Meeting the Minister

November 1994

Ministry of Magic

Harry arrived in front of a door, the name plate on which read, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic.

Harry gave a gentle knock and entered the room. The room was extremely simple with only a table and chair placed in it. After all, it was not the minister's regular office, but only for use during council meetings.

"Ah! Harry Potter," the minister stood up with a wide smile on his face.

Harry nodded slowly, "Minister."

"Please, take a seat," asked the minister.

With another nod, Harry took his seat and the minister also sat back in his chair.

"How are you, Harry?" Asked the minister.

Though, Harry frowned internally hearing the minister talking so much informally with him, calling his first name and not even using his Lord title, he maintained a stoic expression on his face.

"I am fine, minister," said Harry.

The minister smiled wildly but Harry was not finished yet.

He continued with amger visible on his face, "As fine as I can be when two of your incompetent department head have put my life in danger."

The smile on Cornelius face vanished and nervousness took over his face.

"That... Harry... I believe that Ludo and Lord Crouch were not responsible for this," stammered the minister.

Harry scoffed, "I know that they are not responsible. They are incompetent."

"If they had remained responsible, such incident would have never occured," added Harry.

The minister felt lost for words about what to reply to this. He had called for Harry to discuss various issues.

One among them was trying to see if Harry could take his charges against the two department head back. But it did not seem possible. Even though, he had to try it.

"What did you want to discuss, minister?" Asked Harry with his irritation clear on his face.

"Ah!! Harry, you see, because of your claims, it has caused a lot of damage to the ministry," said the minister in a sad tone. "I was wondering if you could take those charges back?"

He added in hurry lest Harry directly deny it, "I promise that I will definitely conduct a full detailed internal investigation into your case. And whoever would be responsible would be throughly punished."

Harry shook his head, "No minister. I was earlier assured of the same thing but nothing came out of it."

"But since you insist so much, let one day of hearing be completed," Harry gave the carrot to the minister. "Maybe we can arrive at some out of court of settlement after that."

Harry knew that by the end of the day, the ministry would be so much on backfoot that Harry would be able to extort anything.

Not having any other better option, the minister could only nod in agreement.

The minister hesitated but ultimately asked, "Harry, why do you have 5 Lordship?"

Harry raised his eyebrows, "Maybe because, I am the lord of 5 houses."

The minister let out a chuckle on the 'joke' that Harry made.

"Anything more you want to say, minister?" Asked Harry.

The minister sighed deeply and was back to the skill he knew the best, boot licking and fawning.

"Harry," he said. "You are now no ordinary boy. You may not even have proper idea how much power do these 5 houses hold."

"You truly are an ingenious figure. To bag out 5 Lordship at such an young age. You must have faced a lot of hardship."

He continued, "Harry, though my hands are tied in certain matter, I will try my best to help you in anyway. Even with all your genius, you lack the experience which only comes with age. If you ever face any dilemma or confusion, you can directly consult me."

He paused and leaned towards Harry, "And hopefully, when the time comes, you would use your votes wisely and we could form a healthy and happy cooperation."

Harry, not willing to drag the matter, nodded, "I understand, minister."

"Then, I will take my leave," said Harry and stood up to leave.

"Good luck, Harry," said the minister with a smiling face.

Harry walked away. Not kuch time was left before the proceedings would begin once again.

As soon as Harry stepped out of the room, he came face to face with a certain blonde man.

"Ah! Lord Malfoy," grinned Harry sarcastically.

Lucius clenched his fist and stared at Harry with all the hatred he could.

"Lord Malfoy, I apologise, now that because of me you cannot prade Draco around as Lord Black," Harry rubbed Lucius one last time before walking away leaving an angry Malfoy.

Malfoy snorted, "Just wait, you brat."

Lucius then walked inside the minister's office definitely to do some last minutes task.

.

.

.

After another few minutes the Wizengamot was back to its work.

"Let us begin the proceedings," declared Madam Marchbanks.

"Ludo Bagam and Barty Crouch, please come into the well of the house," said Madam Marchbanks and three chairs popped out in the middle of the well.

Andromeda who was silent till now interrupted, "Madam Marchbanks, I on behalf of Lord Harry Potter want to propose a different way of taking this trial forward."

"Lord Harry Potter wishes that the trial of Albus Dumbledore be conducted separately from Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch. According to him, even if he has pressed the same charges against all 3, their involvement varies significantly," continued Andromeda.

"He believes only by doing so, we can bring to light many different perspectives of the truth," said Andromeda.

Dumbledore was almost instant in his reply, "I object, madam Marchbanks."

"This method is a futile exercise only meant to waste the time of the council. If there are variations,we could account them separately," said Dumbledore.

"Albus Dumbledore," said Madam Marchbanks. "I very well agree with this time wastage theory."

Dumbledore face beamed while Andromeda's mind began to spin faster to fina an alternate method.

"But in the previous decades of life, I have participated in countless council meetings and trust me the council has wasted more time on many useless things," said madan Marchbanks.

The smile on Dumbledore's face vanished while Madam Marchbanks declared, "I accept the proposal made by Lord Harry Potter."

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