"Yes, eleven sickles right?" I asked and he raised an eyebrow.
"Done your homework it seems, You'll probably end up in Ravenclaw I'd wager. Yeah it's eleven sickles regardless of distance. Hold onto your trunk if you don't want it slung about the place though." he said casually.
"I'll make it a full galleon if you can get me there faster than normal, Don't care if it's a bit bumpier as a result." I said pulling out a golden coin.
"You hear that Ernie? Bloke wants us to go even faster, and he's even paying us for it!" Stan said with a chuckle.
"Ja Stan! Me never 'erd of somein' like tha but I be willing to give im wha he want!" the shrunken head above the steering wheel said in a dense Jamaican accent.
"You heard him mate, best hold on tight. This'll be a ride to remember!" Stan said with an excited expression.
I boarded the bus and unlike the usual seats one would expect there were only rows of beds in the bus and the usual handles to hold onto. I found a nice corner spot and wedged myself and my trunk into it firmly before actively channeling my armament haki to my hands and feet to ground myself.-
It was a damned good thing I did as with a loud "BANG!" the bus shot into motion violently trying to send me and my trunk flying as the beds slid across the floor to the back of the bus and to the sides rapidly as the bus bounced and defied physics at insane speeds through London. My grounding kept me and my stuff from getting sent sprawling haphazardly across the bus. But I felt like I was on the worlds most unhinged rollercoaster as my insides were yanked by momentum and inertia this way and that.-
Ironically I could feel my haki growing rapidly under the strain this was putting on me and my spotty coating started to fill in and even out at a visible rate. This wasn't all that surprising as haki was well known to grow best under strain with combat being a particularly good method. Considering the amount of effort I had to put into keeping it up while subjected to such raw directional forces it was no wonder mine was growing so fast.-
With a sudden lurching sensation that almost overcame my efforts the bus slammed to a stop outside a busy area with people coming and going.
"Kings cross station!" Stan said with a grin as I relaxed my haki only to almost collapse from weakness.
"Y-yeah a moment please." I said with a groan as I fought to suppress the contents of my stomach from leaving.
"Reenervate." Stan said pointing his wand at me casually.
Immediately my nausea lessened and my senses sharpened for a split second like I had taken a shot of espresso straight to the brain.
"Usually best for waking folk up but in a case like yours it gives a jolt to set you on your feet, a trick I've picked up working here. Now off with you, don't want to miss the train after all." he said and I nodded before hauling my trunk off the bus.
The bus vanished right after that and I pulled my trunk in to the station before heading for platforms nine and ten. At first glance it looked like nothing was off there but if you really paid attention you could spot the Aurors keeping the muggles from noticing the oddity of the enchanted secret entrance to the Hogwarts express.-
The place was a red brick set of platforms next to a few different engines and had a metal roofing that only just covered the station before opening up on the walls to let the trains come and go. I made eye contact with one of the Aurors who nodded at me before pointing at the brick archway that lead to the Hogwarts expresses special platform. I took the hint and ran straight for it and instead of crashing into it I was met with a brief instant of darkness before finding myself on the magical platform with students of all ages saying their farewells to their families.-
I wasted no time at all carrying my trunk up into the end cabin of the red steam train and went to search for an unoccupied room. The cabins were old fashioned with many small rooms with doors that had two benches to sit on and overhead space for ones luggage. I easily found an empty room at the very end of the train and took out a book to read while I waited to arrive at Hogsmeade village. The train didn't go straight to Hogwarts after all but to the train station in the nearby village.-
There were all sorts of theories about why this was in my past life but the one that made the most sense to me was that it was a protective measure so that dark wizards couldn't just hitch a ride on the train to get into the school. In the same vein it was theorized that the point of the boat ride after students arrived was a sort of ritual that extended a kind of protection over the students while they were at school.-
The idea was that by following the ritual steps even unknowingly the students made it so fatal injuries were almost impossible to suffer while they were at school. The supporting argument for this was the fact there was only one fatality in the school in over half a century despite the fact young people given a lot of power aren't usually the most safe people to be around. Even in the books where hexes and curses were exchanged between houses there was no case that couldn't be solved by a visit to the hospital wing. That could be coincidence once or twice but over almost a thousand years of next to no fatal incidents? Nah that's downright suspicious.-
Not that I had any plan to investigate that gift horse to begin with. Some things are best appreciated in silence rather than fully understood. After all who was to say there wasn't a cost to this protection that students had to pay unknowingly? Magic was not something that came free, all magic had a cost. The trick was WHAT exactly that cost was. In the case of most spells it was a wizards own magical energy, a resource they regenerate over time. In others it was something more costly such as an ingredient or material that once used was gone.