This Road Won't Be Easy

"Wow! That's some serious fun!"

Aaron's lips twitched. He knew this bus all too well; he had taken it to the station this morning.

What puzzled him was why Harry and Ron preferred to travel a long distance in a car rather than take a comfortable train ride.

There are many ways to seek thrills, but this one is rather absurd. How much must one have drunk to do something so outrageous!

The journey to Hogwarts takes at least eight hours by car, and it's uncertain whether they can keep up with their stamina. Moreover, one of them doesn't seem to know how to drive, which means there won't even be a chance to relieve them.

Thinking about this, Aaron shook his head speechlessly. Considering how well he had been taken care of these past two days, he still had to help him.

He took out his Wand, aimed it at the left side of the Ford Anglia in the sky, and shot out a red flame.

Ron was leisurely driving his Flying Ford Anglia when he was startled by the sudden red light. He instinctively slammed the steering wheel shut, and the car spun 720 degrees in mid-air before finally stabilizing.

"What was that just now?"

"How should I know? It was attacked from below."

Could someone have discovered us? Is the Ministry of Magic really that efficient?

"Impossible! My dad is in Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. They usually only deal with it after it happens," Ron said somewhat uncertainly. "Besides, ours happened suddenly, so even the Ministry of Magic can't punish us too harshly."

"Won't it be too harsh?" Harry's lips twitched, and a wry smile appeared on his face. "Let's go down and check first! If we apologize and have a good attitude, maybe it won't be so serious."

Ron swallowed hard and steered the car downwards.

But once they had descended to a certain altitude, the two of them saw Aaron on top of the train and breathed a sigh of relief.

Although I don't know how he found them, it's really great that it wasn't the Ministry of Magic.

"You two are really showing off!" Aaron teased. "Driving to Hogwarts? That's unprecedented since the school was founded. This isn't the way to become famous!"

"Platform Nine and Three-Quarters's entrance was blocked, so we had no choice but to drive," Harry said with a wry smile. They wouldn't have driven if it weren't absolutely necessary.

"That spell was very dangerous. If I hadn't been a skilled driver and managed to do a 720-degree spin, we would both be in big trouble."

Good skills? You must be kidding me!

He had heard panicked screams more than once on the train, which meant they had made at least two mistakes before.

Although he was speechless, Aaron still explained, "What I shot was just light, it had no destructive power, and I specifically aimed at the left side of the car."

"How did you find us?" Harry asked curiously. Ron had driven the car at an altitude of at least 10,000 meters. Logically speaking, no one except airplanes and birds should have been able to spot them.

"Hmm... I have good hearing."

I heard your shouts and car engine noises more than once while I was on the train.

Out of concern, I took this huge risk to climb onto the train to take a look.

"I didn't expect..." Aaron shook his head, "You guys need to bring the car out first, Arthur, understand?"

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance and shook their heads guiltily.

"I think so too, he would never allow you to do such a thing."

But this is the first time I've ever seen a son ruin his own father's livelihood.

Arthur probably thinks he'll be called in for a talk by the Ministry of Magic, and besides, your car is probably—no, it's definitely gone.

"No way!" Ron swallowed hard. "No Muggle should have seen me driving."

"That's just what we should do. What if someone sees it?"

"Besides, the Warlock will definitely notice something amiss, after all, it's broad daylight, and you were making such a racket while driving," Aaron shattered his last hope. "But don't worry too much, there's a reason for this, and besides, Mr. Arthur is a long-time employee, the Ministry of Magic shouldn't give him too much trouble."

Ron breathed a sigh of relief. Although the conclusion wasn't great, it wasn't unacceptable either.

"Would you like to rest on the train for a while?"

"No, I still have to drive!"

"This is our only means of transportation, we can't just leave it stranded halfway through the journey," Ron said regretfully, then looked at Harry, "Harry, why don't you go on the train!"

The car door opened, and I jumped across.

Harry stared at the bridge, which was at least several hundred meters high, below the tracks, his facial expression becoming extremely stiff.

I was actually brave enough to jump, but what if I make a mistake after what you said?

