Comments on: The Knight Bus

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:18:26 +0000

It’s been mentioned that the places the Knight bus stopped at began with an A and later on it stops outside Birmingham. I was just wondering if it stops anywhere that doesn’t begin with an A or a B. I was just thinking of the common phrase “it gets me from A to B” i.e. it’s not very comfortable but it does the job which pretty much sums up the Knight bus. Oh but it stops at the Leaky Cauldron in this chapter and at Hogwarts in OotP which obviously don’t start with an A or a B. Maybe JKR intended the unimportant places to begin with an A or a B as a little joke to herself.

By: John Kearns

John Kearns — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:39:43 +0000

May, ‘Minister of Magic’ is the American way of saying it; in the British books it’s ‘Minister for Magic.’ As I own copies of the books from both publishers, I’ve sadly never been very consistent with which versions of things like this I use on this site, and tend to flip flop back and forth.

By: May

May — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 08:36:09 +0000

Regarding the summary you wrote above, John, shouldn’t it be “Minister of Magic”, not “Minister for Magic”?

So, seriously. You just need to thrust your wand hand out and the Knight Bus arrives immediately? Flinging out one’s hand is sort of a common gesture; you’d ludicrously have the Knight Bus at your side the moment you thrust your hand out, is that it?

I do like how Neville was the first name that came to Harry’s mind, given the similarities they both have, which Harry will later learn at OoTP. Sort of a coincidence on Harry’s part, I suppose.

So Fudge has been criticized by members of the International Federation of Warlocks, which was then led by Dumbledore, wasn’t it? So does that mean Fudge is now going against Dumbledore’s advice? This certainly shows hints of the tension that will soon brew between both leaders in later books.

Re: Something You May Not Have Noticed. The bus’ magic doesn’t apply to people in the film. Just a point. ;)

Re: The Wizarding World. I rather thought Stan was homeschooled. He doesn’t seem like the formally-educated type to me.

By: Grace has Victory

Grace has Victory — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:44:52 +0000

Back to Stan Shunpike... He is exactly five years older than Harry, so he ought to have overlapped with Harry at Hogwarts for the last two years. But clearly he didn't, as he doesn't recognise Harry, who is known to everyone at Hogwarts. This is easily explained if Stan left school immediately after his O.W.L.s. It is very common for Muggles to leave school at this stage. While wizards seem far less likely to do this, there is no apparent wizarding law that they must remain at Hogwarts; their parents are presumably free to remove them at any time. Since Stan does not seem the type to benefit from higher education, he might well have swapped the tedium of N.E.W.T.s for the excitement of conducting the Knight Bus back in July 1991.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:36:47 +0000

Maybe there are only a couple of specific places throughout Britain the nightbus can apparate to, and the bus has to drive from there on?

By: Samantha

Samantha — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 21:51:14 +0000

I’m a little confused about why the Knight Bus drives at all… It can apparate wherever it needs to go, and Muggles obviously don’t notice it. I guess it could be trying to avoid apparating directly onto a client, but still…

By: John Kearns

John Kearns — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:06:48 +0000

Casey, in terms of the permission slip, I think it’d be a bit rich of Harry to basically expect Fudge to break any rule he wants for him just because he’s willing to break one. He doesn’t have any reason to be angry at Fudge for his unwillingness to break rules – to the contrary, he should be quite *grateful* that Fudge is *willing* to break one particular rule that will keep him out of a heap of trouble. Fudge’s inconsistencies aren’t working against Harry, they’re working in his favor.

Of course, the opposite will be true later on, and Harry will then justifiably be angry at Fudge. But one could also argue this is an inconsistency on Harry’s part – accept the rule-breaking when it’s in his favor, get angry when it isn’t. It’s all in how you look at it.

By: Casey

Casey — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:30:42 +0000

Also, about the cities that start with A, I never really got very bothered by it. As we see throughout the series, JKR really enjoys her alliteration, from characters, to certain books, to locations. Whenever I see a new alliteration example come up in the books, I always crack a little smile =]

By: Casey

Casey — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:24:18 +0000

One of the things I caught while reading this chapter was another point of how ludicrous Fudge and the Ministry and all those that control Harry’s life can be. When Harry is talking to Fudge, he’s surprised that Fudge isn’t punishing him at all. Fudge is basically breaking the rules of the Ministry on Harry’s account, however, when Harry asks Fudge if he’ll sign the Hogsmeade slip for him, Fudge gets uncomfortable and states, “rules are rules.” I’m aware that this is because they all want to keep Harry at Hogwarts for his safety (and they’re all probably pretty happy knowing that the Dursley’s will most likely never sign Harry’s slip for him, which is why they thought it would be safe to send him the slip in the first place), but when I was a teenager, I always felt so betrayed by adults in my life when they would say one thing and then do something completely different later on. I suppose it’s because Harry’s so young that he doesn’t recognize this obvious trample on his wishes (as well as feeling happy that he isn’t being punished), but I was a little surprised he never thought of that after Fudge says this to him. This is just another example of how unfair the adults in Harry’s life can be to him in the name of “keeping him safe.”

By: kayno

kayno — Sat, 07 May 2011 06:42:56 +0000

i like this chapter because i like how sirius is introduced. it shows that from the very begining, he was watching harry. and harry seems to have a sixth sense that he is being watched. plus harry starts to feel like an outcast and on the run from the ministry. alot like his godfather and a taste of what he will go through in book 7. i also like that he feels all alone and stranded in the dark muggle world, a world he had belonged to for his whole entire life. without magic, he feels vulnerable.
the part of it that i still don’t quite understand is how the knight bus knows that when a wizard sticks out his wand hand, it knows exactly where hie/she is and pretty much apparates right to the spot. kinda how the ministry can detect magic via the Trace and react so quitkly (except of course in this chapter). do they receive a distress signal (from a rather normal hand movement with no incantation needed) and does ern automatically apparate to each destination and the rest of the bus and its’ passengers follow by side-along apparition?