Wearing their own faces, Amanda and Hermione entered the factory as if it were unguarded territory. Now, in the entire UK, apart from children too young to understand, one could say no one didn't know them.
When they saw them enter, the factory workers and security personnel not only didn't stop them but were even whispering excitedly, cheering with excitement.
"Excellent! Prime Minister Granger and Miss Amanda are here. They must be coming to back us up."
"That's for sure. I bet we might even get our wages today."
"More than just wages! I think those guys in our factory who've been withholding our pay and not raising our wages as required are all going to be in trouble."
"I was actually thinking of going to the union in a couple of days, but now, having Prime Minister Granger here is even better than the union!"
Listening to the whispers of these workers and security personnel, Amanda followed beside Hermione, and together they stopped at the door of the factory manager's office.
Inside the office, it was clear there was more than just the factory manager; the voices of two people in conversation could be clearly heard from within.
"With what we're doing now, won't we get investigated? Prime Minister Granger just issued a decree not long ago to lower prices and raise wages."
"How could that be?" another voice said dismissively. "Look at who Prime Minister Granger is investigating—those are top-tier big shots. She doesn't have time to deal with small fry like us one by one."
"As long as we keep our own people in line, there won't be any problems."
"Moreover," the person inside sneered, "since ancient times, there have been plenty of people who wanted to help the common folk rise up. But so what?"
"Every single one of them was one thing while they were alive and another after they died. The common folk can rise up, but it's destined that they won't stay up for long before they're pushed back down."
Hermione stopped in front of the factory manager's office door, took a deep breath. No time for small fry like them? Since ancient times, no one has truly been able to help the common folk rise up?
Heh, Hermione Granger simply didn't believe that.
Amanda looked at her lover's gloomy expression, raised her right hand, and lightly pointed at the factory manager's office door in front of them.
Boom!
The factory manager's office door fell to the ground with a crash. The manager and the supervisor, who had been talking inside, were momentarily stunned, frozen in place.
"Who is it! Have you lost your mind, daring to break down my door?"
"We gave you jobs, and you still don't know how to be grateful. All you do is whine about your measly wages every day. Do you really think that so-called Prime Minister Granger would come here to help worthless things like you?"
"Sorry to disappoint, but I really did come."
Hermione said coldly, stepping into the factory manager's office. When her and Amanda's faces appeared through the dust kicked up by the falling door in the eyes of the manager and supervisor, both their faces instantly turned pale, and they uncontrollably showed expressions of extreme terror.
"They are all ordinary citizens of the UK, treasures of the UK, people under my protection, people I'm willing to hold in the palm of my hand. How did they become 'worthless things' in the mouths of people like you?"
"Worthless," as Hermione's words fell, Amanda quickly picked up, her gaze sweeping coldly over the manager and supervisor. "It seems to me the worthless ones are you."
"You have five minutes to go and pay the workers according to the latest wage standards. Otherwise..."
Amanda narrowed her eyes slightly. The next moment, the manager's desk silently split into two halves.
The manager and supervisor's bodies shuddered violently. The supervisor spoke tremulously, not daring to look directly at Amanda and Hermione. "I... I'll go now, right now."
After saying that, he stumbled toward the door, even tripping and falling once due to weak legs mid-way, but not daring to delay for even a second, he hurriedly scrambled up and continued running out.
Amanda, well-versed in human psychology, spoke softly, "Don't even think about running away. Otherwise, you might have gotten a normal trial, but if you run, I'll have to use... other methods."
Like curses or something, making this person feel like their whole body is on fire, or making them experience a feeling of suffocation every minute.
Guaranteed to make him suffer several times worse than being in prison, no matter where he is.
"I wouldn't dare, wouldn't dare..."
The supervisor's feet faltered, causing him to stumble again. He hurriedly spoke while leaning against the wall, struggling to run out.
While running, he even shouted, "Payday! Payday! Payday!"
Hearing the shouts from outside, Hermione curled the corner of her mouth in satisfaction. She walked forward slowly, lightly waved her hand, and the papers and pen that had fallen to the ground floated onto the manager's lap.
"Write down the names of all the people you said you 'took care of' earlier. You should know I'm from the Wizarding World, right? So I have plenty of ways to find out if you're telling the truth."
"Don't even think about lying to me. You can't."
"I'll write, I'll write, I'll write right now." The manager trembled as he picked up the pen, laboriously writing on his lap.
