Chapter 241: Damage Control
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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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12 August 1994, Ministry of Magic, London
Things were not looking good for Cornelius Fudge. Why did this always happen to him? It was like the entire nation of magical Britain just wanted to oppose any chance he had at improving it.
Everything was going so well at the start. The actual event went splendidly. Cornelius had been able to land a very profitable trade agreement with the Indian magical government and was discussing the possibility of an untaxed European market that would finally allow the economy to grow. And those were just the highlights, he had an entire team of wizards and witches that would make offers to foreign business owners, trying to entice them with promises of low taxes, just to move or open branches in Britain.
The organization of the Quidditch World Cup had worked very well. The DMLE had handled any possible riots or duels due to the event. The obliviators worked overtime to make sure that the statute of secrecy was still put in place. The match itself was sensational, with a tight finish that would be remembered for decades at the very least.
Until everything fell apart, of course, because why would he ever have nice things? It was always just one crisis after another and dealing with them was a nightmare in itself.
Which was why he was in his office, essentially being berated like a schoolboy, "Fifty-seven deaths, Fudge, and another thirty-six that are unaccounted for. That is absolutely unacceptable!"
The bearded man glaring at him was none other than Heinrich Eberstadt, a Swiss wizard who often acted like a delegate of the ICW.
However, Fudge was used to dealing with men like him, "And you think I liked this. My people died as well…"
"Yet most of the victims were foreign, and their governments are pressing for reparations to be made. Someone has to be accountable…"
"And our Department of Magical Law Enforcement built a task force specifically to investigate who was behind this."
The ICW delegate wasn't amused, "This was an international incident, Fudge, not a small event. The ICW will send a team to lead the investigation. They will communicate with your ministry when they arrive."
That, alone, was a bad start. He couldn't really do anything to stop that. The event was officially classified as an international incident, meaning that the ICW could interfere as much as it wanted. Taking over the investigation in everything but name was a power move, one that Fudge couldn't counter, "Fine. I'll tell Bones to expect them. Anything else I can do to help?"
"Yes. Now that the investigation is out of the way, we need to talk about reparations."
"What reparation?" Cornelius exclaimed, "This was an attack, one that no one had seen coming. There were no signs of Vampire activity in the country. It was probably a foreign nation that did this. You can't talk about reparations without the investigations being over…"
The infuriating Swiss wizard smirked at him, "The Quidditch World Cup was your responsibility and so was its security. No matter what the investigations reveal, you hold some of the blame for failing your duty."
"That's unreasonable. No amount of security could have prevented an attack like this one."
"And yet, a few months, you assured the ICW personally that Britain was safe. You assured us that what happened to Azkaban was an unfortunate incident and that every inmate was caught, and the perpetrator has died. We agreed, even with our misgivings about your serial killer running around, the mess with Albus Dumbledore, and the fiasco with the Grindelwald impersonator, because it would have been too expensive to choose another venue. We did this with the assurance that an incident like this wouldn't happen. You failed to uphold the protection you promised us and now dozens of ministries are vying for your blood."
Fudge flinched at the accusations. He couldn't really deny them; he did assure them that Britain was safe, and to be perfectly honest, he thought it was. Normally, he would have had to deal with each ministry separately and try to come to some kind of agreement. That would have been both time-consuming and very costly. He didn't even have the gold since he had invested too much into the Quidditch World Cup, hoping that the deals he would make would pay back.
Economically, it was a sound idea. Now, not so much, considering the pile of letters on his desk asking for their agreements to be voided. Truth be told, the British Ministry of Magic was on its last leg, just a small blow away from a full-on economic crisis.
However, the ICW representative mentioning the other ministries meant that he wanted something, and had a plan in mind to help Britain, probably with some outrageous demands, "Fine! What do you want?"
The infuriating man did not lose the mocking smirk on his face, "To help you, of course. That's what the ICW is all about, after all. There will be concessions, of course, such as a couple of altered laws, increased taxes to the ICW, a bigger list of banned items, you get the idea… You'll get the list in your office in a few days. Oh, and one last thing, we want an ICW Hit-Wizard in every Auror squad, but that's a temporary measure until an evaluation of your nation's security is made."
Cornelius couldn't help but freeze at the man's brazen threat. Magical Britain was facing, what was essentially an economic crisis, and the ICW was using it to reduce severely its sovereignty, essentially taking control over the government in everything but name.
Britain was home to some of the oldest magic in the world. The ICW likes to boast of its modern values, but they had essentially gutted magical Greece, reducing it to a pale shadow of what it used to be. He did not want Britain to share a similar fate on his watch.
Still, he didn't need to make a decision at the moment, "I can't agree to anything without explicit concessions, and I'll have to bring it up to the Wizengamot."
