Spoils, Wives and Plots (Part Six)

Dolores Umbridge had a fly-eating grin plastered across her face as she sat in the chair across from Cornelius Fudge. She had just come from the her recent meeting with the most exciting idea she'd had in some time. It would be perfect! It might even be enough to finally convince Cornelius that she was available!

"Dolores, you said this was urgent?" Fudge asked looking up at the Undersecretary.

"I just left a meeting with Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius. It was," she gave a little giggle, "most enlightening."

"Oh, how so? Normally Albus would come to me personally with such things…" Fudge said frowning.

"You were busy, Cornelius. There didn't seem a reason to interrupt you," she said. "Dumbledore had mentioned that Crouch was in the process of restarting the Triwizard Tournament prior his dismissal. That was such a beautiful maneuver by the way. I did so love watching his little mustache quiver as he realized you were painting him as the patsy for the entire Sirius Black affair!"

"Well it certainly wasn't hard," Fudge muttered. "The man was at fault initially. All I had to do was make certain that Skeeter and her colleagues ignored how much I had pushed things after Black's escape. Lucius was only too glad to help me ensure that the blame was properly directed."

"Yes, such a fine upstanding citizen he is," Umbridge smiled wider thinking of Lucius Malfoy. Such wonderful breeding in that family. Truly enviable. "Anyway, apparently Dumbledore wants the Tournament to be cancelled due to the high death toll."

"That's not a bad idea," Fudge said nodding. "The last thing we need right now is more bad publicity."

"Ah, but, Cornelius, you aren't thinking high enough." Umbridge took out a picture of Harry Potter and laid it on the desk. "If you name me as the official to this Tournament it should be a relatively simple matter to include the boy in the games. A game which has a nasty little habit of killing off its contestants." Her grin grew even larger. "The old fool even made the mistake of casually mentioning how he was glad that the current round of Tasks were far tamer than in the past."

Fudge's eyes widened and his mouth set into a predatory smile before drooping a bit. "That's delightfully underhanded of you, Dolores. I admit I want the boy to be taught a lesson about jumping into waters far out of his depth but…setting him up to die seems a bit extreme."

"The little menace not only insulted you to your face, Cornelius, but he did it in front of multiple witnesses. He insulted the very Ministry itself! The foundation of our society!" Umbridge simpered.

"Still…well I suppose it's not like his death would be assured…he would of course have a chance to survive though he would likely walk away with injuries...And it could drum up some popularity for the country…" Fudge thought out loud. He shifted his bowler hat and slowly nodded. "If we move forward with this Dolores we'd need to make certain that the Ministry looks good either way. Having a national hero maimed or killed in a Ministry sponsored event would reflect rather poorly."

"Of course, of course," Umbridge hurriedly agreed. "Put me in place as one of the judges and I can ensure that the brat is picked as Champion. If we state previously that no underage contestants can enter then Potter would look like the villain as everyone would assume he cheated in order to enter! We could subtly encourage Skeeter to pander to that sentiment fanning the public against the boy even more. Plus with the restriction to legal adults we could even spice up the events to a level where there is proper danger involved. I was thinking we might even add an extra event or two. Durmstrang is notorious for including Dark Arts in their curriculum – the savages," she said with a disinterested offhand wave. "It would certainly spell trouble for the little menace should he have to say…face off against of them in a duel. And there is this delightful little invention that Dumbledore mentioned in passing. Something from Russia that is being banned in most countries as the 'safety measures' are disturbingly ineffective."

Fudge considered, eventually nodding his head. "Yes, yes I think that might work. Potter would appear the villain and, however it turns out, he would be suitably cowed for threatening me. I doubt the boy would actually die, not with his record. But he will certainly be made to look a fool and come out the other side damaged. Make the arrangements, Dolores."

