Harry Potter - The Accidental Animagus

Chapter 51 - The Creevey's Visit

Most of the time, Hermione and Harry were content to write letters home, like normal people. However, the fastest way to get information from Hogwarts to Crawley was to mirror-call Sirius and Remus and have them apparate there, and that is what they did to inform their parents of their conversation with Dumbledore and his plan, which Hermione expanded, to thwart the Board’s callous actions. (Actually, the fastest way was Dumbledore’s private Floo connection, but the less he was directly involved the better.) It would certainly be nice if they had another pair of mirrors to call their parents directly, but they had to make do for now.

After discussing a few options, Dan and Emma decided to take the Knight Bus to Colchester right after their last dental appointment for the day so that they would be able to catch the Creeveys before dinnertime. On a weekday at this time of day, the trip was mercifully short—only about half an hour. They stepped off the purple monstrosity dizzily and took a moment to straighten their clothing before walking up to the door.

Mrs. Creevey answered and immediately took note of the solemn looks on their faces. “Mr. and Mrs. Granger, hello,” she said. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m afraid so, Mrs. Creevey,” Emma replied. “Are your husband and Dennis home?”

“Oh, of course. Please come in. Joe, Dennis,” she called, “the Grangers are here—they need to talk to us.”

Joe and Margaret Creevey were an unobtrusive, unassuming-looking couple, both on the short side, conservatively-dressed, and with similar mousy brown hair to their children. Joe was a milkman—a real early-to-bed-early-to-rise type—humble and quiet, but with a strength that Dan and Emma Granger were beginning to see in their conversations with the family. Margaret worked as a receptionist and had much the same personality as her husband. Their children, on the other hand, were their complete opposites—excitable and hyperactive, with a constant thirst to learn about anything and everything magical. They had already started an album with all of the pictures Colin had sent them, and then there was Dennis—nine years old, although he could pass for eight—maybe even seven—with a young child’s passion for dinosaurs now carried over to dragons, chimaeras, and anything else that could eat him. When told this, Harry wrote back that he would get on great with Hagrid.

“Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Granger,” Mr. Creevey said once they were all seated in the living room (with Dennis fidgeting a lot, as always). “What’s the matter?”

Emma took a deep breath and said, “Mr. and Mrs. Creevey, we’re sorry we had to be the ones to tell you this—there were unfortunate circumstances that demanded it—but…your son was attacked at school the night before last.”

“Attacked!” Mrs. Creevey breathed. “Is—is he alright?”

“Well, he…he will be,” Emma replied. “I’m sorry—that’s the only quick answer I can give you that would make any sense.”

“I…I think you’d better give us the long version, then,” Mr. Creevey said as he struggled to maintain his composure.

So Dan and Emma told them a brief history of the founding of Hogwarts, the legend of the Chamber of Secrets and the Heir of Slytherin, the Halloween attack on Mrs. Norris, and finally, how Colin was found in the corridors in the equivalent of a coma with his finger still pressing down the shutter of his destroyed camera.

“And you say they can’t help him until spring?” Mrs. Creevey said in horror.

“No, they won’t help him until spring,” Dan clarified angrily. “Apparently the potion he needs is only in season twice a year—May in the Northern Hemisphere and November in the Southern Hemisphere—but the Board of Governors refuses to pay to import it when the school has a crop of its own, even though it won’t be ready for six months.”