lady!" Stan Sampark exclaimed. "Merlin's Beard, you are Harry..."
Potter!
After chatting for a while, Stan Sampark finally noticed the lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead.
"It's Harry Potter, Ernst, it's Harry Potter!" Stan Sampark shouted excitedly. "Harry Potter is riding our Knight Bus."
Fortunately, there weren't many passengers on the bus, and the sleeping passengers didn't hear Stan Sampark's shouts, otherwise Harry might have been surrounded by onlookers.
"Please keep quiet, Mr. Sampark, thank you for your cooperation," Belvina said, standing in the doorway as she watched Harry walk off the bus, looking lost in thought.
Then, Belvina got out of the car and said, "Mr. Sampac, you forget a lot of things every day, why don't you forget about tonight too?"
Stan Sampak was taken aback at first, but then he realized that he understood the implication in Belvina's words.
As a bus conductor, Stan deals with many people every day, and he is always quick to react.
Stan Sandakan nodded emphatically, indicating that he would absolutely not reveal Harry Potter's whereabouts, at least not to Sirius Black.
Blake wouldn't have been caught before.
With another loud bang, the purple three-story bus disappeared into the vast night.