What were Su Er and Hermione doing at that moment?
Once the situation had settled down and Fudge had arrived with the Aurors, he and Hermione immediately headed toward the boy who had acted even before he had.
The boy was Neville Longbottom, the insecure, timid Gryffindor who nevertheless had no shortage of courage when it mattered.
Neville had just returned the girl safe and sound to her mother and was at a loss as the woman kept bowing and bending low to thank him.
Neville repeatedly waved his hands, saying there was no need to thank him, then was forced to accept the Galleons the woman took out.
"It seems you really have mastered what I taught you, Mr. Longbottom."
"Mr. Aibo?" With several gleaming Galleons clutched in his palm, Neville turned around in delighted surprise. "Hermione? What are you doing here?"
"I came to visit a friend," Su Er, in his guise as Aibo, said softly. "As it happened, I ran into Miss Granger here."
"Oh, I see." Neville looked at the Galleons in his hand, feeling rather awkward, but after a moment's thought, he put them in his pocket.
"What are you doing here? Where's your grandmother?"
Hermione spoke up then. Earlier that day, after Su Er had fallen asleep, she had gone with Harry and the others to visit Mr. Weasley. They had encountered Neville in the corridor, and she had learned what had happened to his parents.
"Ah, right, Gran's still waiting for me upstairs."
He had barely finished speaking when an anxious voice rang out.
"Neville, Neville! Sweetheart, are you all right? I heard someone upstairs say there were werewolves downstairs too." An elderly woman wearing a tall wizard's hat adorned with vulture feathers hurried over. Her hat sat slightly askew in her anxiety,