A week has past since our birthday, and it couldn't have been more dull. To sum it up, Bonnie and I played Twister until it got boring which was like the day after our birthday-we'll probably play again one day-and Harry couldn't come over or hang out at the huge park in Magnolia Crescent, which is just a few streets away, as Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge was staying at the Dursley's. So, Bonnie and I just sat around reading books. Well, Bonnie not so much, but I did.

It's the last day of Marge's stay(Harry had told me how long she was going to stay before she arrived), and Dad, Bonnie and I are just watching the television in the living room like we do every night, until we hear a bang come from next door. I jump up and quickly look out the window. I see Harry storming down the street with his trunk and Hedwig's cage under his arm. What happened?

"Dad, it's Harry," I say, worried. "Can I go after him and see what's up? He's got his trunk and everything."

"Take Bonnie with you, it's late." Dad says, cautiously.

"It's not that late Dad," I say. "It's only..." I glance at the clock on the wall. "Eight o'clock...okay."

Bonnie jumps up and we quickly leave and jog down Privet Drive searching for Harry. Jeez he got far. We look around the corner and see him tuning another corner into Magnolia Crescent. I sigh as Bonnie and I jog up to Magnolia Crescent. Once we get there, we see Harry sitting on the gutter at the park. We walk up to him.

"Hello." I say.

Harry jumps, startled. As soon as he realises it's just us, he turns back to staring at the ground.

"Harry, what happened?" Bonnie asks. "Sarah saw you storm out of the Dursley's."

"Long story." Harry says. "Long story short, I blew up my Aunt."

"You what?!" Bonnie and I exclaim at once.

"How in the name of Merlin do you blow someone up? In a house; without the whole house exploding?" I ask.

"Not that type of blowing up." Harry says. "She just sort of...inflated like a balloon and started bobbing around the living room until she...bobbed out the back door and now only Merlin knows where she is. Then, I ran upstairs to pack my trunk before Uncle Vernon could get me, and I left."

"Wow." Bonnie says.

"What did Marge do exactly to make you blow her up?" I ask.

"She insulted our parents, Sarah. She was saying how Dad was a drunk and Mum was 'a bad egg'. And she said they died in a car crash because they were drunk."

I turn and glare in the direction of the Dursley's house. "Ugh, she's as bad as Petunia and Vernon. Worse even."

Harry just nods. He's very upset about this. "Look Harry, I saw Marge when she arrived at the Dursley's and she even looked horrible. Just like Vernon, and that's not a good thing. It obviously hurt what she said about our parents, but we've got to remember all the Dursley's are vile and cruel, we can't let what they say get to us. We've just got to ignore them-"

"I tried to Sarah." Harry says. "But she said too much and I lost control. I'm probably going to be expelled-"

"No you won't Harry. That was accidental magic. It's all in the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery," I reassure him. Harry doesn't look convinced. He just stares off into a bush on the other side of the road.

Harry stares at the bush, looking at it weirdly. I look over to where he's looking and I see a huge black dog there. The dog just stares at us with its gleaming eyes.

Then all of a sudden there is a deafening BANG and we all fall backwards onto the pavement, shelling our eyes from the blinding light that just appeared.

I peek through my eyes and the blinding light is gone. Instead, in front of us us a huge, triple-decker, bright purple bus. The Knight Bus is written on the bus with gold lettering.

What on Earth is the Knight Bus?

Bonnie, Harry and I look at each other in confusion. 1. What is this bus? And 2. What is it doing here?

I turn back to the bus and a man jumps off the back of the bus wearing a purple uniform to go with the bus. He must be the conductor.

Before we can ask who he is, the man starts to talk.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just sick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike and I will be your conductor for this eve-"

The man-Stan Shunpike-stops abruptly when he sees Bonnie, Harry and I lying in the gutter. We all stand up awkwardly. Up close, Stan Shunpike doesn't look much older than we are; maybe eighteen or nineteen, he has large, protruding ears and a fair few pimples.

"What were you three doin' down there?" Stan says, dropping his professional manner.

"Uh, we were sitting and we fell over." Harry says.

"'Choo fell over for?" Stan sniggers.

"We didn't fall on purpose." I say, annoyed.

"We'll come on then, let's not wait for the grass to grow," He says.

Bonnie and I just stand there. We shouldn't leave, Dad's probably wondering why we're taking so long. I notice Harry go to the back of the bus and look around the corner. Is he thinking about the dog?

Stan goes over to him. "'Choo lookin' at?"

Harry just shakes his head and turns back to Stan. "Nothing."

"We'll come on then, in." Stan says, ushering us onto the bus using a hand gesture.

"Uh..." Bonnie says, turning to me. Bonnie gets awkward in these situation.

"Sorry, Stan, but we can't come on since we need to go home, which by the way is three blocks away." I say, and I turn to Harry. "So, are you going to catch this huge bus or stay with us?"

