"Geraldine, could you help me distribute these?
Geraldine groaned as Seraphina handed her some pamphlets.
"Merlin, not again! Don't you know when to stop? You'll never make it to the Minister's Office."
"You know I stand a fair chance. McLaird is never going to be re-elected and Fawley is obviously unsuited for the task."
Geraldine rolled her eyes.
Seraphina raised an eyebrow. "Well, what is it?"
"Given the chance between the current Minister, the well-known and well-respected head of the Departement of International Magical Cooperation, and an Auror who's only been working in the field for a little over two year, who do you think the magical community will choose? Oh, I know next to nothing about this person, so that's probably the best choice to govern me and my country in a time of unrest?"
"I know the people don't know much about me," Seraphina said. "But that's why I made these pamplets. And I did catch the Glenmorgle killer."
"You and a complete team of more experienced Aurors."
Of course they had captured the Glenmorgle killer with a team, but it had been she who had discovered his identity.
"If you could just help me distribute these pamphlets…" Seraphina continued stubbornly, though she knew in her heart that there was a piece of truth to her co-worker's words. If only the people would get to read her ideas…
"Pamphlets aren't going to help you to reach the community!" Geraldine cried out. "Who am I going to distribute them to? Our co-workers? They're only a small portion of the voters, and I'm convinced they'd go for Fawley. They know him, they've worked with him or under his supervision, and they like him, so why should they not vote for him? Give it a rest, Seraphina. Earn your stripes in the Ministry, climb the ranks, and then go for Minister if you still want to."
Geraldine turned around, leaving Seraphina with her pile of pamphlets behind.
Seraphina looked at the pile and frowned. She picked up one of the pieces of paper and tried to see it through Geraldine's eyes. She had worked hard on the pamphlets and she had been quite content with the layout. The gold lettering on the navy blue paper gave it both a majestic and a mysterious look. She could find no fault in them. But how was she going to get the community to read them, let alone care about what she had to say? Geraldine was right. Pamphlets alone wouldn't help her. She needed to make herself seen. And she had less than a month to do so, so she needed to make haste as well.
Seraphina spent a good portion of the next month visiting magical communities such as Hogsmeade and Godric's Hollow, where sat at bars and pubs and had lifely discussions with other guests. The other part of the month was spent at Diagon Alley, where she talked to shop owners and shopping wizards and witches alike.
She listened to the complaints and the fears of the people she met, and soon found that no matter where she went, there seemed to be a general consensus on these two topics.
The magical community complained in large about the fact that the Minister only troubled himself with the Ministery nowadays, and that those who didn't work there, never got to see him. They wanted a Minister they could talk to.
Strike one for me, she thought to herself.
The majority of the people she spoke to were very concerned about the unrest, in particular the rise of Grindelwald. A lot of people had lost family members or friends in the latest Muggle war, and they feared a war would erupt in the wizarding world as well. She shared that concern. Being an Auror, she had noticed that there seemed to be more cases where dark magic was involved then there had been when she was still in training. She knew Fawley didn't think Grindelwald was going to pose a great threat. Not only did she think he was wrong, but it also proved that he wasn't able to read the sentiment on the street very well. Strike two for me.
When at last election day came, Seraphina was tired from being constantly on the move. Yet she was confident that she had done everything in her might to show the voters that there was an alternative to McLaird and Fawley. A good alternative even, someone who was both visible and listened to them. Despite all her efforts, she was still nervous about the outcome. She didn't have a fancy office full of expensive furniture to await the results, like McLaird and Fawley had, so she spent her day sitting at a table in the Auror department, while around her Aurors went about their business. She nibbled a Danish pastry, but felt she didn't have the appetite.
Owls were flying to and fro; she could spot them from where she was seated. They were bringing in the votes, one by one. Every piece of paper addressed to the same man, Salomon Burbank, who had been appointed to count the votes. Every vote the owls delivered to him would be put onto different scales, one scale per candidate. The scale that stood the lowest at the end of the day represented the candidate with the most votes. Or so she had been told. She had never actually seen the voting system at work.
