Election Chapter 2:
The Debate
Heather Hera sat at her desk at the Voters' Union. She was one of the few that actually worked for the group - most were volunteers. She was looking at the letters that had arrived, mostly articles for their magazine, Politics: Inside, Out, and Around.
Stupid name, she thought. But the Voters' Union liked it, and that was what mattered.
There was one truly important letter, from Homer Lyte. It was in a brown envelope, marked with the Pureblood Party seal.
To Whomever It May Concern:
I am Homer Lyte, campaign manager for Merlin and Lucius Malfoy. We wish to challenge Merlin O'Brien to a debate. The Voters' Union holds most debates, and we figured it would be wise to seek you out. We believe Merlin to be a deluded man who does not know how to do his job. (You may quote us on that!) He is the worst choice for Minister of Magic. Your magazine is the best magazine published by anyone for the average voter. We wish for this debate, and I'm sure the people at Zeus's wish for it themselves.
Sincerely,
Homer Lyte
Homer Lyte
Rather interesting, Heather thought. Politicians did not usually request debates. They always had something to hide.
* * *
It was a beautiful sunny day in Sydney, Peoples' Party headquarters. They were hidden from roaming Muggle eyes as well, but they were about to make the announcement that would change the world.
"And thus, on January 31st, 2000, I announce the candidate for Minister of Magic for the Peoples' Party, as well as his running mate, Duke Dingo and William Henry!" William and Henry walked onto the stage, greeted by the twenty people in the crowd. No wizard photographs were taken, no one could really care.
"Hello," Duke said to the crowd, "my name is Duke Dingo. I may not be known to you. But let me tell you about me.
"I grew up near Sydney, in the village of Asthenia. I lived a secluded life, full of secrets, and love for Muggles - we were forced to mingle with them every once in a while.
"I headed Students Against You-Know-Who for three years in my attendance at Hogwarts. I was a Prefect. I have - since my graduation from Hogwarts - lived with Muggles. They are wondrous people; I have worked for Muggles designing what they call websites on the Internet. It is their information stream.
"The Peoples' Party chose me because I have a brilliant political mind; they tested me. I am not bragging at all; that's what they said. And now, we challenge the two main political parties to a debate. We have sent our letters off to the Voters' Union.
"And now, I will introduce my running mate, William Henry! He is a writer for The Daily Prophet and was one of the people that tracked me down. He writes many political editorials and was a key in solving the Muggle Informing of 1998. William is a great man; it is my pleasure to have him as my running mate!" The small crowd cheered.
"That's all I have to say for today. Hopefully, we will be able to participate in that debate! Thank you!" Duke Dingo was once again still treated with applause. William Henry raised his fist triumphantly.
"People, not politics," he yelled, citing the Peoples' Party's campaign slogan. The crowd responded with the same.
* * *
"Who the heck is this idiot running for Minister?" exclaimed Merlin to no one over his lunch with Lucius and Homer the day after. Homer stared at Merlin.
"Who?" Homer asked.
"I was looking at that this morning. The guy's name is Duke Dingo; he's running for the Peoples' Party with William Henry," Lucius said, filling in the facts between mouthfuls of turkey.
"William Henry? The writer guy?" Homer asked.
"Yeah, him," Merlin said. He'd known William since they met in an interview. William was a very political man, and he had no doubt Duke was very political.
"When's the debate?" Lucius asked. Homer sighed.
"The seventh. The Voters' League received word from Dingo and company. They want to participate," responded Homer.
"Really... Are they going to?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, they are. I figure this is the chance you have to expose any of Zeus's weaknesses and Dingo's. We'll start drilling you; but we've practiced so much, I don't think it would matter. But we need to dig dirt on that Dingo man; he could have some kind of troubled past," said Homer, always the strategist.
"Students Against You-Know-Who headquarters would be a nice place to start. Get an assistant over there and fast. William Henry wrote an editorial for The Daily Prophet today. It's all about the campaign. Look at it," Lucius said quickly, handing Homer the paper.