"Um, I think I might go. Sorry, Sarah, but I don't want the Dursley's looking for me." Harry says, grabbing his trunk.

"Okay, you should go to the Leaky Cauldron. You can get a room and stay there for the night. We'll ask Dad if we can meet you there tomorrow," Bonnie says, picking up Hedwig's cage and giving it to Harry.

"Thanks. Well, bye," Harry says, and he gets onto the bus with Stan following. In a matter of seconds, the bus bangs and is gone.

Bonnie and I make our way back home and tell Dad what happened. He told us that we can leave tomorrow morning so we can meet Harry and get our school things. I hope Harry will be fine alone for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beep Beep Beep!

I hit my alarm and roll over. Then I remember: we need to meet Harry. I roll out of bed and run a brush through my knotty hair. I throw it up into a bun and get dressed into a floral tank top, shorts and white converse. I quickly run downstairs and eat my breakfast as quick as I can.

We end up leaving at nine which is good timing I think.

The Leaky Cauldron is pretty packed. There's witches and wizards of all ages sitting around the pub, chatting and drinking. The one group I noticed however, is a large group of redheads. The Weasley's!

I make my way over to the large table where they are sitting and subtly tap one of the twins' shoulder.

Said twin quickly whips around. It's George.

"Sarah!" He yells, pulling me into a hug. Jeez, it's only been like a month.

I hug him back as all the Weasley's turn to see what George was yelling about. I pull away from George and smile at them all. Then I notice Harry standing in a corner of the pub with Mr Weasley. I make my way around to Mrs Weasley.

"Mrs Weasley?" I say. "What's going on over there?" I point over to where Mr Weasley and Harry are talking, obviously in hushed voices.

"They're talking about that escaped convict, Sirius Black." She replies. "Now dear, how has your summer been?"

Sirius Black, the escaped convict, has been all over both Wizard and Muggle news. Black went to prison as he killed thirteen Muggles in the middle of the street in London with a single curse. Muggles are told he escaped prison and he has a gun, but us wizards know what he's really got.

"It's been alright." I say. "Same as usual I guess."

Mrs Weasley lets out a small laugh. "Did you have a good birthday? Did your and Bonnie's present arrive?"

"Yes, and thank you. The Sneakoscopes are awesome!" I say.

"It's no problem dear, Ronald picked them out, he thought you both might like them."

"We do." I say. I then leave Mrs Weasley and make my way over to where Ron and Ginny are sitting. "Hey there."

"Oh, hi Sarah." Ginny says in a quieter voice. Is she shy or...

"Hey Sarah." Ron says. "How have your holidays been?"

"Dude, I've told you in the letters." I say with a laugh. "They've been good, anyway."

"Oh right..." Ron says, lowering his head.

"Hey guys!" Bonnie says cheerily sitting down next to Ron.

"Hello." Ron says, blushing a little. I smile, I think he likes Bonnie back. That is, if Bonnie still likes him.

I look over and notice Harry and Mr Weasley are back at the table. I go over to Harry and whisper in his ear, "So, what was that about?"

"I'll tell you later." Harry says stiffly. I give him a weird look and go back over to Fred and George where we just talk about our summer and possible pranks for the next school year.

Not long after does Hermione come in with her parents. As soon as she see's me, she runs over and tackles me in a hug.

"Hey Sarah!"

"Hey 'Mione!" I say, hugging her back. I like hugs.

"Ah, it's so good to see you all!" She says excitedly. "We're just here to do my school shopping. Care to join?"

"What do you think?" I say, smiling.

Hermione just rolls her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's a new broomstick out. It's called the Firebolt. It's said to be the fastest broom ever made, but they said the same thing about every new broomstick, so how can this one be much different? No matter what, I'd love to get it and see the look on Malfoy's face when he sees that I've got a better broom than him.

Hermione, Harry, Ron, Bonnie, Ginny and I just wander down the streets of Diagon Alley looking in shop windows at all the new stock.

"Guys, I think I need to get Scabbers check out. He's been a bit off lately. I don't think Egypt was too good for him..."

"There's a place just down the road we can go." Hermione says. "Let's go there. I also want to get an owl, since Harry has Hedwig, Sarah's got Swoops, Bonnie's got Holly and Ron and Ginny have Errol, so I want an owl for myself."

"Yeah, you can get something for Scabbers and Hermione can get her owl." I say and we make our way to the Magical Menagerie.

There's not much room inside. Animals line the walls in cages; cats and owls and toads and rats and many others. It stinks in here too, it's malls of fathers/fur and droppings, and it's also very noisy with squawking, squeaking, jabbering and hissing.

As there is another customer being served by the witch at the counter, we decide to take the chance to look around at the different pets. There's also snakes, spiders, newts, snails and rabbits that look potentially dangerous. I steer clear of those cages and look at the kittens and owls. I still look at them even though I own one of each.

