I Love The Smell of Sarcasm in the Morning

Robert was looking after Sparks for a couple of days for Khaat. He had arrived shortly before the place opened. He was pleased to find Lizzie had things well in hand. The baked goods were already made and put in the cases, and coffee and tea was made.

Robert helped himself to a cup of tea and found himself a table. He opened the morning paper and began to scan the headlines. There was time to write the orders for supplies and pay the bills in a short bit. First things first, though, and that meant tea and the newspaper while the place was still quiet.

There were few customers so early in the morning.

James Roland didn't usually come by to Diagon Alley. he thought of it as too crowded and noisy, and whenever he came, he only visited the Leaky Cauldron. Last night though, he had overheard two wizards talking about the shop named Sparks down the street, and how it was owned by a woman called Khaat Lupin. Roland, of course, recognized the name. He made a point of investigating everything to do with his rivals/enemies, including their family members. This Khaat woman was the daughter of Robert Lupin, and Roland might just be able to take some information out of her from a short visit.

So now, early in the morning, he was wobbling his way through the now quiet streets of Diagon Alley, headed towards Sparks. Opening the door, he saw to his delight that it was empty, besides an old man sitting by a table in a corner. His face was hidden by a newspaper he was reading. Ignoring him, Roland waited for the woman to appea

Lizzie brought Robert a plate with a couple of scones on it. "Would you mind trying these for me, Robert?" Lizzie asked. "They're new to the menu today. The first one has sugared dried cranberries and candied orange peel. It was a customer request for the holidays. The second is a gingerbread scone."

"Another customer request, Lizzie?" Robert asked, laughing, looking up from his paper. "You do realize Khaat is by far the better judge of this sort of thing than I am. I just know what I like."

"It was a customer request," Lizzie replied back to him. "And I do trust your judgement. After all, if one cannot trust the Minister, who else can one trust?"

"Thank you," he smiled. He checked his watch. He didn't have to be to the Ministry until 9. He had at least a couple of hours yet. That gave him plenty of time. He took a sip of his tea. "Newspapers," he sighed, looking at Lizzie. "They're all full of balderdash. Every one of them. Bring me the checkbook, please. I might as well get that out of the way. The paper is just irritating."

"Yes, Sir," she said, disappearing into the kitchen. Robert looked over the handful of people who were beginning to filter in. Some of them were regulars that he often saw coming in here this time of day, but then his eyes caught someone else. Someone by himself. Wasn't that James Roland? He hadn't seen him since they'd squared off against one another in the battle at the Ministry a year or so ago.

Roland turned and wondered shortly where to sit at. Choosing a table, Roland went over towards it, but then the man he had seen earlier lowered the newspaper from his face as he talked animatedly to the waitress. He recognized him, he could have recognized him anywhere. Robert Lupin. Ah, what luck that he had walked in when the minister was there as well! Roland had managed to secure a good position in the Ministry in the past few months, but he had still not talked to Robert Lupin in a very long time. Roland had opposed the decision to promote him to Minister, after all, the memories of his duel with him were still vivid in his mind.

"My dear Minister, newspapers have to publish 'balderdash.' If we only published the reality everyone would panic!" Roland said, as he walked over to where the minister was sitting. Robert obviously did not know much about propaganda, whereas Roland controlled the daily prophet. "Might I sit down here?" Roland asked. He had plenty to talk about with the minister.

"Certainly," Robert motioned for Roland to join him. "And you are right, I know. Sometimes it is not advisable for the entire truth to be put out in the papers. However, some newspapers spread more gossip than truth. The Prophet is about the only newspaper I buy anymore. "

He clicked his fingers to get the attention of one of the servers so that Roland could order. "So what brings you here, Roland? I haven't seen you out and about much."

When the server arrived she refilled Robert's mug and looked at Roland. "Breakfast, Sir?" she asked. "Would you like to look at a breakfast menu or see a list of our breakfast pastries?"

Robert hadn't seen Roland since the ministry. He wasn't entirely sure what Roland did for a living, but he seemed to be a rather reclusive individual. Robert suspected since the fight at the ministry that Roland was perhaps a death eater. He didn't have any first hand knowledge of that, but since Roland had opposed the Ministry and the Order, Robert thought it was perhaps the most logical assumption that Roland was a death eater. That made Robert just a slight bit curious as to what he wanted.

"What brings me here Lupin? Food," Roland replied shortly. He wasn't about to start calling him Minister every time, in Rolands point of view the man did not deserve to be Minister. Robert Lupin was after all a well known order member and Roland was hostile when it came to the order interfering with the ministry. Roland was chief of propaganda at the ministry, but that wasn't enough. After all, before the whole death eater business, he was minister. Now that that was over, shouldn't he get the position back?

