The Knight Bus

"Restore to original condition—"

Harry pointed his hand at the rusted hinges between the door and the wall, chanting the spell with practiced speed.

Silver light appeared on the rusted hinges, gradually expanding outwards. Where the silver light passed, the rust disappeared, replaced by the gleam of bright metal.

He was very familiar with this spell. Although he didn't have his wand, which meant his spellcasting efficiency wasn't very strong, allowing him only to repair these small items bit by bit, it was effective nonetheless.

After fixing both the door and its frame, Harry jiggled the door, and the creaking sound was gone.

Finished!

So far, he had repaired most of the castle.

Having done all that, Harry walked towards the balcony in the house. This was a room on the third floor, uninhabited, with a slight dusty smell, but it was quite clean, as Harry often tidied it up.

Outside the balcony, directly facing the cliff, the view from here was much better than standing on the cliff itself, and he never tired of it.

After standing there for a while, enjoying the breeze, Harry trotted downstairs again and went outside to collect the laundry.

Mu En, who was lying on the sofa, was suddenly startled awake by Harry's footsteps.

"Mmm... I fell asleep again?" Mu En looked at Lucifer, a bit dazed.

Lucifer nodded. "Yes, you fell asleep again."

"Sigh." Mu En let out a heavy sigh and then said, "Harry, please make me an Energy Potion, half sugar, light ice."

Harry, who had just brought the washed clothes inside, nodded repeatedly. "Okay, coming right up."

"Why have I been so sleepy lately... I don't feel tired, but I keep dozing off," Mu En shook his head, looking troubled.

"Cats sleep for two-thirds of the day," Lucifer said expressionlessly.

Mu En glared at him. "I'm not a cat."

"Porco isn't a pig either. But he did turn into a pig, fat and short," Lucifer retorted without hesitation.

"Did you forget how Porco's height and weight changed all at once when he broke the curse? That curse didn't just affect his face."

"I guess... that's true..." Mu En recalled the changes in Porco Rosso from back then, then suddenly looked down at his own belly where he was lying...

Was that... a spare tire?!

He shot up. "Lucifer, Lucifer, where's the scale? Show me quickly!!"

"You don't need a scale, you've definitely gained weight," Lucifer's words stabbed Mu En's heart like a knife.

Mu En took off his shirt and examined himself closely. He used to have a body with golden proportions, but now... a layer of fat had wrapped around him.

It wasn't much, but it was there.

However, only he knew that there was no reason for his physique to change.

Thinking this, he gathered his energy, drew symbols on his chest with his fingers, and the next moment, strange runes and formations gradually appeared on his skin.

These runes and formations were normally on his bones, not showing on his skin, allowing him to maintain perfect physical vitality, with functions like energy storage, mana recovery, item storage, and high-speed biological repair.

A perfect creation based on human alchemy, yet today he had gained weight.

"There's nothing wrong with your body, but you've gained weight," Lucifer stated bluntly. "Just like you can't figure out how you turned into a cat, you can't figure out why you've gained weight now.

There's only one explanation: the curse has deepened!!"

Mu En remained silent for a long time before dejectedly putting his clothes back on.

"Mu En, you need to slow down and enjoy life. The more you rush, the more likely the curse is to deepen."

"Perhaps," Mu En put on his clothes. Recently, there had been no storms, neither on the cliff nor at Privet Drive, preventing him from progressing further with his Animagus transformation.

"If the Animagus transformation doesn't work out either, I'll listen to you and slow down," Mu En said.

Lucifer crossed his hands, looking disdainful. "You'll eventually realize I'm right. The more you rush to get rid of it, the stronger it becomes."

Mu En patted his chest, hiding all the runes, and then put his clothes back on. Just then, Harry brought out the Energy Potion, looking curious. "Uncle Mu En, what were you two talking about?"

"His cheeks are filling out," Lucifer said.

Filling out?

Harry used to be sent to Mrs. Figg's house often. That old woman kept many cats, so he knew what "filling out" meant.

It referred to a cat's face becoming fatter and rounder.

He glanced at Uncle Mu En. Now that Lucifer mentioned it, it really seemed like it...

"Lucifer, can you just shut up? I'm not a cat, why would my cheeks fill out?" Mu En said irritably.

Then, he took a sip of the Energy Potion and quickly changed the subject. "Are all the repairs on the castle done?"

Harry nodded. "Many small parts have been repaired, but on the third and fourth floors, there are some broken beams that I can't fix... they're too thick."

As he spoke, Harry's eyes lit up. "Oh, right! I also fixed this."

With that, Harry ran to the second floor and brought down a gramophone with a large horn from somewhere. Mu En didn't know when these things had been left behind, and he hadn't expected Harry to fix them all.

"Well done," Mu En nodded and said, "I need to go to Diagon Alley. Do you want to come?"

"Can I?" Harry asked happily.

"Of course," Mu En nodded and downed the Energy Potion in one go. "If there are no other issues, let's head out now."

