My dear Ally, of course! For you, anything!!

And for those who read my entry in Writers Week - the one about the Common Witch or Wizard, you'll see that I actually refer to my own ficlet here!


This post is for my friend Ally!


Emergency Transportation


Tentatively he leaned close to the water again. He raised one hand to his face. The reflection did the same. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. The face of a handsome young man, perhaps around age sixteen blinked back at him. Sirius was in total disbelief. He hadn’t seen this face in 20 years, yet he recognized it instantly. It was his own. But, gone were the lines of stress that he had accumulated over the years of hardship. His skin, which had become pale over months of being indoors was now flushed with the glow of youth and he no longer had that thin look he had acquired in prison and running from the Ministry. His features, which had become hollowed and haunted looking in Azkaban, had softened. His grey eyes, once dulled with unhappiness, now sparked with the mischief of better days. This was the way he was long ago, before the rise of Voldemort, before that dreadful night when Lily and James…

“Harry!” he said aloud. He had momentarily forgotten his godson, transfixed by the image in the water as he was. What did this mean for Harry? Sirius could only surmise that the veil in the stone archway had something to do with time. Was Harry at this moment fighting for his life, or had he not yet been born? Had he, Sirius, gone back in time to his youth? “James! He could see James again!” Sirius thought with joy. This time he could warn him. Have a chance to do things over and put things right. Maybe the war would never have to happen. He could at least see to it that his godson wasn’t left an orphan…

But he knew that terrible things could happen when one played with time. He had learned long ago in school about magical devices called time turners and how they should not be used lightly. He would need to be careful. If, as he was beginning to believe, he had gone back to his teen-age years, he would need to be careful not to encounter anyone who knew him. Not until he could get his bearings anyway. A wild thought occurred to him that he might even encounter himself! Or was he simply returned to his old body? This line of thought was beginning to bring back his headache. He needed to get help. Who to contact? That answer was simple. Dumbledore. Dumbledore would believe him. That was where he could start. Thus decided, Sirius was beginning to feel better. Glancing once more into the stream, he could see the old familiar smirk that he was known for reflecting back at him. He stood up and brushed the dirt from his robes. This he could get used to again.

The next task at hand was to figure out how to reach the Headmaster. There was still the problem of not knowing where he was and not having transportation. Sirius wracked his mind and remembered that there was a bus for just such needs. The Knight Bus, for the stranded witch or wizard. “This situation should qualify,” he thought wryly. He would have hesitated to use it before, since his face was well known on wanted posters, but he had never used it as a youth (preferring other modes of transportation ) and even in the future, no-one should recognize him like this.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Sirius thought as he raised his wand arm.

Suddenly a violently purple triple-decker bus was bumping its way over the rocky landscape towards him. Sirius laughed with happiness and waved it over. The bus stopped in front of him and opened it’s door.

An older heavy-set man stood in the doorway, a pipe clenched in his teeth, smoke wreathed his head in a cloud. “Welcome to the Knight Bus, for the stranded witch or wizard,” the man said, sounding bored. “The name’s Oscar and I’ll be your conductor today, Ernie there is your driver,” he gestured to a very old man up front and continued. “And no, Stan is not here. He took a temp job over at the Ministry. Has a girlfriend who wants him to make more money.”

Sirius was non-plussed by this speech. He didn’t know who Stan was nor did he care whether he had a girlfriend or needed a part time job. He attempted to board the bus, but was stopped.

“11 sickles first, laddie,” Oscar held out one meaty hand.

Sirius stuck his hands in his pockets, knowing full well that they were empty. Grabbing money wasn’t exactly his first order of business before leaving Grimmauld Place earlier. “Erm.. well, you see, I haven’t got any money,” Sirius flashed the man his most winning smile.

“No money, no ride!” Oscar made to re-enter the bus.

“Wait! I have a rich uncle, he’ll pay you when we get there!” Sirius called.

“Ha!” the man laughed in his gravelly voice. “I’ve heard that one before!”

Sirius was getting concerned. “Well there must be some kind of clause for situations like this! Clearly I’m stranded! There must be an exception,” he reasoned.

Oscar studied Sirius through his haze of smoke. He took in the landscape around them, it was obvious that they were in the middle of nowhere. “Alright”, he grumbled, “get in. Don’t tell anyone though. If everyone knew we had a clause like that, then every lost wizard would want to ride for free.”

Sirius promised not to tell and eagerly stepped onto the bus.

“You’ll want to avoid Madam Marsh there,” the conductor warned as Sirius looked for a seat. “She doesn’t travel well.”

Sirius noticed a rather green looking witch seated nearby and made sure not to sit near her. It wasn’t very difficult as there were several comfortable armchairs scattered about the cabin.

Oscar took his seat up front, “so where are you going, boy?”

Sirius almost forgot to answer the man, it had been so long since someone called him that. He had been thinking about this, though. He had no idea if Dumbledore spent his summer holiday at Hogwarts, so Hogsmeade may not be a practical destination. Going to James’s house or his own could be a problem too, so “The Leaky Cauldron,” he decided aloud.

“You hear that?” Oscar addressed the old driver. “Let’s go Ernie.”

The bus suddenly pitched forward and Sirius could understand the state of his fellow passenger as they sped forward. Oscar, for his part, leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest, and pulled his hat over his eyes, puffing silently on his pipe.

Sirius sat back and just tried to hold on as the chairs glided to and fro, knocking into each other like bumper cars throughout the bus. Madam Marsh slid by looking even greener.

Suddenly, Oscar lifted his hat and fixed Sirius with a penetrating stare, taking in his disheveled appearance, “so what were you doing out there all by yourself, laddie?” he asked somewhat suspiciously.

“Oh, uhm, crashed my broom, actually.” Sirius lied quickly. “Splintered it, no use trying to fix it.”

“Your parents know your flying so far?” the conductor shifted his pipe to the other side of his mouth.

“Well, I...” Sirius started.

“Humph!” the older man grunted. “Kids! Should be beaten more often. That’ll keep you in line,” he pulled his hat back over his eyes and said no more for the rest of the trip.





See, this is so long, I will need two posts...