FicWad

Chapter 19: Hijinx in Hogsmeade:

A large quantity of snow blanketed the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the middle part of December. The holiday break was to begin tomorrow but today, the students had the last Hogsmeade weekend until the spring. A weekend that many had been looking forward to complete some last minute Christmas shopping before the holidays had officially begun.

Harry walked down to breakfast. Today, he wasn’t going to be the Boy-Who-Lived, no matter what. He was going to enjoy a nice, relaxing day in Hogsmeade alone with his girlfriend. After all, after how hard he had been working preparing for the inevitable time where Voldemort would break his silence and renew his reign of terror, Harry was absolutely certain that he deserved a day off. Harry would be damned if anything got in his way of his date with Ginny.

Then again, Harry wondered if that was too much as every Hogsmeade weekend, something rather catastrophic happened, ruining the entire trip. Harry hoped that the upcoming Hogsmeade trip would go off without any difficulties.

Harry walked through the doorway from the area leading up from the dungeons, into the Great Hall where Daphne, Theodore, Hermione, and Ginny had already managed to get up before Harry and were about to eat breakfast.

“Morning Harry,” said Ginny brightly as Harry sat down next to her.

“Up a bit late aren’t you Harry?” asked Daphne curiously.

“Yeah that is a bit peculiar, normally you beat us up by several hours,” said Hermione before quickly adding. “Not that we’re complaining because after all of the work you’ve been doing as of late, you look as if you could have used some sleep.”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Harry dismissively. “Mind you, I wasn’t trying to get extra sleep because I’ve got a lot of work to do. Voldemort does have fifty years of magical knowledge on me, you know.”

“Yes, but what good is knowledge going to do you if you fall asleep the next time you go against Voldemort,” said Hermione coolly, as she buttered her toast.

“Funnily enough Mum told me the same thing the other day,” said Harry. “You sure, you two haven’t been conspiring behind my back, Hermione?”

“Well, you have to admit they’re both right,” said Theodore as Daphne nodded in agreement.

Harry opened his mouth to speak but Hermione raised her hand tentatively to cut him off.

“Harry, we know you know what you’re doing, it’s just that we’re concerned,” whispered Hermione before turning towards Ginny. “Isn’t that right, Ginny?”

“Hermione, I prefer not to be involved in this, okay,” said Ginny calmly, as she partially agreed with Hermione, but she was beginning to agree with Harry about the fact that he was many steps behind Voldemort in magical experience and needed to work extra hard if he wanted to catch up. Granted, she didn’t like it but that was the unfortunate truth of the matter.

“I know you’re concerned but….” Started Harry before he shook his head. “Never mind, this is a conversion I don’t wish to have today, Hermione. “

Hermione nodded in reluctant agreement but she still wore a rather anxious look on her face.

“Personally, I can’t wait to get out of this school,” said Daphne. “Even through I don’t think this year will be much of a holiday with all the homework the teachers are piling on us.”

“Yeah, they seem to want to kill us before we even get to take our O.W.Ls,” remarked Theodore in a tired voice. “Still, it will do us some good to get out of Hogwarts for the day and go into Hogsmeade.”

“Providing we don’t get buried under several feet of snow, that is,” said Daphne.

“I certainly hope snow is the least of my worries,” said Harry darkly.

“I agree, every time we have a Hogsmeade weekend, something rather out of the ordinary happens,” said Ginny in a moody voice.

“You know last time nothing too terribly out of the ordinary occurred,” said Hermione calmly. “Just enjoy your day.”

“Besides, no one would be stupid enough to try some diabolical scheme to ruin your day in this weather,” said Hailey, who had just arrived at the Slytherin Table. “Look, Ginny, Harry, you just enjoy your day. Nothing bad is going to happen. I know I’m going to enjoy mine.”

“Hailey, please tell me you’re not going to sneak into Hogsmeade illegally,” said Harry sternly.

“Okay, Harry, I’m not sneaking into Hogsmeade illegally,” said Hailey and she was rewarded by incredulous looks from Daphne, Theodore, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry. “What? You told me to tell you that and I did.”

“Just don’t get caught,” said Harry shortly before he rose up from his seat and walked away from the Great Hall. A second later, Ginny got up as well, before following Harry without another word.

“What’s their problem today, anyway?” asked Hailey lightly when Ginny and Harry was completely out of an earshot of everyone.

“Voldemort,” said Hermione shortly.

