Minerva was taking a nap on the garden wall. The horrid fat glob of a child was taking a nap, and his mother, Lily's sister, was moving about the house, picking up the odds and ends he'd managed to drag out.
She idly lifted her head from time to time to find the source of a noise, but mostly she was enjoying the warm sun hitting her back.
------12:06
Remus had excused himself from the Gryffindor table not longer after he'd sat down. One of the girls had the current copy of the Daily Prophet, and, seeing the headline, Remus had asked to borrow it.
Excusing himself the table and thanking Hestia for the invitation to join them, she left the castle to find a quiet spot to read through the articles.
The entire front page was covered with articles, opinions and photos about the attack. There was even a photo of Godric's Hollow, of the crater where James and Lily's house had been. In the photo, a few wisps of smoke were rising.
Remus' throat caught as he took in the scene. Boards and debris were all that was left. Remus fingered the photo. He could see bits of furniture upturned. He wondered where Harry was right now.
Scanning the article, he saw only a brief mention of Harry's future. There were paragraphs mentioning the boy-who-lived, as he had apparently been dubbed, but only one line stating "young Potter is slated to be taken in by his aunt and uncle, currently residing in Surrey".
Lily's sister. Lily's sister hated magic. And that's where they were sending him. Remus shook his head.
A second article talked of the on-going search for Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black. The article expressed concern for the safety of Peter, and anger at the ministry for not having brought Sirius in yet.
Remus spread the paper out on the lawn. A main opinion was expressing disbelief that You-Know-Who could really be gone. Another one was saying Harry Potter was the example of why pure-blood families were important (forgetting that Lily hadn't been a pureblood, Remus noticed). A third one was calling for Albus Dumbledore to be the new minister of magic. It didn't call for the removal of Bagnold, though. Remus nodded and folded the paper again, sitting back to think.
He should go back to the Ministry and offer his help in the search for Sirius.
------12:14
"No, there is no need to delve in to that, Dumbledore. The letter is already long enough." Severus commented.
Dumbledore looked up at his colleague, a trace of irritation present. Severus saw the look and smirked.
"Here." he pointed to the third paragraph. "There is no need to mention rise of the Dark Lord. Merely mention that his rise to power caused tremendous fear among the wizarding population."
Dumbledore waved his wand to rearrange the words to match what Severus had just said. He looked over the letter. "It is still four pages. I would like to edit it down to two."
Rising, he began to pace. Severus watched him. Occasionally he would shoot a stream of words onto the parchment. By the end of ten minutes, the letter had grown to ten pages.
Severus sighed and rubbed his temples. This was going to be a difficult process. He waved a wand to his cauldron, putting it in temporary stasis.
-------12:25
Sirius had managed to sneak through the front room of the Leaky Cauldron to the back where the trash bins were kept. He sniffed through until he found the Daily Prophet. He pulled it out of the bin and got a better grip.
Ducking under the counter as someone walked into the back storeroom, Sirius held his breath. He watched the lower legs of the employee move about the store room for a few minutes before leaving again. Sirius crept back to the front room and out the front door. He trotted off a few blocks to where he could safely read the newspaper.
------12:38
Remus arrived outside the gate of Hogwarts, ready to apparate, when, from the corner of his eye, he spied a familiar form.
"Peter?" he called at the retreating figure. It didn't react, causing Remus to run after the wizard. He was moving away from Remus at a swift pace. Forgetting all about going to the ministry, Remus pounded after him.
-----12:47
Minerva stretched and sat up. Lily's sister was currently out in the side garden. Minerva tried to stay out of her sight. The television was on in the house. Minerva could hear the reports of owls.
She could verify that one first hand. She had seen several owls pass overheard, beaks filled with letters. The muggles were alert and aware of the odd goings-on, Minerva noted.