Chapter 111
Chapter 111
The Christmas holiday began.
Driven by fear, the young wizards had packed early and now surged towards the Hogwarts Express, each desperate to board ahead of the others.
Morn went home as well, though his parents collected him outside the castle, so he did not take the train.
Suer stepped off the train with his luggage and passed through the barrier. He looked left and right but saw no familiar figures.
He waited there blankly for more than ten minutes before remembering that Mrs Ellison had sent him a letter before Christmas.
Let me think… It was something like…
Oh! Damn… Suer remembered everything.
Mr Ellison’s German business partner was holding a conference and had sent him an invitation, so Mrs Ellison and Angel had gone with him and made a holiday of it.
They were supposed to return on…
Christmas Day?
There was nothing for it. He would have to take an expensive taxi home. Fortunately, Suer kept the pounds and cheques Mr Ellison gave him each year in a bedroom drawer. Otherwise, he would have to ride the Knight Roller-Coaster Bus.
He, Suer, would sooner leap from the second step outside the station than ride the Knight Bus!
For some reason, however, the station taxis seemed extraordinarily busy today. The few that roared past were packed with people.
Not one was willing to stop for him.
In the end, Suer could only drag his luggage to the entrance of a quiet alley and reluctantly raise his wand.
Very soon–
Bang…
That familiar flash of purple leapt to a stop at the alley entrance. With it came the familiar conductor holding a copy of the Daily Prophet.
What was his name again?
Stin? Stan? Or was it Parker? Spider-Man? It did not matter…
“Welcome aboard the Knight Bus. Wherever you want to go, we’ll take you there.”
“The Knight Bus: our mission is delivery!”
Had they changed the line? That did not matter much either.
After giving the address and paying his fare, Suer privately grumbled about the price. Then he clung tightly to the handrail, fixing himself to the seat as securely as possible. His luggage was wedged between his legs so that it would not fly away when the Knight Bus began leaping about.
The Knight Bus’s method of travel remained utterly unpredictable.
One moment it jumped; the next it hurtled directly towards a building. Through the window, Suer could even see people hard at work inside, entirely unaware that a bus was about to pass beside them.
A great man once said that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line.
The Knight Bus had plainly taken that wisdom to heart.
A little more than ten minutes later, Suer struggled to lift his rubbery legs. His trunk had still been flung to the back half of the bus, and the smiling conductor had to ask the vehicle to raise its rear before retrieving it.
“We hope you’ll travel on the Knight Bus again. Have a pleasant journey.”
“Ptooey…” Suer shakily raised a hand and made a universally understood gesture towards the purple shape disappearing into the distance.
Perhaps because he had endured the experience once before, Suer did not vomit this time. His body merely felt as limp as overcooked noodles.
He sat on the step outside some stranger’s house for a long while before recovering enough to pick up his luggage and walk home.
“Where’s the key? Where’s my great big key?” Suer blinked in confusion at the small hole he dug beneath the fourth railing from the left outside his house. The familiar brass key was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m sure I remembered correctly,” Suer muttered. “Did they move it?”
Soon, a neat row of small holes appeared beneath every railing. He searched the flowerpots too, but the key remained missing.
“Am I sleeping on the doorstep tonight?”
Suer collapsed helplessly onto the small step outside the door. Warmth lay only a door away, yet it might as well have been across the Milky Way.
Of course he could simply use magic, but he could not keep breaking the rules. That was no way for a law-abiding young wizard to behave.
The neighbouring Granger house was silent too, and cold reality extinguished his idea of waiting there for a while.
“If I’d known, I’d have stayed at the castle. How could I forget about this?”
There was that familiar if only again…
It had already been late when he returned to the city. Streetlamps came on one after another while Suer dozed against the door, undisturbed even by passing cars.
After nightfall, the temperature plummeted, and the cold eventually woke him.
“Achoo…” He shivered and gave a small sneeze.
“Who’s there?” A wary female voice came from next door. Suer followed the sound and looked towards the Granger house. At some point, the light outside Hermione’s front door had come on.
Saved!
Suer scrambled to his feet. “It’s me, Mrs Granger.”
“Suer?”
A while later, Mrs Granger looked in amusement at Suer sitting on the sofa opposite, both hands wrapped around a cup of hot milk as he sipped noisily.
“Hermione isn’t coming home this year. Why did you?”
“Sip… Ah…” Suer took another small mouthful of scalding milk. “I haven’t seen Angel for months, and I miss her. I’ll go back after Christmas.”
Go back to do what? Corrupt my daughter?
Mr Granger, reading a newspaper on the other side of the room, raised an eyebrow. His gaze turned unfriendly, though his spectacles hid it.
Suer noticed nothing and chatted with Mrs Granger for a while.
“Your mother asked me to keep this key.” Mrs Granger handed him the familiar brass key, which Suer accepted happily.
At last, he could return to his warm bed.
“Then I’ll say goodnight, Mrs Granger, Mr Granger.” Suer thanked them politely. Hunger and cold had retreated, and the prospect of a warm bed put him in a particularly splendid mood.
Mr Granger gave a reserved nod.
There was no chance he would show a pleasant face to a rotten boy with designs on his daughter. Hermione was getting older too. No, he had to write her a letter and tell her to be careful not to give certain people an opportunity.
“But the two of them are childhood sweethearts.” A pure-white Mr Granger popped into existence and spoke anxiously.
What childhood sweethearts?
No! Absolutely not!
They merely played together a little more often when they were young.
They merely walked to and from school together.
Their families merely shared a meal from time to time.
Suer knew nothing about Mr Granger’s complicated feelings and thoughts. He happily opened his own front door.
There was no trace of Angel’s silver-bell laughter or the warm light from the kitchen. The entire house was so quiet that Suer found it difficult to adjust.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“They’ll be back in a few days.”
After washing, Suer lay in bed wrapped tightly in his quilt. He stared into the darkness for a while, then fell deeply asleep.