At this moment, he deeply regretted his earlier self. How could he have been so foolish, thinking this Prime Minister Granger was like all those people since ancient times, powerless against them?
He never expected... she would actually come personally to this small place, to find a small fry like him.
He had spoken dismissively before, but facing Hermione and Amanda now, he realized that in front of them, he didn't even dare have the slightest thought of hiding or bluffing.
Looking at the two of them questioning him felt like seeing the entire sky pressing down on him—a feeling that made resistance impossible, and even more so, made one feel utterly powerless to resist.
Taking the list the manager had finished writing, Hermione turned her head to look at Amanda. Amanda nodded, indicating the manager hadn't hidden anything.
Analyzing his expression and body language, this manager was already terrified out of his mind. He simply wouldn't, and more importantly, didn't dare, have any thought of hiding anything.
Raising her eyes to look at the manager before her, Hermione said with a serious expression, "This afternoon, someone will come to pick you up. You must cooperate fully and go with them. If you go with them, what awaits you is a trial."
"If you don't go with them or try to escape, what awaits you... well, that's uncertain. Understand?"
"U-understand..." The manager nodded, his lips pale.
Amanda gave him a detached glance, then turned and followed Hermione out of the factory manager's office. If he had known this would happen, why did he do it in the first place?
Following Hermione's new wage standards normally wouldn't have made him poor. He had to go and throw himself at the muzzle.
Only after Amanda and Hermione had left the factory manager's office did the manager completely slump, collapsing into his chair. It's over. His whole life was over.
Just after stepping out of the factory manager's office, Amanda and Hermione heard cheers from the workers.
Having arrived at the factory early in the morning, not long before starting work, the workers received the wages they rightfully deserved. Everyone was cheering, their voices and laughter reaching Amanda and Hermione's ears, making them unable to help but look at each other and share a smile.
"The workers' wages have been paid out normally too. We should be going now."
Amanda nodded, reached out to hold Hermione's arm, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them disappeared from the factory.
After resolving the matter, Amanda and Hermione didn't linger for a moment and Apparated directly back to Hogwarts. Sitting at Amanda's desk, they handled various tasks at the fastest speed possible.
They needed to finish all their work before breakfast started, otherwise, piled on top of classes, these tasks might get delayed.
Right around the time Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore were getting up, Amanda and Hermione finished handling all the documents in hand.
Stretching her stiff wrists, Amanda looked at the massive pile of files in front of her, quickly divided them into two stacks—Muggle World and Wizarding World—with her other hand. They could be sent out directly later.
Looking at the tall stacks of files in front of the two younger students, Cho Chang swallowed hard. "So many? Amanda, Hermione, what time did you two get up to handle these?"
"Exactly six o'clock."
Hermione stretched. "We even went out to handle one matter in between. Just finished now."
"Six o'clock?!" Marietta Eckmore looked Amanda and Hermione up and down, relieved only after confirming they seemed to be in decent condition.
"You two are pushing yourselves a bit too hard."
"It's not that hard compared to others in my position," Hermione shook her head. "It's only because I'm cooperating with Amanda that I can manage this quickly. Others like me can barely get a moment's rest all day."
"Getting more than five hours of sleep is considered pretty good."
"True," Cho Chang remembered something, her expression turning slightly sad as she nodded. "Many people in your position, Hermione, are racing against time."
"Yes." Hermione responded softly, then, together with Amanda, sent out the processed files via the Floo Network and Owl post.
After Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore finished washing up, the four girls left Ravenclaw Tower together, went downstairs, and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast.
During breakfast, students from each house received their schedules from their respective Deans. Amanda looked at the obviously packed schedule in her hand and nodded with satisfaction.
Then she glanced sideways at Hermione's schedule. Hmm, same as hers, every advanced class had to be taken.
Hermione put away the schedule in her hand, glanced toward the Gryffindor Table, and couldn't help but look resigned.
She nudged Amanda with her elbow. "darling, look at Harry and Ron."
Amanda raised an eyebrow and looked toward the Gryffindor Table. There she saw Harry and Ron staring fixedly at their own schedules, grinning foolishly.
That grinning expression... Amanda didn't think Professor McGonagall would appreciate it.
"Those two are definitely happy about having fewer classes to take," Hermione said with certainty.
Amanda carefully observed the shapes of Harry and Ron's mouths as they chatted, cross-referenced it with lip-reading, and nodded approvingly.