It seemed to take Salomon forever to count the votes. She did not know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Did it mean that a lot of people had voted? Did it mean the results were a close draw? Or worse, did it mean either McLaird or Fawley had won, and was at this very moment already celebrating his victory?
She got up and paced the room, then sat down again, nibbled the pastry, put it down and got up again.
"Oh for crying out loud, would you calm down already?" August said when the pattern repeated itself for the third time. "You've either won or lost, there's nothing you can do about it anymore. They'll come for you when the results are known."
It took another half hour before a head peeked around the door of the Auror department.
"Are you Seraphina Picquery?" the girl asked, slightly out of breath.
"Yes, why?"
"Thank Merlin I found you. I've been looking everywhere for you. You're to come with me. The others are already downstairs."
Seraphina got up from her seat. Her legs felt like pudding all of a sudden. She followed the girl out of the room and caught the thumbs up Geoffry sent her. She smiled nervously. At least one person believed in her. They went down a flight of stairs, and then another. They arrived in the Atrium, but they had one more flight of stairs to descend.
There, in a small room three men stood waiting impatiently: Salomon Burbank, Lorcan McLaird and Hector Fawley. She glanced past Salomon and noticed three scales. One was remarkably higher up in the air than the other two, the pile of votes on it was smaller than her hand. She figured that had to be the votes for McLaird. The other two scales bore more pieces of paper. At first glance, she could tell which of the two stood lower. A close call then.
"Minister McLaird, Mister Fawley, Miss Picquery," Salomon addressed them one by one. "The magical community has decided who they want as their next Minister."
As Seraphina had expected, Salomon pointed first to the emptiest scale. "Mister McLaird, I'm sorry to say that you are longer Britain's Minister for Magic. Would you be so kind as to hand over your Minister's badge?"
McLaird looked sadly at the low amount of votes he had received and unpinned the badge. "I wasn't that bad as a Minister, was I?" he muttered as he handed over the badge to Salomon.
Salomon looked from Fawley to Seraphina. "Now, between you two, it was very close, which, frankly, caught me by surprise. No offense to you of course, Miss Picquery," he added hastily. "The difference was only fifty votes."
Only fifty votes! That was next to nothing. At least she had shown them that even though she was still a novice in their eyes, she wasn't going to be shoved aside so easily. She stuck out her hand to congratulate Fawley on his victory, when Salomon took it and shook it. "Congratulations, Minister Picquery," he said gravely.
She stared at him in disbelief. Had she really won? Fawley looked shocked as well. Like her, he had thought he was the sure winner. McLaird broke into a wide grin when he realised that not only he, but his biggest political rival also had been bested by a twenty-something Auror.
Salomon pinned the badge on the front of her Auror robe. "May your term be peaceful and your decisions wise."
Seraphina felt dizzy. She was Minister for Magic! What should she do next? There was some protocol to follow now, wasn't there? McLaird and Fawley congratulated her as well, both looking sourly because of their defeat.
"If you could follow me please, Minister?" Salomon said. He ascended the stairs to the Atrium and she followed suite. She still couldn't comprehend that she had actually won. McLaird and Fawley trailed behind.
The Atrium was filled with people, all waiting for the new Minister. In the middle of the Atrium, a dais stood.
Salomon approached the dais and the whispers slowly diminished. All turned to him in curious anticipation. He raised his arms and everyone was quiet.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the new Minister for Magic: Seraphina Picquery!"
Seraphina took a breath, stepped forward and climbed the dais with a smile on her face. The crowd erupted in a loud chorus of applause and cameras flashed to capture the young Auror who had bested both veteran candidates.
Strike three.
A/N: This story was written for the second round of the One Character Competition on HPFC. My character is Seraphina Picquery and this time we had write an AU. I decided to go with an AU where she is Minister for Magic in England instead of President of MACUSA. As optional prompts I used navy blue, expensive en Danish.