"What do you mean?" Ron shook Harry's shoulder, pulling him out of his daze.

Harry forced a smile and pointed to the ravine below. "If it were you, would you dare to jump?"

Ron glanced down, then at the train, which was only a few meters wide, and couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Um... I still have to drive!"

Aaron couldn't help but laugh when he saw the resistant expressions on the two men's faces, and then gave them a thumbs up, "You two see things very clearly!"

But it's okay, you'll still have a chance to jump off the train after you cross this bridge.

Even if there were a mishap back then, it would only be a fall from a height of about three meters, at most resulting in a fracture.

"Actually, driving to Hogwarts is quite a nice experience," Harry said hastily. "The car passing through the clouds under the azure sky is just like the fairytale kingdom in my dreams."

"And we also have toffee, so the view below is different every time we look down, it's especially beautiful."

If you tell Fred and George, they'll be green with envy.

"You guys... are you serious?" Aaron asked in surprise.

"Of course, not everyone has the chance to enjoy this novel experience," Ron said smugly.

Aaron glanced at the Sun hanging in the sky, and then thought about the eight hours of driving time he had spent, and couldn't help but admire these two men as true Champion!

"Aaron, why don't you give it a try? There are still empty seats in the car," Harry suggested.

Aaron quickly shook his head, "I don't need it. Even if I wanted to experience it, it wouldn't be at this time."

After saying that, Aaron was about to return to the carriage, but suddenly remembered something and turned to look at the two of them, "If possible, let's make the car invisible!"

This is the middle of nowhere, near a railway bridge, so there shouldn't be many people around. But if you keep going, things might be different.

And this way it will be more convenient for you all for a while.

"We wanted to, but..." Ron said helplessly, pointing to the invisible booster under the dashboard, "It's malfunctioning; this car can't go invisible."

"Ah!" Aaron drawled, "I sincerely wish you good luck and hope you can persevere at Hogwarts."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked nervously, feeling that Aaron's words had a hidden meaning.

"You should be back in a few hours." Aaron pointed to the sky, then turned and went back the way he came without looking back.

"Let's get going!" Harry said in a deep voice. "We should be mentally prepared. I have a feeling that the next part of the journey won't be so difficult."

Ron did not refute, but nodded in agreement.

He knew Aaron wasn't the kind of person who would joke around easily, and moreover, he could detect a hint of schadenfreude in Aaron's tone.

Back in the train carriage, Aaron leaned back lazily in his seat. "Colin, can you do me a small favor?"

"Senior, please speak."

"Could you bring the sales clerk over here? I might need to buy something."

"Huh?" Colin was taken aback. "Yes, I'll get it right away."

A short while later, he brought the sales clerk over, but more than half of the snacks and drinks on the truck were gone, probably bought by other students.

"What do you want?" the sales clerk asked Aaron with a smile.

"All of them!"

The salesperson seemed very pleased to hear this and enthusiastically put the remaining snacks from the truck onto the table.

Aaron gave Abei a look, and it grumbled somewhat unhappily, then emptied a dozen or so Gold Galleons from its Backpack. "This should be enough, right?"

"That's enough, that's enough."

"Then fine, give Colin the change!"

"How much would you like for the errand?"

"Senior, this isn't appropriate. I didn't do anything," Colin said, somewhat flattered.

"If I tell you to take it, then take it. You've already become my senior, so I can't order you around like that."

Colin nodded and put away the Silver Sickle and Copper Knut that the sales clerk had given him, as well as the Galleon that had been returned.

"Why are you preparing so much food?" Draco asked. "Is it for Abei? It certainly has a big appetite."

Upon hearing this, Abei immediately jumped in front of Aaron and rubbed its little face against Aaron's belly.

"It is still my master who knows how to care for me."

Aaron's face darkened. After hesitating for a moment, he set aside some of the food on the table. "This is for you."

The remaining supplies are for those two idiots; they'd probably starve to death on the way without some provisions.

"Two idiots? Who are they?"

Aaron gave Draco a meaningful smile. "You'll understand once you've been to Hogwarts."