Joyride
Hermione soon got over the fact that Tatyana was a private investigator, what she hadn't quite gotten over was the fact that the stabber had claimed a new victim and that the authorities were no closer to finding him.
"Can you believe this?" asked Freddie who was storming into the S.P.E.W office,
"What?" asked Breeana,
"They're rebuilding it, I can't believe it, It's awful, they're awful, the whole damn thing is awful!" he yelled,
"Freddie, calm down, what's awful?" asked Hermione,
"They're rebuilding the slave trade centre after it exploded." he said, heavily panting,
"What?" asked Hermione,
"Exactly." said Freddie,
"How can they do that?" asked Aisha,
"So what's the plan, do we get to blow it up again?" he asked,
"No blowing stuff up." said Hermione, "I thought I said that already, Rupert looked disappointed,
"But we can't just sit on this, we have to do something." said Tatyana,
"No we don't, if we do then we'll just get arrested, Kingsley can't bail us out a second time." said Hermione,
"Come on Hermione, we can't let that place continue." said Tatyana,
"But we must, we'll just have to pass a law on it making it illegal in the future, but for now, we just have to live with it and work on the campaign that we're currently trying to pass." she said,
"But-" tried Freddie,
"No buts, I'm putting my foot down." said Hermione,
"Come off it." tried Rupert,
"No." she said bluntly, "There's nothing I can do without ending up in Azkaban."
"Well that's a risk that I'm willing to take." said Tatyana,
"Yeah, we can't let those poor house elves be put in a place like that." said Breeana.
"What, and you think I want that, you think that it doesn't break my heart that they're in there, living like that, being raised like that?" she yelled,
"No, but-" Aisha was cut off,
"Well it does, but if we get arrested then there'll be no S.P.E.W to save them anyway." she said.
"True." said Freddie.
"But still-"
"But nothing, we can start a protest, outside of the construction site, will that be good enough?" asked Hermione,
"It'll service for now." said Tatyana
"Thank you." said Hermione.
She got home that night to find Ron,
"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing her sad expression,
"Oh, nothing, they're, they're rebuilding the slave trade centre." she said,
"What, the gits!" he yelled,
"I know." she said,
"Well what are you doing to stop it?" he asked,
"We're staging a protest." she said,
"Too right, go down there and teach those pratts a lesson." he said,
"Yes, that's what I'm hoping." she said,
"Need some consoling?" he asked,
"A little." she said,
"Come here." he said, opening up his arms, she sat on the sofa next to him as he held her; she put the top of her head into his neck and rested, happy, yet still sad.
The next day, Hermione stood outside of the construction site of the house elf slave trade centre, it was filled with builder wizards wearing neon robes and there were cranes and vehicles about the place, holding a sign in her hand, she was marching around in a circle with Tatyana, Breeana, Aisha, Freddie, Rupert and Dalis who were also holding signs,
"Down with slave trade, down with slave trade…!" they yelled repeatedly, the builders ignored them and carried on and there were very few passers by so that muggles wouldn't see somewhere that was full of house elves.
"I don't think that this is going anywhere." said Tatyana,
"I have to agree, no-one is taking any notice." said Aisha,
"Come on, where's your team spirit?" she asked,
"I a stick of dynamite." said Rupert,
"Let it go Rupert, no blowing things up." said Hermione,
"But there has to be more we can do than this." said Freddie,
"There really isn't." said Hermione,
"Come on guys, let's keep going." said Breeana,
"There's the team spirit, come on, just stick with it." said Hermione.
