"I! Am! The! King! Of! The! World—!!! Ohhh yeahhh! Woohoo!"
A few minutes later, the car soared through cotton-candy clouds.
Leon stood on the second-row seat, basking in dazzling sunlight.
Arms spread wide, he embraced the blue sky, the sea of clouds, and the gentle breeze, howling with excitement like a wolf or a banshee.
He was like a joyful bird.
"Hahahaha…"
Harry and Ron, sitting up front, caught Leon's infectious energy and burst into laughter.
"Haha, alright, alright, enough playing, Leon. Sit down, it's dangerous. You don't want to fall out—that's no joke," Harry said, grinning as he turned to warn him.
"Fine, I got too excited," Leon admitted.
He hopped down and leaned between the front seats' headrests.
"I can't believe I'm flying through the sky with Harry Potter and his best mate, Ron Weasley.
"This is so cool! It's like a dream!"
Leon was dishing out emotional vibes in heaps, and it felt great.
"Don't you guys want to try it? It's so fun! It really feels like you're flying!"
"I'm driving," Ron said with a laugh. "Besides, we are flying right now."
"I'm good like this," Harry added, rummaging under the dashboard and pulling out a bag of toffees. He handed Leon a generous handful. "Here, have some toffee."
Being "accomplices" in this wild adventure instantly bonded the trio.
Leon played the part of a mischievous yet obedient younger brother perfectly, giving Harry (an only child) and Ron (the youngest son) a fresh, thrilling experience.
They even felt a bit more mature.
Leon popped a toffee in his mouth, mumbling, "Oh, by the way, I brought tons of chocolate pies."
He pressed the gem on his left-hand ring.
Whoosh! Out poured a cascade of chocolate pies, chocolate frogs, chocolate bars, chocolate balls, chocolate beans, chocolate milk, and a few bottles of cola.
"Wow, how'd you fit all that in there?" Harry asked, eyeing Leon's ring curiously.
Leon slipped it off and tossed it to Harry to inspect.
"It's just something Kreacher gave me to store snacks. Not much space in it."
"Thanks! Awesome, we won't go hungry later. Wait, it's all chocolate? Leon, how much do you love chocolate?" Ron said, grabbing a pack of chocolate frogs, tearing it open with his teeth, and chomping the frog's head off.
"Oh, it's Godric Gryffindor," Ron said, glancing at the chocolate frog card before handing it to Leon. "Speaking of Gryffindor, any thoughts on which house you'll end up in?"
"Me? Uh, maybe… Gryffindor?" Leon said, staring at the winking, bearded wizard on the card.
Deep down, he suspected the Sorting Hat would probably stick him in Slytherin.
"That'd be perfect! Harry and I are in Gryffindor. If you get in, we can hang out!" Ron said.
"Yeah," Harry agreed, fiddling with the storage ring.
He put a cola bottle in, pressed the gem, and watched it pop back out, clearly having a blast.
"Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff aren't bad either, just as long as it's not…" Harry trailed off, glancing at the cola bottle before asking, "Do you have any Muggle family? How come you've got so much cola?"
As Ron chimed in with, "Cola? What's that?" Leon shrugged.
"Sort of. I guess I'm, uh, half-blood?"
Leon wasn't sure. Today, he seemed unsure about a lot of things.
He suddenly realized he knew nothing about Maeve's background—not even which Hogwarts house she'd been in!
How was that possible? How had he never asked her these basic questions?
Something felt off.
Had his memory been tampered with?
Leon fell silent, lost in thought.
Harry and Ron, thinking they'd accidentally touched a sore spot, quickly changed the subject.
"Should we dip below the clouds to check on the train and adjust our course?" Harry suggested, shooting Ron a look.
"Yeah, good call. Let's do it," Ron agreed.
He tapped the invisibility booster button on the dashboard.
Poof! The car—and the three of them—disappeared. Well, turned invisible.
But before they could descend, the car flickered back into view.
"Ugh, this thing's acting up again," Ron grumbled, smacking the silver button repeatedly. The car blinked in and out like a faulty light.
"Stop messing with it," Leon said. "I'll send Tom to check."
"Who's Tom?" Harry asked.
"Tom's this guy." Leon opened the birdcage and poured a bag of chocolate beans into Tom's beak.
"Quit playing dead and get to work."
Tom, eyes closed, chewed weakly: "No… don't…"
Chew, chew. "Don't stop…"
Chew, chew, chew. "Keep going… fill it up…"
Chomp, chomp, chomp…
Annoyed, Leon tossed him into the pile of chocolate.
"Eat it yourself. When you're done, fly down, check the train's direction, and come back to tell us."
"*Squawk!*"
Tom, like a rat in a rice bin, opened his beak wide and inhaled the chocolate.
Ron glanced back, envious. "Your pet can talk? That's so cool!"
Leon gave Ron a weird look.
Your pet's cooler. It doesn't just talk—it transforms into a full-blown person.
With Tom the parrot scouting directions, their journey got much smoother.
No need to dip into low altitudes and risk being spotted by Muggles on the ground.
The car soared through the crystal-clear sky, gliding over rolling white clouds.
They flew past the blazing sun, the setting sun, the twinkling stars, and the glowing moonlight.
The journey felt like a fairy tale, a dream, a bard's song, or a local legend.
Anything but a tragedy.
As the last rays of light vanished and the sky plunged into darkness, the car—never having flown this far—started shaking violently.
The windshield wipers went clunk, clunk, making an awful racket.
"Come on!" Ron pleaded, patting the dashboard. "We're almost there, mate. Hold on just a bit longer!"
Leon, now in his wizard robes in the back, heard the engine's unsettling noises.
"Harry, Ron, get your robes on. I'll drive for a bit."
Harry, saying, "You can drive?" moved swiftly, climbing to the back and swapping places with Leon.
Leon grabbed the wheel in the passenger seat, nudging a reluctant Ron to the back.
The great Leon, in all his glory, had finally claimed his rightful place at the helm, seizing the wheel of destiny.
He ran his hands gently over the steering wheel, giving it a slow caress.
Tiny sparks of starlight seemed to flicker in his palms.
He leaned down, whispering something to the struggling car.
The car shuddered with excitement. (Car: Not excitement.)
Leon looked up, eyes gleaming.
He flashed a toothy grin.
"Heh.
"Are you ready, kids?"
Flap, flap…
Tom landed on Leon's shoulder, singing, "Aye, aye, Captain!"
Rumble, rumble— The car responded.
Leon floored the gas.
VROOOM!
The car shot forward like it had been bitten in the bumper.
It moved so fast that Harry and Ron, dazed in the back, were flung into the air.
Harry & Ron: "???"
"AAAHHH!"
Leon patted the seat, and seatbelts snapped out, wrapping around the two and yanking them back down, securing them tightly.
"Squawk! Thrilling!" Tom bounced. "Squawk! No drifting! Make it thrilling!"
Leon nodded.
Gas pedal floored? No problem.
He'd shove it straight into the fuel tank.
VROOOM—VROOOM—
The car streaked like lightning, leaving the Hogwarts Express far behind in the blink of an eye.
Leon squinted contentedly, feeling the wild wind whip through the high altitude.
Cars were meant to be driven in the sky. The ground just held him back.
Oh, and by the way? Leon was the one who taught Maeve how to drive.