“Well, yes, that can ruin anyone’s outlook on life,” said Hailey, nodding her head in agreement. From what she knew, Ginny and Harry had both been working hard preparing for the inevitable moment that Voldemort will come out of hiding.

Hogsmeade was covered in quite a substantial bit of snow and the cold winds blew in the faces of the students, causing the students who had braved the trip to the village on the eve of the beginning of the winter holidays to take refuge in many of the shops.

Harry and Ginny walked down the slippery paths, their boots heavily charmed against slipping and to help them walk easily through the mounds of snow in Hogsmeade.

“So, Ginny, do you think we should go to the Three Broomsticks first?” asked Harry, breaking the silence.

“That would be good, Harry, providing we can make it through this bitter cold,” said Ginny putting her gloved hands over her face, while shivering at the cold whipping down at her face.

Harry blinked; he couldn’t believe he forgot to do this. He raised his wand, waving it in a diagonal motion, sending a splash of orange light across his and Ginny’s bodies.

“Better?” asked Harry.

“Yes, thank you Harry,” said Ginny. “Another one of your inventions, I presume.”

“No actually, Mum created that spell when she worked you-know-where,” said Harry. “Rather useful spell warms you up for about fifteen minutes, which is long enough to get to an indoor location and out of this blasted weather.”

“So, your mongrel Mudblood mother decided to teach you a few tricks when she came back from the dead, Potter,” drawled a cool voice which caused Ginny and Harry to spin around, pointing their wands, ready to blast whomever was speaking to them at the first sign of trouble.

Draco Malfoy was standing behind them, with an indifferent expression on his face. Harry hadn’t seen Malfoy since the duel that caused Malfoy to be expelled from Hogwarts almost a year ago and a meeting right now was unfortunately all too soon.

“Oh, it’s just you Malfoy,” said Ginny calmly. “We thought for a minute it was someone who was actually a threat.”

“Amusing, Weasley,” said Malfoy dryly. “So you’re still leeching off of Potter, hoping to get yourself a bit of gold. I reckon whatever you get is more than your father would make in a year.”

“Malfoy, you’re one to talk about leeching off of people, as much as you leech off your father’s reputation,” said Harry coolly, putting his arm around Ginny who looked around ready to curse Malfoy into the next year. “Anyway, why are you even here?”

“I have a right to be here, Potter. There is no law prohibiting me from visiting a village,” drawled Malfoy. “You should be offering me your condolences as we speak, Potter.”

“What, did you finally discover the fact your father has a disgraced older brother who’s a squib currently living in New York?” asked Ginny with a smirk.

“How dare you, you stupid bitch!” exclaimed Malfoy which caused Ginny to put her hand onto his arm to make sure that Harry didn’t attempt to do something along the lines of yanking Malfoy’s voice box out.

As appealing as the thought of a Draco Malfoy who had suddenly and painfully lost the ability to speak sounded.

“A line as pure and noble as the Malfoys would have nothing as disgusting as a squib as part of us. Father is an only child, as all respectful purebloods are,” said Malfoy in a snide, pompous voice.

“Look, Malfoy, as much as I’d love to stay here and explain to you why you yourself has disgraced your family line more than a squib, Ginny and I have plans for today,” said Harry as if he was talking to a small child.

“Besides, Harry, I’m sure Draco here has plans himself that he needs to get on with,” said Ginny with a mischievous glint in her eye. “After all, he needs to spend some quality time with his left hand.”

Harry broke into laughter as Malfoy reached into his pocket instinctively but Harry held up his hand.

“Malfoy, I didn’t come here to embarrass anyone, but I swear if you attempt to attack me, there is a good chance that we’ll be sending whatever is left of you back to your father in a matchbox,” said Harry in a serious tone of voice before Ginny grabbed his hand to make sure Harry didn’t do anything that he’d regret.

“Watch yourself,” said Malfoy cryptically before turning around with a sulky expression on his face.

Ginny and Harry snickered as they walked down to the path towards the Three Broomsticks.

“I must say there is a small, deranged part of me that sort of misses having Malfoy attending Hogwarts,” said Harry with a smirk.

“Yes, I must admit it’s amusing to see him making a fool out of himself attempting to match wits with you,” said Ginny as she followed her boyfriend to the There Broomsticks before growing suddenly seriously. “You don’t suppose he might try to do something to disrupt our date.”

“Ginny, dear, I doubt Malfoy could do anything that would not take me a few seconds to stop and teach him a rather painful lesson that he soon won’t forget,” said Harry, before they pushed the door to the Three Broomsticks open, before walking inside towards the warmth.

