The Knight Bus (PA)

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The Knight Bus is the third chapter of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Grim

Harry Potter stops several streets away from Privet Drive, collapsing on a law wall in Magnolia Crescent. After ten minutes in the dark alleyway, he begins to panic, not knowing where to go and fearing what would happen to him if he were caught. He eventually decides to use his father's Invisibility Cloak, bewitch his trunk to make it lighter, and fly to London. There he would get money from Gringotts and begin life as an outcast.

He starts looking for the Cloak, and stops dead when he feels someone staring at him. Harry turns around and, using Lumos, sees the outline of something big with wide, gleaming eyes. He is startled, and stumbles; his wand flies out of his hand, and he falls in the gutter.

Suddenly, a bright light comes out of nowhere, and Harry manages to get to the sidewalk in time not to be run over by a purple triple-decker bus, on the side of which gold lettering indicates that the bus is named 'The Knight Bus'.

The conductor, also wearing a purple uniform, leaps out and says, "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this eve—"

The man stops talking when he notices Harry is still on the ground, and drops his professional attitude to ask how he fell. The boy notices that Stan is about eighteen or nineteen years old, with protuding ears and a pimply face. He also remembers to look around to check if whatever was watching him—a massive dog, possibly—is still there; it isn't.

Inside the Knight Bus

Stan catches a glimpse of Harry's scar, and the boy tries to flatten his hair to hide it. Harry identifies himself as Neville Longbottom, and asks if the bus can go anywhere. Shunpike confirms this: anywhere, as long as it is on land ("Can't do nuffink underwater."). Suddenly, he wonders whether the boy had meant to flag the bus down by sticking out his wand hand; Harry says that he did.

The price of a trip to London is eleven Sickles.