Author's Note: This story works off the premise that Snape didn't really kill Dumbledore in HBP, but was only pretending to. Dumbledore is still Headmaster in this story.

Chapter 1

The World of Wizardry was in a festive mood. A public holiday had been declared to commemorate the death of Lord Voldemort. Harry was still recovering in St. Mungo's, but in streets and houses everywhere, people were celebrating wildly. The size of the celebrations exceeded anything seen since 1945, after Grindelwald had fallen.

The celebrations had been triggered by the Daily Prophet headline "Potter Kills Voldemort" that day. Harry's hospital room in St. Mungo's was flooded with get-well-quick cards, many of them from complete strangers. The Healers warned that Harry would need a few days to recover from the effects of the final battle, but they were confident that he had suffered no permanent injuries.

Three days later, Harry was discharged from St. Mungo's. Crowds gathered around the hero as he walked home with his friends. Harry and his friends declined thousands of autograph requests.

"Well, Harry, now you can finally be normal again," Ginny said. "What are you going to do with your life?"

"I really don't know," Harry had to admit. He had received offers from several Quidditch teams to play as their Seeker, including a highly coveted offer from the national team of Great Britain. Many businesses had also offered him jobs, hoping to share his massive (and to Harry, unwanted) publicity.

Luna rolled through the grate of the floo fireplace, landing gracefully on the floor at the Burrow. "Harry, look at this!" She thrust an open copy of The Quibbler into his face. Harry took the magazine and looked at the page. It was a list of political poll results. He read over the figures quickly and returned the magazine to Luna.

"Harry, I know you hate publicity," Luna said, "but you could use this to your advantage. If you run in the Minister for Magic election this year, you have a great chance of winning. The publicity will fade with the years, Harry. This could be your best chance!"

"Yeah, you could do Britain some real good!" Mr. Weasley chimed in from the dining table. "We've had quite a long time without an honest Minister of Magic."

"I'm too famous as it is," Harry complained.

"You have a chance to reform an entire country. A bit of extra publicity is a small price to pay for that."

"I'll think about it," Harry said.

-----------One Week Later-------------

Harry walked resolutely into the Ministry of Magic.

"I'd like to declare my candidacy for the Minister election," he said to the receptionist.

"Of course," she replied. She pulled out a few rolls of parchment from her desk. "You'll need to fill out these forms," she said, handing him the rolls. "And you'll need to create a petition for your candidacy. You will need five hundred signatures in order to run. You have to return all the paperwork within four weeks to qualify for a run."

The celebrations were dying down; but the next day, the Daily Prophet ran a front-page article reporting on Harry's run for the Minister position, although the article made clear Skeeter's opposition to the hero's candidacy. However, Harry had no trouble gaining the required five hundred signatures. He took the petition to the Order of the Phoenix that very day, then sought out all the former members of the D.A. The day after that, he posted his petition on the wall of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes at Hogsmeade. By nightfall, more than a thousand names were on his long roll of parchment.

The next morning, as Harry was turning in his paperwork to the Ministry, sinister events were occurring at Malfoy Manor.

The current Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, wrung his hands in despair. "The boy is challenging me for the Minister position," he lamented, "he has all the publicity of recent events behind him. The Quibbler poll is already showing us ten points behind. What are we to do?"

"He may be popular," Lucius Malfoy said, "but I will change that. Mr. Scrimgeour, I promise you that I will use every means at my disposal to keep the boy from your position."

The next day, Harry received a letter by owl from the Ministry:

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are sorry to inform you that the petition you submitted to run for Minister for Magic does not contain enough valid signatures. Out of 1,313 signatures submitted, only 161 included an acceptable voter identification, which is required as proof of citizenship for signatories. Please resubmit a petition with 500 or more identified signatures by 4:28 p.m. on August 13 to qualify for the general election.

Election Officials

Ministry of Magic

London, UK

Harry and his friends went out to London again and attempted to collect more signatures. But this time, despite the publicity, the crowds did not form around Harry's petition as they had the first time. Harry didn't know why until he read the headline of the Daily Prophet: "25 Potter Petition Signers Crucio'ed Across U.K."

Shocked, Harry continued reading down the rest of the article:

"London – Yesterday some 25 wizards and witches were found incapacitated in their homes, suffering from Cruciatus Curses. Although none of the attacks were witnessed except by the victims themselves, suspicion has fallen upon former Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, a known supporter of the late Lord Voldemort as well as a sadist who has served sentences in Azkaban for previous incidents of torture. The 25 victims seemed completely random, ranging in age from seventeen to one hundred and fifty, and none of them names of national prominence. Upon investigation, however, it has been revealed that all 25 of the victims were among the 161 valid identified signatories of Minister for Magic candidate Harry James Potter's petition. It is believed that these wizards and witches may have been attacked as retribution for supporting the political aspirations of Lord Voldemort's staunchest opponent.

Potter's opponent for the Minister of Magic seat, incumbent Minister Rufus Scrimgeour, has denied any connection and promised to investigate fully. "We have no solid leads at the moment, only speculation," he said, "but this torture will be investigated fully, and whoever is responsible will be punished severely, assuming of course that I am still the Minister when we apprehend this person." Scrimgeour refused to comment on the possibility that Potter's campaign committed the tortures in order to generate sympathy and create grounds on which to challenge the election should he lose to Scrimgeour. Strangely enough, Potter did not deny the idea either."

Deep in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor, Scrimgeour met the former Death Eaters a second time.

"That was a bit heavy-handed, Lucius," said Scrimgeour, "but it worked. Thank you all, I knew I could count on you."

"No problem," Bellatrix said.

"And, Bellatrix," Scrimgeour said seriously, "I have been planning out my re-election campaign. A few days before the election, I may need to have you arrested to boost our chances of victory. Is it acceptable for you to spend a few days in Azkaban? We'll make sure you get a chance to escape once I am confirmed the winner."

"That's fine," Bellatrix said. "You want me to fail to fend off the Aurors. I can do that."

"Thank you. Now, Lucius, you have control over Skeeter's newspaper. Get any damaging rumors you can published. I'll send you suggestions as I think of them."

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