Draco stood on the pathway, seething. How dare those two disrespect him? He was a Malfoy after all, one of the most elite pureblooded families who ever lived. Draco was particularly outraged by the slanderous remarks that there was a squib in the Malfoy family line. Squibs were perhaps the most disgusting things on the planet. Some considered them below Mudbloods in respect.

Every bad thing that had happened to Draco over the past few years could be related back to Potter. His father told Draco that within a few years, he would be the leader of the Slytherin house but his influence broke when Potter got himself sorted into Slytherin, no doubt influencing the Sorting Hat in someway. There would be no way a pathetic half blood would be Slytherin. Yet somehow Potter had managed over the next couple of years to gain the influence of at least sixty percent of the Slytherin house, mostly the younger students. That number surely grew with each passing year, as more of the older purebloods left Hogwarts and new students, with a few Mudbloods tossed in to disgrace the Slytherin house even further, replaced them. All of which subscribed to Potter’s demented outlook on the world, namely Mudbloods, half bloods, part humans, and other unnaturalness should be on equal footing to noble pureblood wizards. As far as Draco was concerned, Potter was a manipulative bastard robbing the magical world of its long observed precious traditions and he was no better than that old fool Albus Dumbledore.

Then last year, Potter managed to provoke him into a duel, which caused Draco’s expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unfortunately for him, Draco’s life would get much worse after being expelled from Hogwarts. Thanks to Potter, he was blocked from attending any other Magical school in the world, under threat of being thrown in Azkaban. His father could have overturned this block, but even his father had been poisoned slightly by Potter’s action. Draco’s father had been rather cold in the past year as if this entire incident was his fault and had sliced his inheritance in half. Surely, his father should be intelligent enough to realize that this was all Potter’s fault!

Draco vowed to make Potter pay for what he did to him, one way or another. If it was the last thing he would do, Draco would bring down Harry Potter by himself and expose him as a disgrace for all of the Magical World to see.

Taking his wand out, Draco stalked off to find where Weasley and Potter had gone, fighting the bitter cold and blowing snow as he made his way down the pathway, barely avoiding slipping on the ice underneath the snow and falling flat on his face He would make them pay for treating him as a joke.

A much warmed up and relaxed Harry and Ginny sat at a table in a secluded corner of the Three Broomsticks, talking quietly about various subjects under the cover of a layered privacy ward while enjoying their butterbeers. Ginny seemed to be doing her best to dance around the subject of Voldemort and anything relating to Harry’s enemy. Still, Harry felt grateful that she asked him about something indirectly relating to Voldemort that he needed an opinion on.

“Harry, you really haven’t said anything about passing on the reigns to the Defense group to someone else yet,” said Ginny.

“I just was thinking about that the other day and I’ll try to be brief as I can, so not to take up too much time and ruin the day,” said Harry calmly. “I’m looking to slowly integrate someone else leading to the group so I can slip back into the advisory role we talked about earlier. Looking at everyone in our group, there seems to be three that have been improving well enough that I feel comfortable with taking the role of leading the Defense group.”

Harry paused before taking a deep breath as Ginny looked intently at him, waiting for the answer.

“Those three would be, you, Hermione, and Luna,” said Harry quickly. “Now, I’ve already spoken to Hermione and she’s absolutely adamant about the fact that with her prefect duties, she won’t have time to run a group that would keep the standards that I have been running. I haven’t gotten around to talking to Luna yet, but I probably won’t get around to doing that until after the holidays.”

“Harry, if I have to and Luna says no to running the group, I’ll help take some of the stress off of you by running the group because I have a feeling that you’ll keep running the group,” said Ginny slowly. “I really don’t want to do it unless I have to because it will look like…”

“Ginny, I know you can handle it and I wouldn’t put you in such a position if I wasn’t confident you can handle it,” said Harry sternly. “Trust me; I’m not playing favorites just because I love you. Doing that would hurt you and that is one thing that I wouldn’t be able to stand.”

Ginny smiled before raising her wand and wordlessly casting a couple more rather creative privacy wards so her and Harry wouldn’t be disturbed for any reason. Getting the hint, Harry pulled his girlfriend forward in an embrace before kissing her.

Draco walked through the Three Broomsticks, casually stepping around anyone, before looking around to see if there was anyone who was to witness what he was going to do. Seeing that everyone was busy talking, Draco stepped forward preparing to get a clear shot to curse Potter or Weasley.

