Ch. 167 Getting some more nails

'My Lord,

The target has ordered the attack on Azkaban. Set to occur at before the holidays. Target believes this will cause the best reaction.

Target also seems to be in a more positive mood. He may have other plans in motion.'

'I guess it's time to start hammering some more nails in the Minister's coffin. It also might be around the time when Voldy realized the extent of his link with Harry.' I thought in response to Jennifer's latest report.

"Dobby!" I called out from my school office.

"Yes master Bones!" The little house-elf squeaked out happily as he popped in.

Good thing I had my two elves stay registered into Hogwarts' wards.

"Tell Tory I'll be away for the evening because I'm starting the Real Minister plan. Also deliver this letter to the Headmaster to inform him of my absence." I ordered the little guy as I hand him a letter.

"Dobby will do both perfectly master Bones." He immediately said as he grabbed the letter and popped away.

I then grabbed my coat and flamed to the Folster manor.

-flashback to a few days before Sirius and Amelia's wedding.

"Mother, could I talk to you about something important?" I asked as she was spending some time with Sirius.

'They've really taken to being together again huh. I am happy for her.' I thought as the two sort of scrambled to let go of each other and look presentable.

Well it was more mother with some embarrassment from being caught snuggling. Sirius was looking at me like I stole something from him.

"*ahem* What is it dear?" She asked back with a little cough.

"It's about my plans for the future and how to deal with the Ministry side of things after Fudge's stupidity is revealed. I know this is sudden, but I need to talk to you before moving forward." I answered, making her get serious very quickly.

"What are you thinking of doing?" Amelia asked as she sat up.

"Should I be here for this?" Sirius awkwardly asked.

"It's fine. I'm just here to talk about a possibility and just so happens that this one heavily involves your soon-to-be wife, so not an issue." I answered without much care.

"Alright, so lay out your plan kid." The shaggy haired man said as he sat up with some excitement in his eyes.

"Well, to make a long plan short, what do you think about becoming the next Minister for Magic?" I asked mother with a grin.

It took a few moments for that to sink in the both of them.

"Explain Aedan." Mother then said as her eyes narrowed, showing she was completely focused on my words now. "Also, let him explain properly before you say anything Sirius."

It was funny to watch the man about to stand up and say something, only to sit down and shut his open mouth with only a few words. Especially someone like Sirius.

"Ok. So we all know that when everyone finds out He's back, it will completely destroy Fudge politically. He won't ever be able to hold any kind of important office after that." I started off, making the two nod at the inevitable outcome. "And once he's out of office, we will need a new Minister for Magic. Now who do you think the people will want in power when the Dark Lord has returned?"

"Someone with the ability to protect them." Mother answered after only a moments thought.

"Exactly. And from that single criteria, we can guess who the most likely candidates would be. The first would be Dumbledore for obvious reasons, but he would never take the position. Second would either be you or Rufus Scrimgeour, because of your times as Aurors and leadership of said part of the Ministry. And third would have been Crouch, but he was murdered during the tournament last year. So all in all, the two most likely candidates are you and Rufus, but you already have a huge advantage because of your status as the Head of the DMLE and our funding of the Aurors in place of the Ministry." I say with a quick breakdown of the candidates.

"Dear, be honest with me. Did you plan for me to become the next Minister?" Mother asked as she looked at me.

"I would really prefer for you to hold the office, but I would never force it on you. The Auror thing is so we don't have completely under equipped and vulnerable soldiers when the Dark Lord is done building his power. If you don't want to be the next Minister then all you have to do is endorse someone else." I quickly said to not pressure mother into thinking she has to be Minister.

"Even if the kid did plan for it, so what? Didn't you always say you wanted to change the Ministry for the better? What better way than to be a proper Minister? And with the kid's help, my support and our friends, you certainly would be able to do just that." Sirius then said as he turned to his future wife.

"Siri, you do understand that this would make me very busy and it might delay some of what we've talked about right?" She said to the man beside her.

"I do get that. I'm not a complete fool. But this has been your dream for as long as I've known you and I won't get in the way of that. I've caused you enough grief." He sincerely said as he grabbed her hand and look into her eyes, making mother blush slightly from the warm gaze.

'Wow, don't even need to do anything.' I thought as I looked at their interactions.

"Alright alright. If you're sure." She said after looking into his eyes and accepting his words.

"Of course I'm sure. You think I'm the type of man who would just say whatever to please a lady?" He proudly proclaimed.

"Yes, yes you are." Was the immediate counter.

"That was only during our school years!" He exclaimed as he deflated from the direct hit.