"What an idiot! The man doesn't know what he's talking about!" Homer yelled, half-laughing. Lucius and Merlin joined in as well, and the old men laughed at (in their opinion) the rather pathetic article.
"Okay, that's enough," Merlin yelled, out of breath. The men were having a fun time, though that could be contributed to the large bottles of whiskey each had.
"Yeah, whatever," Lucius said before falling asleep on the table. This was the first time he had gotten drunk in a while, more like ever. Though he had never admitted it, he had never liked drinking.
And that very moment, Draco Malfoy entered the barn. He heard utter silence - odd for noontime. He ran into the kitchen of the barn and saw the three drunk men fast asleep like babies. There was broken glass on the floor.
"Drunk. What a group of politicians! Father, wake up!" Draco carefully watched his step as he walked up to his father and began shaking him.
"Huh? Who? Harry?" his father said, confused. Draco sighed. It was no use. He was once again a victim of bad timing, as always, it seemed. He was going to try to get closer to his father, but the elder had only gone off to tried to get elected to a high position in the Ministry!
Draco left the room. The men were still asleep, and he was sure they would be for the next few hours.
* * *
Zeus MacArthur sat at his desk, reading a book. He knew all about the issues, somewhat miraculously. Just a few days before, he had been an idiot, working his butt off as a fraud. But now he felt confident. He could chat up a storm about sickles or the potential monopolies of Merlin O'Brien.
"People don't like Muggles. That's the current trend," he said aloud to no one. He had once been a political analyst, though everything he had said was never written by him; he was just a cover figure. "Wonder if they like Gilderoy Lockhart anymore?" he asked again, laughing. The fraud, who had been exposed by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, had disappeared from their world for the last few years; but who knew what the lunatic was doing at the moment.
It didn't matter, anyway. The man was long gone and forgotten. The greatest liar on Earth, Zeus thought. After me, of course.
It was a beautiful day in New Orleans, and Zeus did not feel like being cooped up inside his office. Jack Darby was out sick: too much apparating. Zeus set down his book and headed off to the party's secret dock. They had bought a casino boat and changed it up to be a touring campaign boat. It was something Zeus liked and proved to be a hallmark of their campaign.
But people were criticizing him for not having chosen a running mate yet. He knew he would have to before the race really began to heat up - it was getting closer to the December 22nd election. And the debate in London was looming as well. Of course, it would be hidden from Muggles and completely covered by all major wizard magazines and newspapers. He would have to be ready.
He walked onto the boat, greeted by his campaign workers. They had enchanted the boat to run without any power whatsoever and to go wherever they wanted it to go. It worked quite well and proved to take off the burden of actually navigating their way through the seas.
"Hey, when's the next campaign rally," Zeus asked to one of the men on the boat. The man pulled out a calendar from his official Zeus MacArthur campaign cloak pocket.
"Uh, tomorrow. In London. You'll be staying there for the next week," the tall man responded. Zeus nodded.
"Am I staying on the boat, or will I be staying at a rather nice hotel?" Zeus asked, almost laughing. The other man laughed as well.
"You know the answer, don't you?"
"Yes, the boat." Zeus abruptly stopped laughing, as did the campaign worker. He moved on, past the worker, heading to the roof. The river was brown, polluted with stuff Zeus certainly didn't want to drink.
"I wonder what Duke Dingo is doing right now," he said to no one. Unknown to him, Duke was thinking the same thing.
* * *
Duke Dingo sat in his new office chair, asleep. He had been having a dream about Harry Potter. He'd be a good spokesman, Duke thought. But he was too tired to think about anything. He had been wondering what Zeus was doing, but he dropped it after realizing that he needed to hire Potter.
