"Right, then. Off to Hogsmeade with you," he instructed, tone brisk but still pleasant. "And then to the Ministry to give your statement. I imagine the welcome witch will be able to direct you to which department," he said. There had been more than one lobbying to go out and address the issue before Ernest had stepped in, so the young man would be lucky if they'd only left instructions at the desk and weren't actively pacing the atrium waiting for him to arrive.

"I'll follow behind with our beastie friend," he said, with a nod towards the still unidentified thing that had already gone after the young man once, and seemed keen to do so again. Ernest imagined the redhead would be quite happy to apparate away and be done with it — transporting it would be Ernest's problem.