“Sit,” she said, and they both backed into chairs by the fire. “Explain,” she said, her glasses glinting ominously. Ron launched into the story, starting with the barrier at the station refusing to let them through. “— so we had no choice, Professor, we couldn’t get on the train.” “Why didn’t you send us a letter by owl? I believe you have an owl?” Professor McGonagall said coldly to Harry. Harry gaped at her. Now she said it, that seemed the obvious thing to have done. “I — I didn’t think —” “That,” said Professor McGonagall, “is obvious.”