"You're right. That's exactly what they're talking about."
"I hope Professor McGonagall can deal with them." Hermione rolled her eyes, turning her hopeful gaze toward the Staff Table.
"Definitely."
Amanda said decisively, because she had already seen Professor McGonagall paying attention to Harry and Ron.
Maybe today, or at the latest the day after tomorrow, Harry and Ron's schedules would have at least one new advanced class added.
As for which class, it would definitely be Potion Class with the new Professor. With a new Professor, the requirements might change, so Harry and Ron's schedules would likely have Potion advanced class added.
And Potion advanced class was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, so at the latest by then, if adding classes was possible, Professor McGonagall would find Harry and Ron and add Potion advanced class for them.
But before that, Amanda still had to attend the advanced classes she had chosen and accompany Hermione to a meeting in London tomorrow evening.
To be honest, Amanda personally felt that advanced classes weren't much different from normal study before.
It was just that the content was more profound. However, the study methods and mindset were completely the same as before.
If there was something particularly good about advanced classes, it was that the number of students in each advanced class was quite limited.
So there was no need to split classes by two houses anymore. She could attend every class with Hermione.
Hermione was also very happy about this. Who wouldn't be happy sitting next to their darling in every class? Amanda and Hermione shared the same sentiment.
Unfortunately, their good mood came to an abrupt halt the following evening when they arrived at the meeting venue.
This meeting summoned the controllers of all factories and enterprises in the UK, from top to bottom, regardless of size—all were invited.
Therefore, the UK Muggle government's conference hall couldn't even hold all these people. They had to temporarily use a sports stadium meant for competitions to make do.
Amanda and Hermione walked up to the specially constructed platform, looking at the people seated in the audience stands. The two of them faced nearly a hundred thousand people.
They didn't feel nervous at all. Instead, it was the nearly hundred thousand people facing them who felt an intense sense of oppressive pressure weighing on their hearts.
Those with clear consciences were fine. Those with guilty consciences felt their bodies going weak just sitting in their chairs. Even though they could hardly see Amanda and Hermione's faces clearly, they felt as if the two girls were scrutinizing them carefully from across the vast distance.
Watching on television hadn't given them this feeling. Only when truly standing before them could one understand how heavy the aura of pressure surrounding them was.
"I know what many of you are thinking," Hermione began calmly, her tone utterly composed without a hint of anger, yet it made people's hearts tremble uncontrollably. "You think that since things have always been done a certain way, continuing to do so now shouldn't be a problem."
"You think I can only uphold these things while I'm here. Once I'm gone—stepped down, died—your descendants can simply continue the old ways. The common folk, after all, how could they last as long as your lineages?"
"You might think, since ancient times, how many ambitious, determined people weren't like me, trying to pull the common folk completely out of the mire? But in the end, their grip would always loosen because they didn't have time, not enough time."
"And you, the mire you've created that swallows the common folk, can be passed down, can exist forever."
Hermione's words made many in the audience lower their heads because that was indeed what they thought.
So what if Prime Minister Granger was determined? Wouldn't she still have to let go one day? When that day came, when she let go, their lineage would still be unbroken.
"But have you forgotten something?" Hermione's lips curled into a mocking arc. "I'm only sixteen. I'm younger than anyone who came before. I have more time than they did."
"As long as you persist in being selfish, in oppressing the common folk, I can outlast you. I can outlast you for ten years, twenty years, fifty years, a hundred years!"
Hermione's voice suddenly grew louder. "I can last until your children lose the will to oppress the common folk. I can last until your descendants no longer even mention the word 'oppression,' and if they do, it's only with disdain!"
She wasn't someone who wanted to escape death. She looked forward to the appropriate time, closing her eyes with her lover to embark on a new adventure.
But if it was for the common folk, for them, she, Hermione Granger, could keep going, outlasting these people.
Outlasting them until education over the long passage of time changes their descendants. Outlasting them until the heritage they're so proud of is swallowed by time, leaving only fairness and equality enduring forever.
As long as the common folk haven't completely risen up for a single day, she won't close her eyes for a day. She will always be their Patronus. She will always be that mountain, holding up the sky for the common folk, until the day that sky no longer needs support to remain clear and suspended high.
Amanda walked forward slowly, gently taking Hermione's hand. "I can make the Philosopher's Stone."
Smiling happily, Hermione squeezed her hand back. "Yes, I know."
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.