Unfortunately for the disgraced Malfoy heir, he hit one of the privacy wards. Draco’s skin felt as if it had burst into flames. Wincing, he stumbled outside the Three Broomsticks, as the burning feeling subsided before being replaced by Draco getting the impulse of wanting to claw off all of his skin. Draco stepped outside, screaming as he itched his arms madly. His arms had broken out into a rash that seemed to itch more by each passing second no matter what Draco did.

In his inattentiveness from itching, Draco slipped on the ice, falling backwards into a rather large mound of snow. The snow seemed to have relieved the rash on his arms slightly but now Draco was found with the problem of being cold and wet.

“Siccus” muttered Draco, using a drying charm to remove the excess snow from his robes, before he gingerly pulled himself up the snow covered grounds of Hogsmeade, with scratch marks all over his arms but the hives having vanished.

Ginny and Harry walked from the Three Broomsticks hand in hand, looking up the pathway, oblivious to Malfoy glaring at them from a distance.

“Harry, I think I’m in the mood for some chocolate,” remarked Ginny with a smirk.

“I’m always in the mood for chocolate, sweetheart” said Harry dreamingly, thinking fondly of his second love, other than Ginny before the two walked off towards Honeydukes.

Draco ambled down the path. He would have those two this time. Raising his wand with a sadistic glare that even the Dark Lord would be grudgingly impressed by, Draco prepared for his attack.

A whooshing sound from behind him caused Draco to turn around. A large snow ball flew, smacking Draco flush in the face.

“How dare you!” snapped Draco, wiping the snow from his face, before looking around but there seemed to be no one he could see. “I’m a Malfoy and I deserved to be…”

Draco was cut off in mid sentence by another snowball impacting in his face. He stumbled backwards, falling in a large pile of snow once again. Looking up to his horror, Draco saw another pile of snow levitating above him. He closed his eyes, bracing for the worst, but the snow sailed over him, landing a few inches away from where he was laying.

“So, you didn’t have the nerve to actually go through with burying a Malfoy alive in snow,” said Draco triumphantly but he paid for his flippant remarks as a barrage of a dozen snowballs sailed right towards him.

Draco managed to dodge all but a few of the seemingly cursed snowballs. It seemed whomever was doing this was sending a serious message to him as one of the last snowballs had a large chunk of sharp ice buried in it.

Draco slipped around the corner, attempting to give whoever was doing this the slip. He wasn’t going to let a few snow related mishaps handicap his plans for his revenge on Potter and Weasley.

Ginny walked from the counter with her purchases from Honeydukes. Harry was still picking up a few things, but it was best that she paid for her stuff quickly; otherwise Harry would insist on paying the money for what she wanted. Truth be told, Ginny wouldn’t feel right if Harry had paid for his own Christmas present from her. Ginny had a feeling that Harry would love her even more for getting him this and would probably build a shrine in her honor. Of course, it was yet to be determined whether that’d be before or after Harry chewed Ginny out before spending so much money on him despite Harry spending at least twice as much on her.

“Finished,” said Harry with a gleeful smile as he levitated which seemed to be half of the chocolate in the store towards the counter. “This should last at least a couple of weeks.”

Ginny giggled at Harry’s joke. Her boyfriend had often said that he had a pretty big part of helping keep Honeydukes in business with his chocolate addiction, but the more Ginny thought about it, there was a pretty good ring of truth to Harry’s words. Harry carried his purchases in a magically modified bag before pushing the door open and walking back into the village of Hogsmeade.

Harry stopped short, raising his hand to halt Ginny, as he saw a very large, thick man with wild black hair and a black beard. Blinking, Harry realized who the man was.

“Ginny, it’s Hagrid,” muttered Harry, pointing down the street.

Ginny blinked a couple of times before her eyes widening at the former gameskeeper of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Care of Magical Creatures teacher who resigned last year. Harry quickly quickened his pace to keep up with the giant strides of Hagrid.

“Hello, Hagrid,” said Harry in a cool voice which caused the half giant to stop in his tracks, giving the slightest impression of a wince before slowly turning around.

“Oh hello, Harry, Ginny,” said Hagrid in a shaky tone of voice, revealing his face to be covered in scrapes, half healed cuts, and two black eyes. “If ya don’t mind, I have a very important meetin’ that I need to be on time fer.”

Hagrid turned without another word and continued to walk off; with Harry noticing the half giant had a slight limp as well.

“Harry, maybe we should….” Started Ginny but Harry raised his hand to silence her.

