"Heh", Tonks made a show of glancing at the ceiling with two fingers covering her lips, as if formulating a wild guess at something. "Who here got your first owl?" she ventured after a moment.

Snape pointed across at Draco. "Well-guessed, Miss Tonks. His post is exactly where I figured I should direct a general query about this news story, he being sort of in the middle of our Law Enforcement infrastructure. Our friend the Minister is in charge of the big-picture perspective; and Ms. Sheehy at your office would be fixated on such things as details of flyover grids." The Potions Master sucked in his breath and glanced around the table once more, clearly disappointed that no-one had thought to conjure firewhisky for the occasion. "I asked Draco to please do as detailed a check on this intelligence as he could find, if he could tear himself away from his beloved mate and his cauldrons for a moment or two. I also owled Remus, and sent a long-distance disguised post to Mr. Nott over in America. Happily, however, I decided not to disappoint Harry and Gilliam in cutting our holiday short. We were all desperately in need of a getaway." He turned his head toward his werewolf ex-lover. "Remus, I believe it's your turn at the podium now..."