Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge was sitting in his office at the Ministry of magic. Cornelius was feeling very stressed as he just wrapped up a day that saw six different court hearings and not one decision was an easy one.
"I sure hope I made the right decision, god knows I don't need anymore guilt on my plate." Cornelius thought out loud with a sigh as he applied more ink to his quill to finish a report to the French ministry.
Cornelius was however interrupted from his report by a knock on his door.
"Come in." Fudge said as he didn't even look up from his work.
"Cornelius sorry for any inconvenience for my unplanned arrival may of brought forth to you." said a very sincere grandfatherly voice.
"No inconvenience at all Albus, please sit down." Fudge said as he got up and pulled out a chair for the old man to sit down.
"Thank you Cornelius." Albus said.
"Not at all Headmaster Dumbledore, would you like any tea, or a crumpet." Fudge offered Dumbledore, as he showed him his freshly brewed tea, and baked crumpets.
"That's mighty kind of you Cornelius but I filled up on lemon drops and butter beer back at my office." Dumbledore said merrily as Cornelius chuckled.
"So what brings you back to see ole Cornelius?" Fudge asked curiously.
"Well Cornelius this isn't easy for me to say." Dumbledore paused as he appeared to be trying very hard to hold back any emotion.
"What's wrong Albus, did a student pass away at Hogwarts, or did a staff member?" Fudge suggested.
"No Cornelius there was no death." Dumbledore said as paused again but this time very briefly.
"Cornelius I have worked at Hogwarts for the past 100 or so years of my life." Dumbledore shrugged. "They have been the best years of my life, I would not trade my experience at Hogwarts for the world." Dumbledore said as actual tears came out of Dumbledore's blue twinkling eyes.
"Albus no no please don't tell me you're going to be retiring from Hogwarts!" Fudge began as Dumbledore shamefully acknowledged. "Dumbledore why would you do that, after all you know who his back, for he killed that Viktor Krum from Durmstrang in the graveyard during the the tri wizard cup just this past summer!" Fudge said as he went to gather his thoughts.
"Fudge everything will be fine." Dumbledore tried to assure a troubled Fudge.
"Dumbledore what about the Potter boy, he is hardly going to be safe without your watchful eye and magic ability there." Fudge went on as Dumbledore cut him off.
"Enough Cornelius!" Dumbledore said putting his hands up. "I assure you that Harry and all of the students will always be safe at Hogwarts as long as it is controlled by a peaceful democratic leader, as Hogwarts has the safest wards available." Dumbledore reassured Fudge.
"So who are you appointing to take your place then." Said an upset Fudge who had given up in trying to argue with Dumbledore.
"That's the complicated part." Dumbledore said slowly.
"What is so complicated about that, surely you knew you were going to be retiring for a while, so I would think you would of already had someone in mind for a while now." A confused Fudge said.
"Yes Cornelius just until recently I had it made up that I would appoint my most loyal teacher and Deputy Head Mistress Minerva Mcgonagall to be the schools first Headmistress for the school." Dumbledore said as he seemed to just confuse Fudge even more.
"Well why aren't you now?" Fudge asked hesitantly.
"Well you see I found a muggle book the other day." Dumbledore began "The book was about a thing called Elections, where the people vote between two candidates to fill a certain position, and they said that was the most democratic and peaceful way to get new leaders." Dumbledore paused as Fudge was even more confused it that was possible.
"You know me Cornelius, so you know that I believe in transparency and Democracy and doing things the proper way." Dumbledore said pleasantly to Fudge.
"Yes Dumbledore I know a thing or two about elections as I am sometimes in contact with the Prime Minister of Muggle England." Fudge told an eager Dumbledore.
"You see and look how happy the muggles are!" Dumbledore exclaimed.
"Yes very well so I guess you'll be doing a 2 party system like they do here?" Fudge questioned Dumbledore.
"Yes Cornelius the 2 party's will be the Light party and the Dark party, and I will choose the one candidate for each side." Dumbledore said as Fudge raised an eyebrow.
"I know Mcgonagall will represent the light side but I just don't know who will represent the dark side." Dumbledore said sadly.
"What about Snape?" suggested Fudge.
"Excellent idea, you're a genius Fudge!" Dumbledore exclaimed.
"Well thanks Albus." said a flattered Fudge.
"So the Prime minister of Muggle England told me that they elect him by a popular vote, I guess that is what you're going to do." Fudge suggested to Dumbledore.
"Well Fudge that was the plan as I read the first nine chapters of that high quality muggle election book." Dumbledore began with a chuckle. "As I got to chapter ten of the book I read on how "Presidential" elections in a country called America are held." Dumbledore said.
"So how are they held?" Fudge asked curiously.
"Well Cornelius America has this thing called an Electoral college that elects the desired candidate." Dumbledore paused as he waited for an inevitable response from Fudge.
"Come again!" said Fudge who was once again very confused.
"I thought you might say something like that." Dumbledore said with a chuckle. "You see in America they have 50 states, states are like territories, each state has a certain number of things called electoral votes, basically that is determined by the population and by how many elected officials they have." Dumbledore thoroughly explained to Fudge.
"Very well so how would you translate that at Hogwarts." Fudge asked Dumbledore who was immediate ready with a response.
"Simple America has 50 states, and Hogwarts has 4 different houses." Dumbledore began once more. "That means Hufflepuff being the house with the most students gets the most electoral votes, followed by Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw which all 3 of those houses have roughly have the same amount of people." Dumbledore explained as Fudge nodded his understandment at what was just said.
"So what do you say Cornelius will you approve of this, Don't worry the election will be carried out at the beginning of this upcoming school year, and I will still be the Headmaster until the election is over." Dumbledore begged of Fudge.
"Yes you have my permission, but it sounds like to me that you want Minerva to win, I would prefer her over Snape as well, you know you can just appoint her it would be a lot easier, and you know for a fact you won't regret it." Fudge said to Dumbledore.
"Nope Minerva will win regardless, besides this is a more fun way that Hogwarts flexes its democratic muscle." Dumbledore said pleasantly with his eyes now twinkling madly with delight.
"Very well you have my permission to carry this out." Fudge said as he escorted Dumbledore out of his office.