Chapter 250: Eye for an Eye

The Knight Bus chairs looked like they could be found casually on different Muggle streets, and several wizards were sitting on them, mumbling, looking for comfortable positions.

Because the bus stopped abruptly, someone's shopping bag slid along the bus; an unpleasant mixture of frog roe, cockroaches, and custard creams spread all over the floor.

"Looks like we'll have to split up. Today is the first working day after the vacations. There are a lot of people on the bus." Sirius explained, "Harry, you sit in the seat next to me, and the others behind me. Percy, you take care of them."

"Don't worry, leave it to me!" Percy promised him with a look of pride. He lifted the Head Boy badge onto his chest and, with Ivan in the lead, they walked to the back of the bus.

"I've always wanted to ride in this thing," Ron said happily, sitting in the seat behind Harry, looking around excitedly.

Ivan and Hermione continued backing up, and found two empty seats at the back of the bus.

As the two finished sitting down, the bus started up again, rocking ominously. It roared around the den.

With another tremendous BANG, they were all thrown backwards.

Ron's chair collapsed and Pigwidgeon, who had been in her lap, escaped from his cage and flew wildly to the back of the bus, where he crouched over Hermione's shoulder instead. Since Hermione had fed it breadcrumbs last night, the owl especially liked its company.

Hermione's right hand grabbed hold of Ivan, who grabbed the stand next to him. They both managed not to fall.

They looked out the window: they were now speeding down what appeared to be a highway.

"This is just outside Birmingham." The manager, Stan Shunpike, walked up and greeted enthusiastically. "Hi, I went to the Diagon Alley store yesterday. I didn't buy a newspaper. It was so crowded. By the time it was my turn, the papers were sold out. But it doesn't matter, because I already got Black's autograph."

Ivan and Hermione handed Stan eleven sickles and he handed them the tickets.

On the Muggle streets, the Knight Bus was slanting obliquely, overtaking a small line of cars, running directly onto the surrounding sidewalk.

Hermione covered her eyes in terror, as Pigwidgeon swung happily over her shoulder.

With a thump, the chairs slid back as the Knight Bus jumped off the Birmingham highway onto a quiet country lane full of hairpin bends.

Hedges on both sides of the road jumped out of their way as they mounted the shoulders. From here they moved onto a main street in the middle of a busy town, then onto a viaduct surrounded by high hills, then onto a windswept road between high-rise apartments, each time with a loud bang.

"Can't they go a little slower?" Hermione shuddered.

"This bus only has one speed!" Ivan was holding Hermione with one hand and with the other hand he was holding the grab handle next to him to keep them from being thrown off.

Compared to the Hogwarts express train, the Knight Bus was very uncomfortable.

This was especially true when it was crowded, the atmosphere on the bus was even worse than when Ivan arrived at school in Mr. Weasley's car with Harry and Ron last year.

"Attention, our next stop is Hogwarts," Stan said cheerfully, swaying towards them, completely unaffected.

On the bus, people were retching, followed by a horrible splashing sound.

Ivan opened a small opening in the window, and in the cold fresh air, saw the Knight Bus moving through a ramshackle bar, the small store dodged to avoid being hit.

It was the Hog's Head Pub, and the sign of the severed boar's head crackled in the wintry wind, and not far away was the snow-covered town of Hogsmeade, with no one on its streets.

Specks of snow hit the large window at the front of the bus. At last they stopped in front of the Hogwarts gates.

"Here we are, children!" Sirius helped them off the bus with their luggage.

Immediately after, Ron ran off the bus.

He looked terrible; he had fallen six times on the way. He muttered, "I don't want to ride here again."

Ivan also got off the bus and everyone waved to Stan.

The Knight Bus started up again and disappeared out of the air.

The nine of them struggled down the slippery road to the castle dragging their suitcases. Although it was cold, everyone was very excited and talking about topics of interest.

A few seconds later, the voices stopped instantly.

In front of the door in the school wall, Ivan saw Snape in a black robe, with a cold fake smile on his face and his black eyes narrowed as he looked at Sirius with disgust.

Ivan had naively thought that Snape would improve his attitude after learning the truth about Lily's death and helping them catch Peter Pettigrew.

But he realized he was wrong, and Snape showed even more contempt than before.

"Welcome, welcome!" he said in a low, sarcastic tone.

"What are you doing here?" Sirius immediately said guardedly, his hand instinctively placed on the wand at his waist.

"I'm here on Dumbeldore's orders." Snape said in disgust, "It's a terrible errand to be ordered to meet with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

"What about the other professors?" Harry asked, "Why didn't Hagrid come?"

"Obviously, apart from myself, the rest of the staff are reluctant to accept this unpleasant duty. They have strong opinions about a murderer becoming a teacher at the school." Snape said, his voice was becoming increasingly sinister. "But it's not surprising. The headmaster has always liked to hire strange people..."

"Go away!" Sirius shouted, "I don't need you to welcome me. Get out of my sight before I can't help but beat you up."

"That's right, I didn't intend to waste much time here." The cold smile on Snape's face was more obvious, "I'm not like you, I don't have unlimited free time."

Snape turned around and was about to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Sirius suddenly shouted. He frowned and said, "I've heard a lot lately about what you did to Harry at school during my absence. I must remind you that if you try to bully Harry, I will come after you."

"How touching, the loving godfather's concern for the godson!" Snape sneered, "But surely you have noticed that Potter is very much like his father."

"Yes, I have," Sirius said proudly.

"Well, then you'll know that he's so arrogant that criticism just bounces off him," Snape said graciously.

"Hmph!" Sirius pulled out his wand and walked towards Snape.

Snape drew his. They were facing each other, Sirius looked furious, Snape sized up his opponent, his eyes darting from the tip of Sirius' wand to his face.

"Sirius!" said Harry loudly, but Sirius didn't seem to hear him.

"I'm warning you, grouse," Sirius said, his face barely a meter from Snape's, "I don't care if Dumbledore thinks you've reformed, I know better..."

"Oh, but why don't you tell him what you think?" whispered Snape. "Or are you afraid he won't take the word of a murderer seriously? Hiring a bully to teach at Hogwarts is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life."