I was going to work on another chapter of Like Tenfold Shields, but this popped up on the radar and made sail into the port of story time. So, it had to drop anchor first. I might well include this scene in another story in the future, but I had to post it now. It wouldn't let me go until I committed it to digital paper.

Enjoy!

-===X===-

It was noisy in the house with all the people there.

Fudge had shown up uninvited and was currently gabbling on about Sirius Black. Why he was here at the Grangers' house was yet to be determined. How the Minister had found out was something Amelia Bones really wanted to know. When she did, she was going to rain down a hailstorm of hurt on whoever had a big mouth. She had agreed to meet Sirius at the Grangers with a carefully selected short squad of Aurors, after a rather odd house elf had delivered a thick letter and an overstuffed bag full of vials that held pensieve-ready memories to her. Something fishy was going on and as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she was going to find out. Unfortunately, Fudge had shown up to screw up everything just as Sirius revealed himself. She turned back to hear what he was saying, not that she really wanted to.

"He's a convict! He escaped! It's my right to be defended and I have a pair of dementors here for that! Dementors! Do your duty!"

Dan Granger was getting real tired of this plonker after only a few seconds, especially when he could see the woman he'd been told was the top cop trying to get him to calm down so she could do her job and get to the bottom of things. Plus, the man was here in his house without invitation! He leaned toward his daughter to make sure there wasn't a magical reason that he didn't know about first.

"Sweetheart, is he supposed to be here at all?"

Hermione looked at her father. Her face was pinched as she looked at the man in the bowler hat, and he supposed that he couldn't blame her.

"No, Daddy. I don't know how or why he's here. Madam Bones knows what she's doing and doesn't need his help with anything."

That agreed with what he'd thought about when the woman had introduced herself. She seemed like a tough cop.

"And what's a Dementor?"

Hermione paled. She knew her father, being a Muggle, couldn't see it but she could see it approaching the house and bringing the cold with it. She grabbed his hand and the familial relationship between them sparked. She pointed out the window and his eyes widened as he suddenly could see the wraith.

"What the hell?" he breathed. As he spoke, he saw it drift toward a little boy. "Hermione!"

She turned to look again and her eyes widened just as his did. She screamed for Madam Bones. The woman left off her chewing out of the Minister and saw the Dementor Kiss the little boy who didn't put up a struggle other than shivering. There was the second Dementor that Kissed a young woman in the meantime, who'd come out to check on her little boy before Madam Bones could react. Another young woman that looked like a sibling, was dropped by the first a moment later. A spell being cast from behind them galvanized them and they looked.

Harry Potter stood there, a snarl on his face and eyes blazing. He hated Dementors and if there had been any doubt before they all knew it now. The assembled magical group couldn't believe they felt sorry for the Dementors.

"Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!" he growled, deep enough to make Hermione's insides flutter.

Two stags burst from his wand and the scream of the Dementors was heard even from inside. Dan looked outside to see the wraiths zoom away rather crookedly. He could see that the points on the antlers that harassed them bore a dark purulence that was slung off before disappearing. The Dementors only got maybe twenty-five yards before being ripped up rather savagely. As he still held his baby girl's hand, he could see the stags easily and feel the power as she cast her own. To his amusement, a couple of otters erupted and swam around the house on guard. They zipped through the walls easily.

The effects from the wraiths that even Dan could feel drained away and he smirked at his daughter.

"So, since you didn't get that otter you wanted for your sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth birthdays you finally found a way to have your own, huh? Good thing we didn't take you to an elephant exhibit as a little girl," he chuckled.

"Daddy," she hissed, mortified. She cast her eyes around, hoping no one heard but realized that Harry had. The grin on his face had been mirrored by a few others, too. It was worse on the face of the Marauder and she closed her eyes in pain. She was never going to hear the end of this now.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, that wasn't a problem.

"You destroyed my Dementors! Aurors, arrest him! You'll be in Azkaban tonight for destruction of property, underage use of magic, breaking the Statute of Secrecy, and whatever else I can think of!"

Fudge's face changed colors as he spluttered, and Dan had surely had enough. He jumped up and pointed at Fudge.

"You! For God's sake, shut the HELL up! You have no business being here in my house and I didn't invite you! I don't want to another word out of your fat mouth!"