“No, Ginny, let him go, whatever he’s been doing is likely to reach me through the usual channels sooner or later,” said Harry but he wondered what exactly had Hagrid been doing to leave him in such a state. Normally the half giant was rather jovial but today he seemed dark and slightly brooding, almost like Harry on a bad day.

“Harry?” asked Ginny.

“I’m fine Ginny,” said Harry dismissively before brightening up. “But never mind that, I’ve got something to show you.”

“What is it Harry?” asked Ginny curiously as she took Harry’s hand before they walked down a little used path of Hogsmeade.

“It’s a surprise,” said Harry mysteriously as they walked down Hogsmeade. Truth be told, Harry needed something to get his mind off of the grisly sight of Hagrid’s face that he saw a short while ago.

Draco Malfoy staggered down the pathway, raising his wand in anger, attempting to ignore the fact that a snowball was currently wrapped around the back of his head. He was certain that Potter had something to do with this current bout of humiliation, as he viewed his rival do wandless magic earlier. It would surprise Draco little if his enemy could use time delayed charm work as well.

Draco pointed his wand towards his two unsuspecting targets but he heard a cracking sound from above him. A second later, about six or seven icicles that were hanging from the side of the building fell towards Draco. Draco threw his arms over his head managing to avoid the majority of the icicles. One of the icicles had grazed Draco’s forehead, cutting his forehead badly.

“Damn you Potter!” snapped Draco, before he turned around to the sound of insane giggling. “Who’s there?”

Hailey Potter stood underneath her brother’s Invisibility cloak, doubled over in laughter, but she decided she better back off before Draco was wise to her antics. Still, she would be damned if that pompous little ferret ruined her brother and her best friend’s date

Draco spun around; looking for the source but it must have been his imagination as there was no one near. Without another word, Draco cautiously walked forward, with his wand pointing behind his back, just in case he was the victim of another attack.

Harry and Ginny reached the top of slightly steep hill, looking up at a quaint and quite cozy looking cottage.

“This is a lovely looking house Harry, but how did you know about it?” asked Ginny curiously.

“After my grandparents were killed by Bellatrix Lestrange before my Mum’s seventh year, she bought this cottage so she could get away easily on the weekends at Hogwarts and work on projects for the Department of Mysteries,” muttered Harry. “Since she never really died, ownership of the house didn’t revert back to Gringotts, so she still owns this house as of right now.”

“Well, what are we doing standing out here where people can see us, when we can go inside there where we can be in private,” hinted Ginny

Harry nodded in agreement. He knew there was a pretty damn good reason that he loved this girl.

Draco stumbled up the hill, with his wand raised, angrily blasting patches of snow out of the way. Potter and Weasley will pay and what better way to make them pay would be in a place where there would be no witnesses. They had backed themselves into a corner going inside that secluded house.

Draco staggered up the pathway, pulling out his wand but a cool, cryptic voice stopped him.

“You are trespassing, turn back now or face dire consequences,” whispered the voice.

Draco blinked but shook his head.

“Alohomora,” muttered Draco, but a jet of orange light flew out of the key hole, parting Draco’s hair, knocking him backwards.

Much to his horror, the majority of his hair had been removed from whatever that curse which hit him was.

“We did warn you,” said the voice but Draco looked up in time to see the head of a thirteen year old girl with unruly auburn hair floating in mid hair.

“Ha,” said Draco, grasping, managing to pull the rest of the invisibility cloak before grabbing the girl by the arm.

Hailey cursed, she had gotten a bit too cocky in teaching her lesson for Draco.

“So, you must be Potter’s sister,” said Draco with a triumphant voice. “I wonder if your safe return would get Potter to overturn his block keeping me from continuing my magical education.”

Draco attempted to pull the young Potter girl down the path but a blast of emotionally charged accidental magical propelled Draco backwards. Hailey’s knees buckled before she dropped down to the ground because of how powerful the accidental magic turned out to be.

As she looked up, Hailey caught a glance of a white ferret looking at her in fear. Hailey’s lip trembled for a second before she burst out into laughter.

“I hope you’ve learned your lesson Malfoy,” said Hailey with a smirk as the ferret attempted the ferret attempted to get away, but Hailey used her wand to levitate the ferret in the air.

A moment later, the door opened with a very perplexed looking Harry and Ginny walking out, their hair and clothes slightly askew.

“Uh, Hailey, mind telling me what you’re doing up here with a ferret,” said Ginny in a slow voice, looking utterly confused.

