Sarah listened quietly to the Minister's speech. The article in the Prophet, while seeming to her like fairly thinly veiled propaganda, had been intriguing enough to bring her out today. It was a rare day off-shift at the hospital, and rather than hang about her cottage all day studying or becoming so bored she wanted to climb the walls, she thought she would come hear what the Minister had to say.
To say she found it even more disappointing than the newspaper article would be a severe understatement. His closing statements reminded her of one of the Arthurian legends she'd read as a child - except the Minister had no Merlin to introduce the idea that Might should be for Right, and was not simply Right in and of itself.
Glancing around the area where she was standing, she pulled her cloak more tightly to her, and tried to keep an impassive expression on her face. She couldn't quite bring herself to cheer, but she attempted to look happy to be there and sent up a shower of sparks from her wand, just in case any of the Ministry officials were looking her way.
Just then, someone walking past jostled her shoulder. Though she wasn't at fault, reflexively she turned to apologize. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said to the passerby.