Mouths gaped at him all around, not the least Fudge's. There was a slight glimmer around Fudge that raised eyebrows. Dan continued, on a roll. He hadn't noticed the glimmer.

"You broke the Statute by bringing those demons here, which I could see had done something to our neighbors! I don't know what but it didn't look good!" A couple of Aurors gasped, transfigured their robes in a hurry before dashing out. Soon there was the sound of wailing sirens approaching. Dan went on.

"If what Harry just did is what I think it was, he saved the lives of many people in the neighborhood..."

Fudge was standing there, silent, but his mouth was working and it wasn't hard to see what he was trying to say.

"Are you standing there trying to say, 'but they're just Muggles? And I should be arrested for attacking you?' Shame on you! I'm 'just a Muggle,' according to you, but my beloved daughter isn't! Without this 'just a Muggle,' she wouldn't be here and I understand that she's tops in the class ranking in her year! And if I had attacked you, you'd be out cold before anyone could blink."

Harry plucked at his sleeve. There was a hurried discussion, before Dan Granger turned back to Fudge.

"Pardon me, I should have said 'in the whole school.' Anyway, you're a poor example of a Minister," Dan sneered. "You stick your nose in others' businesses - don't deny it, you're here interfering with the DMLE and we both know it - and I'd be very interested in knowing why you're doing it! I'm surprised that the Ministry hasn't collapsed. Isn't there supposed to be a Dark Lord out there that wreaking havoc? Are you trying to give it to him on a silver platter?"

Beside him, Hermione blushed, but she was smiling. Beside her, she heard Harry whisper "Go, Dan!" Fudge was going almost purple, shouting silently. Amelia looked at him.

"Did anyone cast a Silencio on him?"

There was a round of negative answers and everyone looked at Harry.

"What? I haven't bespelled him with anything." He regarded the man, who had stopped for a moment to take a breath. "Not that I thought about it a time or two, the way he acts sometimes. But no, I didn't do anything."

Fudge looked at him with betrayal shining in his eyes. Madam Bones stared at the Minister.

"Be still a moment. I'm going to check you for opposing magic."

He nodded. The Director muttered something that nobody could catch, with a few emphatic jabs. The last jab would have been met with a squeak from Fudge, had he been able to speak, as that one came close to his groin. As it happened, he shifted away a bit.

"Well?" Dan asked. It was his house after all, and he was Fudge's host - whether the man had invited himself or not.

Madam Bones looked at him.

"There's some kind of magic there that's making him mute. Strong magic, too. Are you sure you're not magical, Mister Granger?"

Dan shook his head.

"I suppose it's possible, but don't you Magicals have detection equipment that would have noticed when I was younger? As far as I know, I'm not."

Madam Bones regarded him, then called for one of the Aurors to approach.

"Mister Granger, we can settle that question now. This is Senior Auror Hunnicutt. He's cross-trained as a mediwizard and serves on our rapid response team in case something goes wrong."

"Battlefield medicine. I've been there, done that."

Madam Bones nodded in deference to Dan Granger's military service history, which she knew of due to her position and wasn't going to mention in the presence of prying ears.

"He's going to check for the presence of a magical core, with your permission."

"Oh? That sounds interesting. Go ahead, Senior Auror. Can I watch?"

"Sure, Mister Granger. Won't take but a moment."

The Senior Auror waved his wand in a distinct pattern that Dan Granger thought reminded him of a conductor putting an orchestra through its paces. True to the man's word, it didn't take long.

"Madam Bones, Mister Granger, I have to report that there is not a magical core present. I detect magical markers in the DNA, which would explain your daughter's ability to wield magic. Mrs. Granger should probably be checked as well."

"Hmmm." Hermione recognized that sound from her father, having heard it often growing up - sometimes when she was about to get into trouble. She stepped behind Harry, who looked at her in confusion.

"What, Hermione?"

"Just watch."

He turned back to see Dan Granger grinning at the Minister.

"So, since I couldn't have - what was it, Madam Bones? Silencio? Thank you - since I could not have cast it, and no one else cast it, then it was something else. Maybe those awful things you said you brought? That's another thing. Since you brought them and didn't keep them under control, you're responsible for their actions. Isn't there something called 'Muggle-baiting?' Where Muggles are attacked?

