So August needed to find somewhere with enough sunlight so that he could use these sundails in order to find out what time it was. Where could he go? Well that question had an obvious answer....

The Grounds.

After leaving the Castle with the day sundail in his hand, the Gryffindor marched to the vegitable patch where there were no tall trees blocking the bright sunlight coming down from the clear, blue sky--a respite from the wintry weather of the past few days.

Once he had found a clear patch of ground, Auggie sat the instrument on the snow and knelt down out of the way so that it would be hit with the light.