Harry Potter - The Accidental Animagus

Chapter 27 - The Ministry of Magic

It was well past dinner by the time Dan and Emma Granger were startled away from their Saturday night television shows by a whooshing sound from their fireplace. They rushed over fearfully, and, sure enough, there was Albus Dumbledore's face in the flames.

"Dumbledore, what's wrong? Was Harry hurt in the match?" Emma said.

"No, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, your children are fine. Harry won the match for Gryffindor."

Dan and Emma grinned with pride at this, but their levity was short-lived. "There's something else, isn't there," Dan said shrewdly. "We could've read that in the morning paper."

"Yes there is. There has been a...very unusual incident." Dumbledore seemed to steel himself. "This afternoon, after the match, your children apprehended a Death Eater."

"What?" the Grangers said in unison. Just...what?

Dan was the first to snap out of it. "You let a Death Eater in your school!" he shouted.

"I assume you don't mean Professor Snape," Emma said coldly.

From somewhere behind the flames, they heard a small, familiar voice giggle and say, "I told you so."

"Hermione?" they said.

"Hi, Mum! Hi Dad!" both of their children called through the flames.

"Kids! Are you alright?" Emma said.

"We're fine, Mum," Hermione replied. "Things have just got really complicated."

"Complicated? There was a Death Eater in the school, and you go with complicated?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Granger, if I could possibly impose on you to come through and explain things-and I was hoping you could have your children stay at your house for the night," Dumbledore went on. "Not because of any further danger at Hogwarts, I assure you, but there are some sensitive political matters in play, and for privacy's sake, I thought it would be best to get them away from the castle."

Dan smiled weakly. "Well, we're certainly not going to refuse. It'll be good to see the kids again. You might as well come through now, if they're ready."

"Thank you, Mr. Granger. Harry, Hermione, please step through the fireplace."

Dan and Emma waited with anticipation. Despite talking through one several times, their children had never actually travelled by Floo before. They could only guess how that would go. After a few seconds, Hermione staggered out of the fireplace, dizzy and disoriented. A moment later, Harry appeared, but he landed even harder and fell on top of his sister, knocking them both to the floor. Their parents rushed to help them up.

"Are you two okay?" Emma asked as she grabbed both of them in a hug.

"That's harder than it looks," Harry mumbled.

Dumbledore stepped through behind them, and the flames changed back from green to their usual crackling orange. He waited politely for them to finish getting reacquainted.

"So you really caught a Death Eater," Dan said in a hard voice as he held an arm around Harry. "And how, pray tell, did that happen?" He glared at Dumbledore.