Duke walked to the bathroom and splashed water on his face, waking him up. It had been a long two days. The debate was the seventh; it was the second. He had been receiving bad press lately - perhaps it was his pro-Muggle stance. Or the fact that he had almost appeared out of nowhere to try and grab the highest spot in the Ministry. Or maybe it was the fact that everyone in the press were jerks that had no clue what they were doing. Duke chose the latter of the three.
There was a knock at the door.
"Duke, it's William." With a flick of his wand, Duke opened the door. It opened to William Henry, a man with red hair and thick glasses - he was a distant relative of the Weasleys.
"Hi. Does the press still think we're jerks?" Duke leaned back in his chair while William sat down. William shook his head.
"It's only been a day. The opinions won't change till the debate."
"Well aware, my friend. Well aware."
"Um, the press are questioning your true experience. They say you don't have enough experience."
"Does Merlin?" The two laughed.
"Merlin is not a politician, but Zeus is. He's the man you have to worry about."
"But everyone is starting to hate Muggles now. Merlin will appeal to them," Duke said.
"Good point. Now, I hate to cut our conversation short; but we have a campaign to run. We've got publicists arranging interviews with magazines and newspapers. This is very tough stuff, Duke. You must take this seriously."
"I am! You people aren't letting me do anything!"
"Last time, our candidate totally ruined our campaign! And he was a beginner just like you!"
"Oh, shut up. Now, go run off and work on our campaign that is practically ignoring me!"
"We just want to keep your campaign running smoothly, so we can win this time!
"Fine, then. When do we leave for London? Or are we leaving Sunday night?"
"We are leaving Saturday evening. Just remember everything we've gone over, and you'll be able to prove yourself."
* * *
It was a beautiful Saturday morning in London. Merlin O'Brien made his way out of the Gringott's fireplace. He surveyed the interior of the building, which he almost owned.
"Mister O'Brien, we welcome you to your humble bank," a goblin said. Merlin smiled at the goblin - he loved the goblins.
"I'm not here to survey Gringott's. It's looking like it's in pristine order, though. I'm here for the debate. I haven't got much time, campaign rally. Zeus," the goblin snickered at the name, "and I both have competing campaign rallies today."
The goblin stepped out of the way as Merlin's candidates arrived after him. They all said hi to the kind goblin before making their way out to the Leaky Cauldron. Their campaign rally would once again be on the steps of Gringott's - it was much easier to have their rally there.
People greeted them, wearing cloaks imprinted with the campaign symbol or Lucius and Zeus's smiling faces with the slogan "For a purer world." They were even given a free Firebolt Millennium Edition!
They made their way through the just-so-nice-it's-annoying crowd and into the Leaky Cauldron. Lucius Malfoy breathed a sigh of relief.
"If I have to go through that crowd one more time..." he said as Alex poured them some drinks. A small man walked up to them.
"Hello, I'm Colin Creevey," he said. "I work for The Daily Prophet, and I'm here to interview you." The young man carried a large notepad, a quill, and a camera.
"Buzz off," Lucius Malfoy said.
"Don't listen to him. He's in a very bad mood. The crowd, you see," Homer said. Colin nodded.
"Well, let's get started. Mister Malfoy, how is your son treating this? It's been well known that you two haven't been getting along well over the past few years," Colin asked, repeating what he knew when he had attended Hogwarts.
"He's taking it quite well. I couldn't imagine him being any happier," Lucius responded. Colin nodded at the candidate, looking suspicious.
"Now, Mister O'Brien-"
"Merlin, please."
"Merlin, do you believe the Pureblood Party actually has a chance?" Merlin smiled.
"We have a big chance. With the past anti-magic events occurring within the Muggle world, we believe these evil forces must be stopped," Merlin responded in a smart manner.
"We were only aware of the Muggle Informing of 1998."
"Well, many Muggles have actually discovered the truth. They post pictures and descriptions of us on their Internet. We discovered these and have also found that Duke Dingo is involved with this Internet of Muggles," