Hermione flopped into bed and sighed. The chaos that had arisen when Harry suddenly reappeared with Cedric's dead body three days ago had yet to die down. Harry announcing Voldemort's return, Dumbledore believing him, Fudge calling Harry a delusional liar (a contradiction, either Harry believes what he's saying or he doesn't...) and accusing Dumbledore of trying to usurp him. The offial ministry statement saying Voldemort had not returned, but failing to explain Cedric's death...
Hermione rubbed her temples. It was all a mess. It could have been stopped. All they had to do was say Harry should not have been entered at all, and exempt him. They didn't even say why exactly Harry couldn't just not compete. There was no explanation as to what would happen if he didn't. Dumbledore should have been able to do something. He could surely have broken any enchantment forcing Harry to compete.
Then she realized for the first time the true scope of Dumbledore's failure. In their first year, Harry had said it he thought Dumbledore might have meant for Harry to face Voldemort. She'd thought it ridiculous then, but now... the only truly difficult obstacle had been Snape's riddle. The chessboard was moderately challenging at best, and you needed better than that against Voldemort. Dumbledore had been a teacher when Voldemort himself opened the chamber of secrets, so how could he not know exactly what the problem was when Ginny was forced to do the same? He ought to have at least closed the school. She, Harry, and Ron had put the clues together and even found the entrance to the chamber. How could Dumbledore not have figured any of it out?
And then, if Harry was to be believed (and he was), Dumbledore had left Harry with his relatives without checking on him once for ten years. Harry had been at their mercy all that time, and no one had told him a thing.
Thinking about it, Hermione realized it wasn't just Dumbledore, though he was certainly the worst offender. Professor McGonagall had brushed them off in their first year, even though the fact that three eleven year olds knew about the philosopher's stone should have been a serious warning sign. Fudge, so self absorbed and afraid of the truth he'd convinced himself Dumbledore wanted his job. The entire ministry was useless, really. The entire wizarding world even. Do any of them know how to think for themselves, even? They would believe anything if it came from a trusted source, those being ministry officials, the daily prophet, and, though perhaps not anymore, Dumbledore. It seemed most of the populace were confidently following the ministry and paper, loving or hating Harry on command. They all followed the authorities, but it was clear that the authorities could not be trusted. Not even Dumbledore. Oh, he would do something, and probably something important. In the meantime, he would leave everyone else in the dark, not have a plan b, and expect everyone to go along.
Certainly, many people would go along.
But not Hermione.