Dumbledore stepped out of the Floo and into his office nearly happy enough to whistle. While dealing with Umbridge tended to leave him deeply desiring a shower this last meeting was an exception. How the woman had risen so high he had no idea, she certainly didn't possess much in the way of tact or subtlety. Not like he did.

Dumbledore mentally patted himself on the back for a job well done. Umbridge had been easy enough to maneuver in the direction he wanted. She would no doubt take his ideas to Fudge – fully believing they had been her own. With Harry's display against the Minister still raw, Fudge would go along with the plans. The Triwizard Tournament would proceed – with the inherent danger increased. As Umbridge was horribly incompetent with magic Dumbledore had no doubt he'd end up having to 'assist' her with ensuring that Harry was entered; but that would be easy enough. No, the true trick would be ensuring that she kept taking his…admonitions against safety concerns. Harry would need to be deprived of his crutches to ensure that he lost – lost badly enough that Madam Pomfrey would be unable to save him.

With a sigh Dumbledore sank into his chair, his good mood dissipating slightly. When had he taken to plotting the death of a child? A boy the same age as Ariana had been? Was this truly the correct course? His eyes fell onto the books secreted away on his private shelves, the ones detailing Horcruxes. Yes. Yes, this was the only way. Harry's scar contained a Horcrux and it had already started to corrupt him. Ensuring the boy stayed at the Dursleys' despite the many required Obliviations, bribes and subtle threats over the years hadn't been enough. Harry's will had never hardened sufficiently to resist the Dark Lord's whispers. His actions since arriving at Hogwarts were proof enough of that. Harry had to die. Both to ensure that Voldemort was mortal and that another Dark Lord was removed from the board before he could ascend. The Tournament would accomplish that, one way or another.

Nodding to himself, Dumbledore took solace in the fact that his mind was still sharp enough to deduce the truth of matters. That he was still strong enough to make the hard choices.

{But, mama I want to go watch the game too!} Gabrielle pouted her arms crossed and her lip puffed out.

Apolline Delacour shook her head. {No, Gabrielle. We are not taking you on an international portkey for a game. You can come to the next one.}

{But Fleur gets to go!}

{Fleur is nearly 17. She will be in England anyway during most of the year so she can use this chance to brush up on her English a bit,} Apolline said. She had been having this same argument with her daughter for nearly a month now.

{You don't even like Quidditch that much, Gabi,} Fleur commented from the couch.

{Neither do you, Fleur,} Gabrielle shot back.

{No, but I want to visit with Celeste. It's been ages since I've seen our cousin. She moved to Bulgaria and basically dropped off the map!}

{Fleur, you know very well that Celeste travels quite extensively as one of the team's cheerleaders. That certainly doesn't count as dropping off the map.}

{She could at least send something more than a postcard,} Fleur said rolling her eyes.

{I am not having this argument again,} Apolline said throwing up her hands. {Fleur go finish your packing. Gabi, Marcel will be over at 8 tomorrow morning. Please, don't try to use your Allure to get him to let you stay up late again.}

{I was five! That was practically eight years ago!}

Fleur snorted as her sister and mother kept arguing and she headed upstairs. Despite seeming indifferent to the trip she was actually looking forward to it. She was just trying to keep Gabi from getting too jealous. She loved her sister, but until the girl went through the Change Gabi really shouldn't be around as many people as would be present at the stadium. There was far too much chance that she could lose her tentative control and attract the wrong sort of attention. Granted that'd happen anyway afterward but at least then Gabi would be able to protect herself if she was separated from her family. Fleur shivered slightly remembering what had happened to her when she had snuck out and lost control.

Brushing off that bad memory, Fleur thought instead of Victor Krum. The Seeker wasn't that attractive, but his skills were amazing and she loved to watch him fly. She did also look forward to getting to see a bit of the country she'd be spending months in. Not all of her attitude concerning the trip had been faked though. She figured most of the trip would end up being a bit boring. It wasn't like anything truly exciting was going to happen at the game anyway was it?