By the end of the day, night had fallen and the S.P.E.W team were all tired,
"Okay, shall we just go home?" she asked,
"Please?" asked Rupert,
"Okay, let's go." she said, she spun on the spot, and again, and again and again, she stopped because she was getting dizzy,
"What are you doing?" asked Freddie,
"Oh, interpretive dance, yay." said Breeana, spinning around herself,
"I'm trying to apparate but why aren't I going anywhere?" she asked,
"They extended the charm so that if anyone else explodes the place, they'll be able to catch them , we'll have to walk a lot further and Breeana stop spinning!" said Aisha,
"Oh." said Breeana, standing still,
"Well screw that." said Freddie, he stuck his wand in the air and they suddenly saw headlights flashing in the distance and the form of a large, violently purple, triple-decker bus came up to them,
"You hailed the Knight Bus?" said Tatyana,
"Rather that than walking, I've been going around in a circle for nine straight hours." he said,
"Fair enough, I'm tired." said Rupert,
"Master needs his rest." said Dalis,
"Okay." said Hermione. The seven of them walked passed Stan Shunpike and onto the Knight Bus, it was filled with beds that contained no-one, it must have been a slow night, Stan handed them their tickets and the driver, Ernie Prang, zoomed off, they were all thrown backwards as it moved on, things jumped out of the way of it's presence and it moved with remarkable speed, it came to a stop and they were all thrown forwards,
"This is why I rarely take a ride in this thing." said Tatyana,
"Same here." said Hermione, and old lady walked down the stairs,
"Couldn't give me a hand with my luggage could you?" she asked, bringing a mountain of suitcases with her,
"Alrigh', gi's an 'and Ern'?" he said,
"Alright." said Ernie. He stepped out of the driver's seat and he and Stan grabbed some suitcases, the old lady walked out of the bus followed by them who were sorting out her luggage,
"Forgive me for this?" said Tatyana, standing up,
"Forgive you for what?" asked Hermione, Tatyana ran to the front of the bus, "Tatyana, what are you doing?" asked Hermione, before she knew it the bus was moving again but it was turning around and going the wrong way, Ernie and Stan were not yet on the bus, Tatyana was driving,
"I'm sorry." she said,
"Stop it, take us back." said Rupert,
"Yeah, what're you doing?" asked Aisha,
"You'll see." she said, she gained speed and Hermione tried to stand up and fell back down, Tatyana swerved a lot and gained more and more speed, Hermione stood up but was thrown against the wall,
"Don't you think you're driving a little recklessly?" called Hermione,
"Have you ever taken a ride in this thing? Believe me, I am not driving recklessly!" she called, she gained more speed and swerved a lot more, Hermione crawled to the front,
"Tatyana, what are you doing?" she yelled,
"What we should have done when we found out." said Tatyana,
"Tatyana, no, tell me you're not doing what I think you're doing?" she asked of her,
"I'm afraid I might just be." she said.
"I told you to leave it!" she called,
"Well I disagree." she said,
"Please, stop!" she called,
"I can't Hermione, I'm sorry!" she called, Hermione stood up and clung on to some railings, she made it just in time to see out of the front window as the Knight Bus crashed through the gates to the slave trade centre construction site, builder wizards dived out of the way as Tatyana drove on and then crashed into the construction, right through a wall, destroying it, she drove on wit her momentum and crashed through the opposing wall, she reversed, turned and crashed through a side wall, she then drove back forwards and crashed through another part of the first wall and then out of the gates, some of which she dragged along with her before running over them.
"Why did you do that?" asked Hermione,
"I couldn't let it go on!" yelled Tatyana, speeding away,
"We could have done something better than this!" called Hermione,
"And that would have gotten us no-where.' said Tatyana,
"Okay, maybe that's true, but there had to be another way, a better way." she said,
"Oh like blowing it up." she said,
"How dare you throw that back in my face?" yelled Hermione,
"I don't care about jail." she said,
"But I care about the office getting shut down, from this moment on; I relieve you of your duties! You're fired!" she called, Tatyana braked and Hermione flew backwards, they were right next to Stan and Ernie who had been waiting for the bus to return, Tatyana opened the doors,
"Oi you, you're goin' down!" said Stan, Tatyana remained silent, she got out from the driver's seat and walked away,
"Hey, don' jus' walk off!" called Stan, she showed no sign of emotion, she just kept on walking away,
"Whoa." said Rupert, coming up to her with the rest of the office,
"I won't step out of line again." said Freddie,
"Well, she shouldn't have done that." said Hermione,
"Well you were a little harsh." said Aisha,
"Was I?' she asked,
"I'm sorry for speaking out of term, please don't fire me?" begged Aisha,
"I'm not going to." said Hermione,
"Isn't there something nicer to be done?" asked Breeana,
"Well, she deliberately disobeyed my orders." said Hermione, standing there, regretting her decision ever so slightly.