The ICW representative shrugged, "Sure, but I suggest you come to a decision quickly. We can only protect you for so long…"
And of course, there had to be a deadline. Fudge cursed inwardly. This mess wasn't going to go away anytime soon. Britain could either submit the ICW's authority, or pay the reparations, which the ministry would have to pay through selling priced assets. The British Department of Mysteries held some of the most prized artefacts in the world, and everyone wanted to have their hands on them.
The only way out was that the members of the Wizengamot, who were essentially the wealthiest families in the country, decided to help out. It was a slim chance, but if it worked, Cornelius would not resort to desperate measures, "Was there anything else?"
"Yes," the Swiss wizard responded, "the European school tournament will no longer be held in Hogwarts."
"WHAT?" Fudge exclaimed.
The man raised an unimpressed eyebrow, "Did you seriously expect schools to send their students to Britain after what just happened? And that's without even mentioning the unrest in Hogwarts after Dumbledore's departure. Minerva McGonagall's capabilities as headmistress haven't even been proven yet and bringing an international event on her doorstep, especially during her first year in the position, would be beyond cruel on your part."
"We're the ones that decided to do it in the first place. We planned the whole thing for years. We paid a fortune in deposits for the preparations alone…"
"And we thank you for your contribution. We will, of course, reimburse you if we use anything you have prepared but I wouldn't hold my breath. The European tournament is an ICW event, even if you are the ones who came up with the idea of rebranding and modifying the Tri-Wizard tournament… This decision was never in your hands."
Cornelius couldn't help but slump in his seat. It was just one bad thing after another… Was his tenure as minister cursed or something? He wouldn't have put it past his predecessor to do it, she definitely did not want to leave her seat…. The DMLE had to literally drag her out.
The sad thing was that they were right. Cornelius and Barty Crouch had worked together to create a proposal for the ICW to sponsor the event. Even Dumbledore had been weirdly supportive of the idea, which was weird since the man had often refused any sort of reform that involved Hogwarts. It had made things very complicated when it came to dealing with the school, but no one wanted to piss off Albus Dumbledore of all people. He only hoped that McGonagall would be a more reasonable headmistress…
The entire event was under the guise of international magical cooperation, but Cornelius wanted it to create small partnerships and companionships between senior students in European schools. It opened the idea of starting projects together, of making important connections that would only grow in time.
It was why they had removed the restriction that only three schools had to compete, with each having only one champion. Now, he had no idea what in Merlin's name how ICW was going to change things.
All in all, it was a shame; the European School Tournament would have been the perfect way to pave the way forward to economic growth after the Quidditch World Cup.
Out of curiosity, he asked, "Which country is going to host it then?"
"We're still discussing many options. Each country will have to come to us with a proposal that we would end up choosing."
Ah, so bribes, as usual. It was funny how corrupt every political group was. People liked to mock his administration for its corruption, and it deserved the reputation, but everything would just stop working without corruption. The administration was built to make everything as hard as possible without something greasing the wheel a bit. It was designed so that old Pureblood families would still have an advantage after their lordships were abolished.
The ICW had the same problems. No matter how much they liked to portray themselves as impartial judges, focusing on equality and justice, they were just as corrupt, they just hid it better, and it wasn't as blatant as magical Britain.
The representative dismissed himself and left his office, and Cornelius let out a loud groan. To say that this meeting was brutal would have been an understatement.
He was in no mood to deal with it today, and just opened his drawer, took out a bottle of Firewhiskey and started to drink.
He would handle the mess tomorrow. For now, he would drown himself in sorrows, enjoying whatever is left of his career.
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Alastor Moody sat in an office, feeling more than a little conflicted. Ever since he had been outed from Hogwarts, Dumbledore just got more unstable, for the lack of a better word. Apparently, Grindelwald was truly back and that affected the champion of Light very severely.
Still, he had followed the man for so long…
As much as Dumbledore's behaviour worried him, it was far better than the other option, and so, Alastor did his duty as asked, "Your gambit worked, Albus. The ICW is relocating the tournament."
"That's good. I'll speak to my friends in the ICW so that it can be moved where I need it to be."
Alastor didn't understand how callous the man spoke of the innocent lives lost during the attack that they had orchestrated, "Was that really necessary, Albus? To cause so much death for just a school tournament."
The older wizard's expression turned sombre, "Yes. We are not fighting against Voldemort here. This is Grindelwald and believe me, only drastic measures work against him. In the long run, those deaths would save thousands of lives. In the grand scheme of things, this tragedy was for the greater good."
The greater good! Alastor had the urge to sneer at the thought. He hated those words with a passion. Someone could easily justify anything by just uttering them…
He did not voice his doubts, of course, and instead opted to change the subject, "At least a vampire elder has perished. Those monsters indirectly cause more deaths than most Dark Lords put together. How the hell did you manage to convince him to join the assault?"
"I promised him something he craved more than his quiet life. I will admit that I do not mourn Baba Yaga's death."
"Did you figure out who did it?"
The former Headmaster frowned, "I have some ideas. Things are certainly getting interesting…"
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Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.