"And when you travelled on that motorcycle, hit on those muggle girls just to upset your family, flirted with Lily just to embarrass her and annoy James, or when you tried to make me jealous by constantly complimenting other female Aurors and hit wizards in my presence." Mother then added on to form the killing blow.

I just felt bad for him at this point.

Apparently mother agreed since she decided to let him off the hook.

"But as long as you keep keep those old habits aimed at me, I'll forgive you." She said with a small smile.

"Deal!" He excitedly said and I could almost see his dog tail wagging behind him.

"I really hope you haven't given Tory that many tips." I said as a result of this little bit.

"Oh only a few. Girls have to stick together." Amelia responded with some mischief in her eyes.

"Well, damn. Going to have to be careful then." I said with a small sigh.

"Fufu." Was mother's response to my future troubles she created.

"Anyway, so becoming Minister: yay or nay?" I said as I went back to the main topic.

"I'll do it." She answered with a determined look replacing the amused one.

"That makes things easier for later then. This won't be happening until the new year at least, so I suggest you enjoy yourselves and relax cause after that we will all get busy." I then said to the couple as I took my leave.

"Don't worry about that kid. I'll make sure she can 'relax' plenty." Sirius said as I was leaving.

I didn't even need to turn around to know what look he had on his face and what he meant when he said that.

-end flashback (am I doing too many of these?)

The reason I was thinking about this was simple: the invasion of Azkaban was a game changer.

The most likely outcome is that Fudge blames Pettigrew for the act, just because he can't blame anyone else for it right now. There are no other notorious, known and currently free/on the run death eaters right now, limiting his options.

But there are far too many holes in that story, even more than when they blamed Sirius in the canon. For one, Sirius had actually been in Azkaban and escaped it, so he actually knew where the thing was. Two, Sirius is a very skilled and clever wizard. And three, he was still being treated as the hand of the Dark Lord, giving him some kind of motive.

Peter on the other hand is a very different story. He doesn't know where the damn prison is. That is something which is only known by a select few in the Ministry, on top of that they are sworn to secrecy and you can only get there by portkey without being detected by either the wards or the dementors. Pettigrew is not even close to being as skilled as Sirius. Peter is a survivor and has great instincts when it comes to that, but his other skills are lacking. And lastly, he is a betrayer and not a valued fanatic, as well as a coward, drastically reducing any reason why the man would be anywhere near Azkaban or even a single Dementor, much less all of them.

This will be where the Herald will begin destabilizing Fudge's position. The breaking in of Azkaban and the lost control over every Dementor will do splendidly. Then we build on that by telling people what they have truly been trying to do at Hogwarts, add in some of the ridiculous number of scandals I can implicate the man and his supporters in, cut him off from any financial support Lucius could offer thanks to Narcissa, and I'll be surprised if people won't want to have the man in Azkaban by the summer.

And then Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE, highly respected for her impartiality and character, someone capable, trustworthy, well known and supported by a vast number of 'righteous' figures, will come in and take the reigns.

Dissenting voices, meaning all those assholes who would support the Magic nazis, have been steadily cleaned out in secret by myself and by the Minister himself since he believed they were Dumbledore supporters. I already have most clean and open-minded Wizengamot members on my side, with a few meetings arranged with influential members of the more neutral families, and just a ton of blackmail and incriminating evidence on the bigot families. On top of that, I already have control of the most powerful companies in the country and maybe the continent since I'm the founder for all of them. Add Dumbledore's support, Harry's if needed, a proper Auror force, and this will probably be on track for being the most unified the Ministry has been in centuries.

But the reason I was going to the Folster Manor this evening was to maybe obtain a useful enough employee today.

So changing my appearance to the relatively good looking Micheal Folster, with neatly combed brown hair, forest green eyes, strong jaw and freshly shaven face, I sat down at my work desk and waited for my appointment to arrive as I sipped on the earl grey Scott had prepared for me.

It didn't take long for me to feel my guest through the manor wards.

"Scott, if you would." I simply said as I put down my cup.

"Of course sir." He answered since he already knew what to do.

After only a few minutes, a knock came from my office door.

"Ms. Skeeter sir." My aide informed me as I looked up from my tea.

It seems that even though she tried to hide it, she has been impacted by her loss of employment. Less makeup, less flashy clothing, no overpowering perfume, lack of that arrogant confidence from before and more somber emotions.

"Come in Ms. Skeeter. I am sure you are curious as to why I have asked for you, but before we begin I will offer you some refreshments. Tea? Coffee? Any sort of juice or water?" I politely offer as the blonde woman looks at me rather nervously.

