just

What does "had just been in the area" mean?

“. . . We’ve only looked in for five minutes, so I’ll have a stroll
around the yard while you catch up with Percy. No, no, I assure
you I don’t want to butt in! Well, if anybody cared to show me your
charming garden . . . Ah, that young man’s finished, why doesn’t
he take a stroll with me?”
The atmosphere around the table changed perceptibly. Every-
body looked from Scrimgeour to Harry. Nobody seemed to find
Scrimgeour s pretense that he did not know Harry’s name convinc-
ing, or find it natural that he should be chosen to accompany the
Minister around the garden when Ginny, Fleur, and George also
had clean plates.
“Yeah, all right,” said Harry into the silence.
He was not fooled; for all Scrimgeour’s talk that they had just
been in the area, that Percy wanted to look up his family, this must
be the real reason that they had come, so that Scrimgeour could
speak to Harry alone.