Knight Bus

So fast—a purple triple-decker bus suddenly appeared out of thin air. No, it was more like a massive beast hurtling across the land.

It barreled forward recklessly, driving straight toward the church. Every obstacle in its path seemed to come alive, automatically jumping aside to avoid it.

The golden letters on the bus's windshield spelled out several words: Knight Bus.

It was purple all over, enchanted to avoid Muggles. Ordinary people could neither see, hear, nor touch the bus or anything around it.

The bus had already stopped. Through the windshield, Ryan could see an elderly wizard wearing thick glasses, his face rather owl-like. This had to be Ernie Prang, the Knight Bus's driver. Still, what did it feel like to be a driver who did not need to watch the road, charging around in such a huge vehicle?

Then again, "prang" meant "to crash a car" in English slang.

Ryan examined this extraordinary creation with an alchemist's professional eye. It also possessed a function similar to the Book of Admittance: whenever a wizard urgently in need of transportation stood by the roadside with a wand in hand, it sensed them, and the driver would appear in it.

Amazing. Truly amazing. Once he graduated, he would get himself a vehicle like this and travel around the world.

A conductor in a purple uniform jumped off the bus and theatrically spoke loudly to an invisible audience:

"Welcome aboard the Knight Bus, emergency transport for stranded witches and wizards. Just stick out your wand hand and climb aboard, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I'll be your conductor today—"

Stan Shunpike? That unlucky fool who got arrested as a Death Eater because of his boasting? What a strong need to show off, Ryan thought.

"Sir, are you getting on?" Stan, who had noticed early on that Ryan was also a wizard, continued when Ryan said nothing.

Ryan did not answer. He pointed at the petite witch behind Stan.

Stan understood what he meant. He probably had not yet developed the shamelessness he showed in the original story.

Stan scratched his head shyly. He still looked very green, only about fourteen or fifteen. Coming out to work at such a young age, he had probably received the kind of family wizarding education never mentioned in the original story.

When Harry first met him before the start of Third Year, he had looked no older than nineteen.

Still, it was amusing. That long self-introduction already existed now, and he had not changed it even by Harry's Third Year.

Ryan shifted his attention away from Stan to Kate. Stan had already returned to the bus, which vanished in a puff of exhaust with the Knight Bus.

Kate wore a lion-head hat, its fluffy lion opening its bloody maw with lifelike ferocity. Combined with her brown fur-textured Wizard Robe, she looked like a little upright-walking lion.

"Ta-da! I look cool today, right?" Kate said brightly, bouncing toward Ryan.

Ryan did not respond. He took the dragonhide pouch from Kate's hand and slipped it into his pocket as though no one else were there.

Kate puffed out her doll-like cheeks and angrily tugged at the lion head's mane.

"Kate, don't you know we're going traveling?" Ryan rubbed the point between his brows.

"Mm? What's wrong with that?" Kate asked in confusion.

"Ahem. You look cool, but not very Muggle. We'll be getting close to Muggle society during our trip," Ryan explained patiently.

"Also, why a lion's head?" Ryan asked, baffled.

"Hmph. Why can't it be a lion? Does being in Ravenclaw mean I have to like eagles?" Kate replied cheerfully when she saw that her outfit had caught Ryan's curiosity.

"As for why I'm dressed like this, I'm a Muggle expert. I've been to amusement parks. You still don't know why I arranged to meet here early, do you? I'm taking you to try Godric's Hollow's specialty food. Our family came from here too." Kate rolled her eyes and changed the subject.

Thus, Muggle expert Kate led Ryan toward the restaurant she had booked, wearing a Wizard Robe that resembled a mascot costume one would only wear outdoors on Halloween.

"Specialty food? I'm looking forward to it." Ryan could not help making a pained face inwardly. British food? Oh God.

Kate skillfully led Ryan around a street and arrived at an ordinary little shop.

The shop's style was not wizarding at all. It looked like any restaurant one might find on a British street.

Besides wizards dressed in all sorts of colors, there were scattered Muggles in the restaurant. More interestingly, several Muggles wore homemade Wizard Robes as well, probably thinking this was merely some kind of cosplay establishment.

The restaurant owner was a potbellied wizard who seemed easygoing. He apparently knew Kate and warmly began asking after her.

After finding a private room, Kate proudly showed Ryan their lunch for the day.

A surf-and-turf platter and the restaurant's signature haggis with bread.

Haggis was a local traditional delicacy, one of the foods brought in after the Vikings invaded Scotland. To Ryan, it was dark cuisine.

The beer-bellied wizard had innovatively used a new ingredient: venison rather than mutton.

Besides the onions and bacon of the traditional dish, the filling included fresh deer offal—some deer lung, blood clots, deer kidneys, and more.

The filling also contained a staggering amount of dried allspice from the West Indies, stock, and, of course, toasted Scottish oats.

The beer-bellied wizard claimed that he only made this dish when Kate came. The filling had to be simmered for roughly two to three hours, then stuffed into a deer's stomach for further preparation.

How should Ryan put it? It tasted entirely of spices. The flavor of the meat and offal was almost negligible. It was tasty, but Ryan did not particularly like it.

In color, aroma, taste, and presentation, it only had two: aroma and taste. Yet Kate liked it unexpectedly well. As expected of a Brit.

The surf-and-turf platter, meanwhile, was a very common dish: scallops, black pudding, crispy bacon, and chopped chives. Each ingredient was prepared separately before being tossed into a pan and stir-fried together—a northeastern-style mixed stew, seafood edition.

They ate for nearly half an hour. Once the meal was over, they left the small restaurant amid the beer-bellied wizard's enthusiastic hospitality.

"Ryan, it was pretty good, wasn't it? That venison," Kate said, seeking credit.

"Mm, it was very good," Ryan replied against his conscience, rubbing Kate's lion head.

It feels so warm, Ryan thought. One day, I'll let you taste the delights of Chinese cuisine.

"Kate, do you have any other plans today?" Ryan asked.

"No. Godric's Hollow is a wonderful place for sightseeing to begin with. There are many ancient wizards' graves here. Even Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, was born here."

Harry Potter? We'll go take a look at Potter Cottage this afternoon, Ryan thought.

Sent it to the wrong volume. I've reposted it.