Turning to the waitress, he asked her for the breakfast menu then flicked through it for a minute. "hmm.. Strawberry stuffed French Toast and cinnamon waffles with that. Tomato juice. and then some tea later," ordered Roland as he handed the menu back. He then turned back and inspected Robert again. He seemed much more aged and tired then the last time they met. "So how have you been Lupin? Enjoying Minister work?" he asked casually.

"I've been very well," Robert said. "And yourself? As for ministry work, its a job. You know how those political things go. Sometimes what we would like to accomplish and what we can really do are two entirely different things altogether. As I recall, your tenure in the minister's post was rather successful for you. What influenced your shift to journalism and public relations, if I can ask? It seems there is much about you that I do not know because I didn't foresee that in you for some odd reason."

He did need to surround the ministry with capable staff, and Roland's reputation as a journalist was a good one. He also knew, first hand, that Roland was one of the more experienced duelers that he had come across. Somehow they had found themselves on opposite sides during the Battle for the Ministry a year or so ago, and Roland's skills had impressed Robert. It did seem just a tad odd for them to be both on the side of the ministry now.

Well, the post of minister had not been one that Robert had sought out at all, to begin with. When it had come about, Robert had been surprised, but he had accepted, at least for now. He wanted to bring about a few changes, and this seemed to be the opportune time to do it. As for the future, well, aside from seers, who ever really knew about that?

"It was, for a short while," Roland replied glumly. It was true that he had done well as Minister, even though his reign was short. Among other things, Roland had allowed all races to attend Hogwarts, and worked hard to end discrimination against minors. These things were mostly forgotten though, as everyone moreso remembered him as the minister who capitulated to the Death Eaters. Roland raised his eyebrows at Roberts question, did he really not know why he had resigned? "I wanted to keep the Minister job, I didn't willfully leave it, not quite. During my reign I had far more difficulties then you did currently. Namely, the Death Eaters. I tried to play nuetral, but when you-know-who decided that he wanted control of the ministry, he sent be an ultimatum asking me to declare support for the Death Eaters, which I was unwilling to do. For that reason, I was forced to resign," he explained, rather proudly. Roland was not the bravest of men, but he was by no means a coward, and that had been his bravest act. Foolish, but brave. "As for my interest in journalism, I was chief of propaganda before becoming Minister previously. Quite ironic that I am once again at this position." Roland considered it a demotion from minister, rather than a promotion from a reporter.

"My apologies. I was fairly happily retired at that time in my life, or so I thought, and I made a brief attempt at seclusion. But, well, times do change, and it seems I find myself back at work again. I'm sorry that happened during your tenure in the office. I might well have made the same choice myself. It sounds like you really had no other sensible option. And you're right. Things were considerably more difficult politically at that point than they are now--at least for the time being.

"It is certainly to your credit that you were so instrumental in spearheading a more tolerant mindset in the wizarding world. I do remember that part. That was something that a lot of us fought for, for a long time. The political climate then just did not respond well when we were fighting for it. That was a long time in coming, and, as you know, not all our predecessors in the Minister's office were nearly so open minded. If they had been, well..." He didn't finish. He was thinking of how past events had played out that had destroyed so many lives, including so many people he loved. Remus, Sirius, James, Lily--so many lives cut short before their time, and, in a very real sense, discrimination had been part of the roots of that.

"I am glad to have a voice of experience in the Propaganda office. I presume your office has been getting a bit of press about this whole Barker business? I'm not giving the press much attention over it, I'm afraid. I have no desire to escalete it any further that what momentum it seems to have gotten on its own."

"Retired hmm?" Roland replied in a murmur, more to himself then anything. THe way Robert talked about that, Roland would describe it as wistful, indicated that he was no enjoying his job so far. That was good to know. He did want the job back, but Roland was not that power hungry. He also had enough nobility to not try to get a position he wanted through violent or manipulative means. Not that he was good at either. Roland achieved his successes through honesty and hard work. "So why did you take the minister's job then? Its not like anyone forced you to," Roland asked curiously.

"The Barker business is irrelevant and nothing new," Roland barked in reply. He had seen plenty of cases like Barker in his journalism years. He had covered wizards who tortured and killed their victims, sometimes students, numerous times. Now any story, no matter how hideous, could not frighten or disgust Roland. "The prophet has been covering it, though only to show the effectiveness of our Law enforcement. We caught him a week after the kidnapping after all," Roland said with little interest. "Of course he's going to have a trail, then be sent back to azkaban and then escape again. You must really do something about that prison. Its not been nearly as effective in recent years."