“Hello Draco,” said Harry, looking down at the ferret before growing suddenly serious. “Hailey, you realize what you just did was N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration, don’t you?”

“So,” said Hailey, failing to see the point.

“Nevermind,” said Harry, sighing before turning to the ferret and raising his wand, turning him back to the very irritated form of Draco Malfoy.

“How dare you turn me into a ferret you vile little half blood!” screamed Draco who looked on the verge of bursting into tears. “Listen to me, I’m Draco Malfoy, a member of one of the noblest families in existence and I will not be made a mockery out…”

Harry waved his wand in an irritable matter, turning Malfoy back into a ferret.

“Time to send you back to Malfoy manor,” said Harry, creating wordlessly creating a Portkey out of a fallen icicle. He transfigured Draco back into his human form just as the Portkey activated, pulling him back to Malfoy Manor. Harry then turned to Hailey. “Next time you pull a prank on someone with an Invisibility Cloak, make sure it doesn’t come off? Otherwise, I’ll have to tell Mum.”

“Yes, Harry,” said Hailey in a small voice, figuring she better get back to the school through the secret passageway as the snow was beginning to cover down rather heavily.
A couple of hours later, Ginny and Harry arrived back at Hogwarts, with Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione crowding around a special Evening installment of the Daily Prophet. Harry winced; his friends never looked twice at the Daily Prophet unless it was something big.

“What now?” asked Harry, bending over to take a good look at the paper in front of him.

“I think you better read this Harry,” said Hermione.

Fudge resigns from post of Minister of Magic in light of recent scandal:

In a shocking turn of events earlier today, the post of Minister of Magic has been resigned, as Cornelius Fudge made a speech earlier today in front of all Ministry Department Heads announcing his resignation. The timing of these events seems rather peculiar, given the recent allegations that have come to light regarding Fudge. The Wizengamot is currently investigating charges that Fudge has grossly misused his power since becoming Minister and has embezzled money from intended contributions to various magical charities. These claims will be further investigated after the holiday season and many Ministry officials who worked close to Fudge will be summoned to testify against the ex-Minister.

Minister of Magic elections were to be held this coming November, but an interim Minister shall be picked in the final week of January by the Wizengamot. Until that time, the Wizengamot will fill in making all decisions that a Minister would normally make.

Harry put down the paper, with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Very peculiar that Fudge would resign after he worked so hard to get Umbridge so much power in the school and now attempt to bury those allegations,” said Harry thoughtfully.

“You know, that is strange Harry,” said Theodore, nodding his head. “Someone had to leak information about Fudge’s wrong doing to the Wizengamot.”

Harry gave this matter a great deal of thought for about a minute. The Ministry was in slight disarray right now due to their Minister resigning unexpectedly.

“So, do you think that we have a chance of having someone who might be more corrupt than Fudge slipping their way into the Minister position?” asked Hermione fretfully.

“Of course, Fudge might have liked the idea of power without answering to someone a little too much and whoever leaked this information must have done it for a good reason,” said Ginny. “What do you think, Harry?”

“Fudge did seem rather dependent on Dumbledore during his early years and recently, Fudge seemed to not care what the old man had to say,” said Harry slowly and carefully.

“Dependent might be a bit of an understatement Harry, from what I heard, Fudge bombarded Dumbledore daily with owls asking for advice in his first couple of years,” said Daphne.

“What would Dumbledore have to gain through?” asked Hermione. “Even he must have realized that controlling the Ministry has no value.”

“He must have realized that yes, but maybe he wants easy access to something vital at the Ministry that Fudge wouldn’t let him have,” said Harry slowly. “I’m not quite sure that Dumbledore might have done this, it could be some power hungry Ministry official wanting to be Minister of Magic.”

Harry didn’t really give the fact Fudge resigned too much more thought that evening. He just hoped whomever became interim Minister wasn’t too much worse than Fudge. After all, tomorrow was the beginning of the winter holiday and that meant two weeks without having the displeasure of seeing Umbridge. The unfortunate thought of Umbridge brought Harry to the fact that he still hadn’t come across anything concrete that would get Umbridge tossed into Azkaban. The mere possession of a blood quill would have been good enough for any other Ministry, but of course, the British Minister of Magic had many people who refused acknowledge the concepts of truth and justice. Harry required evidence that would back Umbridge into a corner so far that horrid woman could not manage to politic her way out.

Still, two Umbridge free weeks in New York would satisfy Harry for right now.