Chapter 7. – "On the Road Again"

"There's a car!" Harry exclaimed suddenly to his group. "Try and get its attention." Madam Hooch proudly stuck her middle finger up at the approaching car. Ginny, who had equally as little experience with hitchhiking as Madam Hooch, mimicked her by extending her middle finger and pointing it at the car. Harry, oblivious to the girls' attempts, stood waving to the approaching BMW. As had the cars before it, the BMW honked its horn and blew right past them, the driver yelling and shaking his fist.

"What's with these Muggles?" Ginny asked, looking scandalized.

It was then that Harry turned and saw the cause for the drivers' outrage. "Ginny! Madam Hooch!" he cried, his face turning a bright shade of red. "You're supposed to be sticking your thumb out!"

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"Gawd, how much longer do we have to wait?" Draco drawled, refilling his wineglass with mango juice and spooning a couple cubes of ice into it. The tow truck had arrived within minutes, but Malfoy had insisted on them fixing the car there and then, and since he had enough Muggle money to dish out, the men called a few mechanics and had them come out to reattach the engine. Every so often the car would wobble with the efforts of the men outside, in the now blistering heat. "Maybe if you went out there and helped them, Longbottom, this wouldn't take so bloody long."

Longbottom wisely chose not to reply, and instead flipped the little television on.

There was a knock on the door, and Draco casually rolled down the tinted window to reveal the chauffeur, dressed in his usual black suit, which was now soaked with sweat, and stained with grease and oil. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he peered into the car, trying to let his eyes adjust to the darkness so he could find Draco. "Sir? We're ready to go now. The engine is fixed. Would you like to continue on to the London airport as you had originally intended?"

"Of course. And hurry up! Don't think that you'll be getting some kind of tip for this...we are now very late, and will have to catch another flight!"

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"Muggle ingenuity at its finest," Snape said with a sneer.

Hermione didn't even need the expression on his face to know how he truly felt. "Well, buck up," she replied, "even wizards have problems every once in a while."

His biting retort was cut off by the taxi driver waddling up to them. "The car is attached to the tow truck. If you'll get in the cab of the truck with me, we'll let you off at the nearest bus stop. And because of this inconvenience, I'll even take thirty percent off the fare."

"But you didn't even take us more than two miles!" Hermione blurted.

The driver narrowed his eyes at her. "Believe me, lady, this is just as much an inconvenience for me as it is for you. Be lucky I'm giving you a break at all!"

"This is outrageous!" she bit out before turning her back on him to regain her composure.

Snape, who had until this moment been looming silently in the background, swiftly encompassed the rotund young driver with his dark, intimidating presence, and murmured a few things into his ear with the same low, quiet voice that made students wet themselves.

The facial expressions on the driver's face showed the continuum of surprise at the sudden movement, anger and the invasion of his personal space, concentration of listening, and the comprehension of the words being spoken to him, which resulted in the white-faced and quaking mess who was now apologizing profusely.

"Don't worry about no charge, lady...miss...ma'am," he said, as he ran back and hopped into the tow truck. The taxi man must have convinced the tow truck driver that they wished to walk, as the tow truck suddenly roared to life and pulled away, leaving Hermione and Snape standing on the side of the road. A few moments passed in silence as the pair watched dumbfounded, as the back of the truck slowly disappeared around a bend.

"Well, Severus," Hermione sighed, "as honorable as your intentions may have been, I must say I'd much rather have paid the fee than walk twenty miles to the nearest town in this heat."

Snape sniffed disdainfully, but said nothing. With another audible sigh, Hermione resolutely picked up her bags and slung the backpack over her shoulder. "Well, we can't do anything here, so we might as well get started," she said. Without tossing another glance at him, she marched off down the side of the road without waiting for him to catch up.

"I don't suppose a 'thank you' would be in order," Snape said gruffly after drawing alongside her.

"Only if you didn't do that purely for your personal, perverse enjoyment."

"What makes you so sure I did?"

"Well did you?"

Snape did not respond, which in his case, couldn't be determined as an affirmation or a denial.

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Back at Hogwarts, the little owl known as Pig flew a bit wobbly into the Headmaster's office, via the open window. A gnarled old hand gently scooped the bird into its grasp, and untied the letter which was attached to its foot. After unfolding the parchment, eyes behind half-moon glasses darted back and forth across it, taking every detail in. Albus Dumbledore 'hmm'ed thoughtfully. "It seems young Malfoy has implemented a little Muggle tomfoolery," he said to himself, eyes twinkling in good humor. "He may have created some setbacks, but I'm sure it'll all come out in the wash, eventually." After popping a lemon drop in his mouth, he began copying Miss Weasley's report onto several sheets of parchment and prepared them for publication.

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Anyone driving along the road would have had a hard time not losing control of their vehicle and having a wreck once they spotted the two walkers. The man, who was practically the size of a car, and the bug-eyed will-o'-the wisp woman riding piggy-back, were bound to attract attention.

"Cannut be much farther from 'ere, Perfesser Trela'ny," came the heavy voice of Hagrid, who was starting to become short of breath. "My, but seven stones do feel heavier after a while."

"My Inner Directory Eye has illuminated the path before us!" said the feathery voice of Sybill Trelawney, as she adjusted her glasses that had come askew during the bumpy ride. "It tells me we need to take a left at the next fork!"

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"Thank you for stopping, sir. We'd only like a short ride into the nearest town," Hermione said gratefully.

"Eh, no problem, missy. You'll hafta move some stuff outta your way, but there's room for you and your dark bodyguard. All righ' there, Count? Heh heh." Upon receiving a cold glare, the Scotsman sobered up a bit. "Eh, don't min' me. I always say the firs' thing tha' come to me mind. Hop on in!"

Hermione wiped most of the sweat from her face with a sleeve, and slid into the passenger seat, while Snape was forced to take the back seat behind her. He had yet to say anything since the car pulled over when Hermione began waving frantically at it. "We're quite relieved. We've been walking this street for over an hour! I was beginning to wonder whether this road was even used."

"Aye, not much traffic here, lassie. When you want to get ou', jus' hollar and I'll pull over. The nearest town is only abou' five kilometers away. Beef jerky, anyone?"

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"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! PLEASE REMAIN CALM, BUT THERE IS A BOMB ON BOARD, AND THIS PLANE IS BEING HIJACKED." It now became clear that the man in the turban had in fact not left his first-class seat to go to the bathroom.

"What the hell?" Draco murmured. "What is it now?"

"I repeat, this plane is being hijacked. No harm will come to you if you stay in your seat and do exactly as I tell you." The accented man turned and spoke in a foreign language to one of his cohorts, who then went forward to the pilot's cockpit.

"Damn." Malfoy slumped in his seat and ripped his bag of peanuts open.

A voice over the intercom was heard as the pilot spoke. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are being diverted from Finland to Morocco. Please remain calm."

"Damn." Malfoy bitterly shoved some peanuts in his mouth and chewed morosely.