Finally the customer is finished and we move over to the counter.

"It's my rat," Ron tells the witch. "He's been off-colour ever since I brought him back from Egypt."

"Bang him on the counter." The witch says, pulling out of her pocket a pair of large spectacles.

Ron puts Scabbers in the counter, next to a cage of other rats, which all scurry to the edge of the cage to look.

"Hm," the witch days, picking Scabbers us. "How old is his rat?"

"Dunno," Ron says. "Quite old. He used to belong to my brother."

"What powers does he have?" The witch says, examining Scabbers closely.

"Er-" Ron says awkwardly. I let out a laugh, but quickly cover it up with a cough. The truth is Scabbers really doesn't have any powers. He's the least magical rat out there. The witch's eyes trail from Scabbers' tattered left ear to his front paw which has a toe missing. What have they done to this rat?

"He's been through the mill, this one." The witch tuts.

"He was like that when Percy gave him to me." Ron says, defensively.

"An ordinary, common or garden rat like this can't be expected to live more than three years or so," the witch tells him. "Now, if you were looking for something a bit more hard-wearing, you might like one of these..."

The witch indicates toward the rats who start skipping around the cage. Ew, rats. But Ron just mutters, "Show offs."

"Well," the witch says. "If you don't want a replacement, you can try this rat tonic." The witch then reaches under the counter and pulls out a small red bottle.

"Ok," Ron says. "How much-OUCH!"

Ron buckles as a huge orange thing comes scoring from the the top of a cage, landed on top of his head, and then propelled itself at Scabbers.

"NO CROOKSHANKS NO!" The witch cries, but Scabbers shoots from between her hands like a bar of soap, lands on the ground and scampers for the door.

"Scabbers!" Ron shouts, taking off out the door. We all follow him.

It takes at least ten minutes to find Scabbers, who was hiding under a waste paper bin outside Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ron stuff the rat in his pocket and straightens up, managing his head.

"Are you okay, Ron?" Bonnie asks worriedly, taking a look at his head. Aw.

"I'm fine. What was that?"

"Dunno," I say. "But it was either a very large cat or a small tiger."

"Where's Hermione?" Ron asks.

"She's probably buying her owl." Harry says.

We make our way back up the street to the Magical Menagerie. As we reach it, Hermione comes out, carrying something that is not an owl in a cage. She has her arms tightly clamped around a ginormous ginger cat.

"You bought that monster?" Ron asks in disbelief, holding his pocket.

"He's gorgeous isn't he?" Hermione says, glowing.

"Hermione, that cat went after Ron's rat, and hurt Ron in the process." I say, looking at the cat who just purrs. The cat's fur is thick and fluffy, low-legged and its face looks grumpy and oddly squashed.

"Yeah! It almost scalped me!" Ron says.

"He didn't mean to, did you Crookshanks?" Hermione says.

"And what about Scabbers?" Ron says, pointing at the lump in his pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to do that with that thing lurking about?"

"That reminds me, you left your Rat Tonic," Hermione says, slapping the small red bottle into Ron's hand. "And stop worrying. Crookshanks will be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers will be in yours. What's the problem? Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages: no one wanted him."

"I wonder why." Ron mutters sarcastically and we walk back to the Leaky Cauldron.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So Harry," I say, sitting in the room Dad bought for the night. "What was Mr Weasley talking to you about?"

"He was telling me about Sirius Black." He says. "He said that Black is mad and that he's out to get you and me. I'm surprised Mr Weasley hasn't talked to you about it too. He told us that we have to be careful this year-no wandering off and 'solving mysteries'."

"But he's not near Hogwarts though?" I say.

"Yeah, but no one knows where he his, he could be anywhere." Harry tells me.

I fall back into the bed. How many people are after us? All Voldemort's supporters. First Quirrell, then his own younger self and now Black. I really don't like being the Girl Who Lived anymore if it means almost being killed...

"So, did you get your Hogsmeade permission form signed?" I ask, changing the subject.

"No." Harry says glumly. "The Dursley's told me that if I behaved while Aunt Marge was staying, they'd sign it, but I obviously didn't behave."

"I would say Dad could sign it for you, but he's not your guardian..." I say. "That's going to suck."

Harry nods. The door opens and Bonnie tells me that I have to go to bed. I say goodnight to Harry and go to Dad, Bonnie and my room and go to sleep. Tomorrow is the day we go back to Hogwarts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N

Ay, I got over my writers block(if you're following me, you would have gotten the message). So, here's the next chapter!

Does anyone have any suggestions you want me to use in this series? It can be as crazy as you want, I can make any ideas into something totally awesome :)

(Since no one commented something I could say as a goodbye, I'll just come up with something)

Toodles,

~Elise