Fudge's eyes went wide. Dan went on.

"Plus, I'd have to say that you put everyone here in danger from uncontrolled predators, too."

"Predators?" This question came from Madam Bones, to which Dan shrugged.

"They attacked people weaker than them. Good definition of a predator."

She nodded thoughtfully while he went on.

"And come to think about it, look out there where the emergency services are working. Who's to say those people had latent magical markers that could have awakened, like with Hermione?"

They did, noticing that the Aurors that had dashed out to the victims were returning. Madam Bones met them at the door and ushered them in.

"Report."

The senior of the two shook his head.

"We found four people Kissed, not three. Jenny, age seven, daughter of Caolán and Colleen Gleeson. Colleen didn't make it either. She and little Jenny was visiting her sister Caitlyn MacIntyre and little Kevin, age eight. They was here for a play date." He looked at the Minister, whose face was paling. "Kevin and Jenny were magical. Colleen was a Squib. Caolán is a Muggle barrister."

Madam Bones closed her eyes and muttered something under her breath. It sounded fiery, vicious, and in some language Dan didn't know and didn't want directed at him. Hermione went pink and Dan didn't ask for a translation. Harry looked confused and Dan wondered if it was something related to the magical female of the species.

"Minister, we need to leave. You're not going home tonight. Sirius Black can wait. He's waited this long."

There would have been an explosion of sound but for the strange silencing effect and the fact that the man was staring at the Director. She looked at Dan Granger.

"Mister Granger, if I had to guess, I'd say that there was something to do with your presence as the owner of the home and telling him to, ah, be quiet. As Master of the Lands, so to speak, you hold dominion over your guests, meaning us. Magic must have responded somehow."

"Oh. Can I undo it, then?"

"Probably not. It might wear off when we leave the boundaries of your property."

He looked at Fudge, then at Hermione.

"Let's hope for your sake, it doesn't for a while. And let's hope for my sake, that my daughter can find a book that explains that."

"Daddy!"

Madam Bones noticed that Harry was trying to occupy himself in something to keep himself out of that particular subject. She didn't think the Grangers had any dirty dishes since the kitchen sink had been empty when she arrived, but there was Harry scrubbing away at a clean plate. There was a stack of obviously clean dishes that he was apparently going to clean again. She looked at Hermione, who was looking at Harry with a knowing look on her face. Madam Bones mentally wished him luck but didn't think it was going to work.

"Thank you for having us in your home, Mister Granger," she didn't mention specifics, since it was probably not a good idea.

"You're very welcome. You and your Aurors are welcome anytime. My wife and I would enjoy Magical-world stories."

Thankfully for Hermione, she didn't hear that. She was hugging Harry from behind and whispering in his ear. Whatever she was whispering had him blushing red as a tomato. Madam Bones smirked at Dan, who had seen that too and was rolling his eyes.

"Don't worry. Emma will find out what she was telling him. Besides, she wants to have a few words with Sirius."

From the sudden look on his face, Sirius would have been doing his best to crawl under the couch if he had been in his Padfoot form. As it were, he looked like he would try it anyway.

"Such is the tools of parents. We really must be on our way. You will watch Mr. Black, if I leave a couple of Aurors?"

There seemed to be a furious game of Wand, Parchment, Knife between the Aurors all of a sudden.

"Of course. Sirius Black will be safe and ready to answer questions like he originally wanted to before someone showed up. Safe trip to you and yours, Madam Bones."

She bowed to him and turned to the Minister. He still hadn't been able to say anything.

"Come, Minister. You and I are going to have a very long talk. I meant it when I said you wasn't going home tonight."

The words chilled Dan enough to think another Dementor had shown up, and he wasn't even the addressee!

After Madam Bones hustled most of the visitors out, Sirius grinned at Hermione.

"So, Hermione. What exactly did you say to Harry that made him blush so bad?"

The Aurors leaned in to hear her answer, too. Dan laughed to himself at the look on her face. Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him out the back door after sputtering at Sirius for a moment. Dan looked at the two Aurors and Sirius.

"Well, they're going to be busy for a while. There's four of us here. Anyone up for a round of poker?"