When Mr. Ellison came home from work, he made no particular show of emotion over Su Er's return, but the smile at the corners of his eyes and the bottle of fine liquor he rarely opened said it all.
Su Er took the opportunity to ask Ellison if he could have a look around the wine cellar.
Mr. Ellison, who loved collecting liquor but had little tolerance for it, agreed with a grand wave of his hand.
"Oh..." Looking at the dazzling array of bottles filling the entire basement, Su Er couldn't help letting out a gasp.
He knew nothing about liquor, nor did he know which kind Hagrid would like best.
But he did know that, if it was for Hagrid, he couldn't go wrong picking whatever had the highest alcohol content...
Everyone knew giants were a bunch of drunkards.
"Hmm, this one." Su Er looked at a flat bottle on the shelf bearing the Rémy Martin logo. He didn't know much about the other brands, but he recognized that one.
By the time Su Er came upstairs carrying two bottles, Mr. Ellison's face was flushed and his eyes were hazy with drink.
"Dad, I took these two." Su Er held them up to let him know.
Mr. Ellison merely mumbled a few words and waved a hand before staggering upstairs, followed by Mrs. Ellison, who was worried her husband might tumble down the stairs.
"Big bwother..." Angel came pattering over, her hair tied into two little pigtails. "Angel's all full!"
"Where's my present? My present, my present!" Angel's little face brimmed with anticipation.
"I'll get it for you right away, little angel." Su Er set down the bottles and affectionately tugged her two upright pigtails.
When Mrs. Ellison came downstairs, this was the sight that greeted her.
Angel lay on the sofa, giggling, her ears pointed and her face covered in white fur. Opposite her sat Su Er, who was no better off: his ears had grown as large as palm-leaf fans, and his nose had stretched out into an elephant's trunk.
"You've bought your sister these strange things again. Mr. Granger said Angel shouldn't eat so many sweets now if she wants good teeth when she's older..."
"Oh, don't be like that, Mum..." Grinning mischievously, Su Er popped a gummy into Mrs. Ellison's mouth to silence her.
Hmm... quite sweet. Mrs. Ellison chewed instinctively, then felt her face begin to itch.
"Heeheehee! Mummy... heehee..." Angel's laughter grew even shriller.
Su Er covered his mouth and snorted with laughter too.
"Oh, I've turned into a kitty, have I?" Ellison caught sight of his reflection in the television screen.
Su Er tossed another sweet into his mouth. This time, he turned into a bird.
Mrs. Ellison began laughing too.
Their laughter traveled through the floor to Mr. Ellison's ears, bringing a smile to his lips.
The adult and two children finished an entire bag of Honeydukes' newest offering-Transformation Sweets-before bringing the evening's revelry to an end.
Exhausted from laughing, Angel slept soundly with her eyes closed, her cheeks flushed and her skin damp with sweat. Her little hand clutched Su Er's shirt.
"Every day during the three months you were away, this little girl kept asking why her big brother hadn't written to her yet." Mrs. Ellison's eyes shone with affection.
Su Er brushed the little girl's sweat-soaked hair aside. "I missed my little angel too. And you and Dad, of course."
Mrs. Ellison's smile deepened.
Early the next morning, Hermione drove out to her grandparents' home in the countryside with Mr. and Mrs. Granger, while Su Er enjoyed several rare days without books or magic.
Wasn't the best part of a holiday sleeping until you woke up naturally?
But there would be no sleeping in on Christmas Eve. Before Hermione left for her grandparents' house, she and Su Er had agreed to visit Diagon Alley that day.
Hermione planned to get all her Christmas shopping done in one go.
Plans couldn't keep up with changes, though. Mr. Granger was called out for an emergency first thing that morning, although Su Er couldn't imagine what sort of emergency a dentist might have.
Mr. Ellison had also left early for work.
That left them with a problem: there was no car to take the two of them to Diagon Alley.
"Don't worry. I have a way."
Under Hermione's puzzled gaze, Su Er led her along Lily Street and around several corners before stopping at a crossroads.
Su Er rummaged in his pocket, pulled out a wand, and raised it above his head.
"Have you forgotten? We're not allowed to do magic outside school!" Hermione hurried forward.
"It's fine. I'm summoning a ride." Su Er held Hermione's advancing bushy head at bay with one hand as he explained, keeping his right arm firmly raised.
"Just give it a moment."
The words had barely left his mouth when, with a deafening bang, a violently purple triple-decker bus came leaping from the end of the street and appeared before the young wizards.
Hermione jumped. The noise was considerably louder than the shotgun at her grandfather's farm.
"The Knight Bus?" Hermione murmured, reading the words written in purple ink across its front windscreen.
It was a bus dating back to the sixties. During a visit to Hagrid's Hut, Su Er had heard Hagrid tell part of its history.
Apparently, to bring the bus fully into wizarding society, the wizarding world had cast a Memory Charm on everyone at an entire bus station, forcing them to forget that their station had ever had such a bus.
Incidentally, the Hogwarts Express and its tracks had been "stolen" from Muggle society in exactly the same way.
With a creak, the bus's only door opened.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand when you need us, and we'll come straight to you." A man with his uniform cap tilted at an angle leaned in the doorway. "I'm Stan Shunpike, and I'll be your conductor."
Then he flashed what he clearly thought was a handsome smile, though his large, sticking-out ears and the spots on his face hardly made him a looker.
Could he possibly be as handsome as you lot in front of your screens?
"Hello, Mr. Shunpike." Su Er stepped forward.
"Oh, hello, young wizards." Only when Stan Shunpike looked down did he notice Su Er and Hermione. He promptly jumped off the bus; its steps really were rather high.
"Where are you headed?" he asked.
"Diagon Alley, sir," Su Er replied.
"Right, certainly. Hop aboard, young wizard, and you too, lovely young witch." Stan Shunpike stepped aside. "By the way, we can take our passengers anywhere on land for just eleven Sickles."
Su Er immediately counted out five Sickles and one Galleon and handed them to the conductor.
"That's for both of us."
"Right, hop aboard. We'll be off at once!" Stan Shunpike took the coins and tossed them lightly in his hand. He blew on the Galleon, held it to his ear, then tucked them all into the small satchel across his chest.
Apparently, that was how the wizarding world checked whether coins were genuine.
Stan Shunpike suddenly remembered something and quickly added another remark.
"Oh... almost forgot. For another three Sickles, you get some chocolate. For four, you get a mug and a toothbrush."
"But I don't reckon you need those, do you? Don't mind me. It's just routine." Stan grinned, revealing his crooked but very white teeth.
Hermione instinctively stared at them for a moment.
"No, we don't need those, thank you," Su Er said politely, taking Hermione's little hand and stepping aboard.
The Knight Bus had far more room inside than its exterior suggested. It was fairly spacious, with seats scattered haphazardly around the interior.
"You can sit here." Stan boarded last, and the door closed automatically behind him.
He pointed out the empty seats in front of a hooded wizard to Su Er and Hermione, then turned and shouted, "Diagon Alley!"
After a moment's thought, he added something else.
"Take it slow. We've got two children aboard."
As soon as Hermione sat down, she began looking around curiously.
"First time on the Knight Bus?" The wizard behind them offered a kindly warning in a low voice.
"Then you'd better hold tight to the armrests. Your first ride can be rather unpleasant."
Before Su Er and Hermione could reply, they felt the whole bus leap into the air on the spot, followed by a tremendous bang.
A chubby boy witnessed the whole thing. The stick in his hand clattered to the ground, and he turned and ran!
"Mummy... Mummy!!! A purple bus flew up and vanished!"
Before you continue