After speaking, his face instantly transformed into that sharp, angular appearance. He then adjusted his hairstyle, put on his clothes, and donned his hat.

Harry, standing by, was a bit impatient and also tied the previous headscarf around his head.

What Harry didn't expect was that Uncle Mu En didn't teleport him directly to London. Instead, he opened the door and stepped out onto Privet Drive.

"Uncle Mu En, where are we going?"

Mu En lightly flicked his sleeve, and a small wand appeared in his hand. He waved the wand gently and said, "I heard that if you wave a wand by the roadside, a magical bus will come to pick up passengers. I don't know if it's true, let's give it a try."

As he spoke, Mu En gently waved his wand, and the tip of the wand lit up with a faint glow.

Harry was a bit puzzled. Would a bus really come just by waving a wand like this? It seemed too strange.

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard a sound, but it wasn't on the road, but from the alley between Number 13 and Number 12, Privet Drive.

The sound grew louder and louder. Harry looked over; it was dark inside, and something was blocking the alley, preventing him from seeing the other end.

Mu En also noticed the anomaly in the middle of the alley, turned his head to look, and raised his eyebrows, a little surprised.

The sound grew even louder, like thunder. Harry quickly moved to Mu En's side, his eyes fixed on the alley.

Boom boom—

A huge dark shadow emerged from the alley, like a rocket.

Accompanied by an extremely piercing screech of brakes, a second later, the massive dark shadow stopped on the road, right in front of them, even stirring up Mu En's trench coat.

Harry looked up and realized it was a three-story-high bus!

Yes, a three-story-high giant bus that had just emerged from the narrow alley between two houses.

On the side of the bus, in large, ornate golden letters, it read: Knight Bus.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, the emergency transport for stranded witches and wizards.

Just stick out your wand and step aboard, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. I'm Stan Shunpike, the conductor. You signaled for us, right?"

Mu En straightened his hat, which had been blown askew. "Yes, the Leaky Cauldron, please?"

Stan Shunpike snapped his fingers and showed all eight of his teeth in a smile. "Of course, the Knight Bus doesn't have a fixed route; we travel all over Britain based on our passengers' needs."

Mu En nodded and walked forward first. "Let's go, kid. I have a feeling this ride will be exciting."

Harry swallowed. He recalled how the Knight Bus had appeared earlier. Calling it speeding would be an understatement; it was practically flying on land.

He pulled the headscarf covering his scar a bit tighter, then mustered his courage and leaped onto the bus.

"Alright, get ready, we're off. You're really lucky; there are no other passengers right now, so we can go straight to the Leaky Cauldron. It'll only take about twenty-something minutes.

Oh, and it's eleven silver Sickles each. If you pay fourteen, you get hot chocolate too."

There were no seats on the Knight Bus, only beds. Harry was a bit surprised; it didn't look like a public bus at all.

As he was thinking, Mu En had already paid.

Stan Shunpike knocked on the bumper, making a clang clang sound. "Let's go, Ernie, to the Leaky Cauldron."

With another loud bang, Harry, who was testing the softness of a bed, was thrown onto it. He then spun around and landed on the floor.

Dizzy and disoriented, he scrambled to his feet, his head swimming. He could only grip the bed frame tightly to keep himself from being flung out.

This... they even provided beds??

It made more sense to have safety seats like a roller coaster, he thought.

He then looked at Uncle Mu En and found that Uncle Mu En's feet seemed rooted to the spot. No matter how much the bus tilted, he showed no sign of falling.

"Michael Jackson?!" Harry muttered.

After the shock, he looked out the window and was immediately horrified. The bus was heading straight for the sidewalk.

Then, he noticed that although the bus reached the sidewalk, it didn't hit anything. Rows of lampposts, mailboxes, and trash cans seemed to jump aside as the bus approached, only to return to their original positions after it passed.

It was as if space itself was being distorted. Lampposts and pedestrians, which were only a few inches apart, were stretched out to create enough width for the bus to pass.

About twenty minutes later, with a loud screeeech of brakes, Harry finally realized they had arrived on Charing Cross Road.

"Finally... we're here..." His face was flushed, and he felt a bit nauseous.

Almost the moment the door opened, he jumped out, breathing in the calm, fresh air.

Mu En walked down slowly, a slightly puzzled smile on his face. "I didn't expect you to be so good at riding a Flying Broomstick, but you can't handle a bus."

Harry leaned against a lamppost, suppressing the churning stomach acid within him, his eyes glazed over. "I... maybe I can only fly on my own..."

Just then, both of them simultaneously heard a girl's slightly indignant voice: "Daddy, Mommy, hurry up! I'm absolutely sure there's a very old pub right there, why don't you believe me?!"

"Miss, your mother and I have been here many times, and we've never seen any pub," a man replied, sounding a bit helpless, and quickly added, "Slow down, child."

Mu En and Harry turned their heads. They saw a girl with messy brown hair walking on the road, pulling her parents forcefully towards them, one on each side.

And behind her, the couple, being led by the arms, exchanged a look and offered helpless smiles