"No. Thank you." She said as she now had her focus on me.

"Just to inform you, you are not in any kind of trouble. My aim today is to make you an offer for employment. Your services for proper pay and a vow of secrecy. If you refuse, you may simply leave. If I wanted to harm you, there are far easier ways than to invite you into my home." I said to the woman with a calm smile.

"Yes well, one can't be too careful. It also isn't everyday you get invited to meet the elusive Micheal Folster." She replied with a bit of false bravado.

"I just don't like dealing with all the political annoyances and suck ups which come with a position like mine. I do what I do to help push our society ahead, not for the fame. Which is why I have Scott and my other associates take care of what needs direct interactions." I followed up as I gave her the official reason for Micheal Folster's lack of exposure.

"And why would someone like you, want me? I'm not exactly an idealist, and I'm certainly not anywhere near as influential as your associates. Especially now." She said as she almost whispered that last part.

"Because you have certain skills which would help me achieve a few of my goals. If you did not, I would have simply left you where you were." I bluntly stated.

"What skills? If you hadn't noticed, I can't exactly write anything anymore." She bitterly responded.

"Your infiltration abilities of course. Being a beetle is a great asset for what I have planned for you." I answered with a confident smile.

"How do you know that?" She immediately asked as she became very nervous once again.

"Relax Ms. Skeeter, I have no intention of having you visit Azkaban. Even if you decide to decline my offer, I shall still not say a word. I can even swear a vow should that put you at ease. But like I said, you aren't here to be forced into anything, I simply wish to offer you a job." I said in a calm and patient voice.

"Alright, then what's the job?" She finally asked after feeling a bit more secured.

"As you might have guessed from me speaking of your infiltration skills, I want to hire you as an information gatherer. I need you to either find useful information on either selected targets or your own marks. This would mean finding out their true characters, shady dealings, their pasts, their troubles, possible exploits, things which could prove advantageous in both a positive manner or negative." I explained carefully.

I want her to understand that this isn't just so I can blackmail people. I also want to find out if I can help others or if some is doing wrong without my knowledge. I already do that through Sherry, but I don't have many true infiltrators, mostly due to our focus on getting informants and agents into useful places.

"And what's the pay? This is dangerous work and know it." The blonde asked as she looked like she was gaining a bit of her spirit back.

"The pay will be 20 000 g a year. You will be getting additional bonuses depending on the value of your information, with the possibility to gain additional bonuses if it proves to be more useful than initially thought. If you still desire to become a journalist, I will arrange for you to receive good information and help you create stimulating, truthful and accurate articles. There will also be some other services available as one of my people, but that is for if you agree." I explained straight up.

"Just out of curiosity, how much are those bonuses?" She asked with a strained voice due to her barely containing herself.

"Depending on the value of the information, between maybe 100 to 50 000 g so far. If your information turns out to be wrong multiple times however, you will be forced to pay a penalty or your contract may simply terminated." I answered and gave her my warning before she gets any ideas.

I wasn't sure she really heard my warning because I could almost see gold in her eyes.

"Where do I sign?!" She then yelled out as she stood up and slammed her hands on my desk.

"Right here. Please do read all the details before signing. There are some other benefits as well as the rules and duties of this position." I answered as I placed the contract in front of her.

As excited as she was, Rita still knew better than to just sign a magically binding contract without reading it. No one wants to basically sign themselves into slavery without knowing after all. But my contracts are all legit.

"Well, I guess it's a pleasure working with you chief." She finally said as she signed her name and the contract took effect with a shining blue light.

"Welcome aboard Ms. Skeeter. Here is your first priority. Read this and learn it. After you're done, it will vanish. It cannot be copied and it will destroy itself should anyone else touch it. After that, you can begin working by reporting to one of the locations within this book." I explained as I handed her the book all my informants are currently using.

"Got it chief. Anything else?" She simply asked as she took it.

"That will be all. I hope this will be a mutually beneficial arrangement Ms. Skeeter. Scott will see you out." I answered with a polite smile as my aide opened the door right on cue.

"Follow me Ms. Skeeter. I shall be escorting you home if you so wish." The man politely offered as he began to do his job.

"No need for that. I'll just apparate." She responded.

"Then follow me. I shall guide you until we are outside the manor wards." He said with a wave of his arm, letting her pass in front of him as he held the office door, then closing it behind the both of them.

'Now I simply need her to start taking on the assignment we have for her and I can take out everyone in one fell swoop.' I thought with an excited smile on my face.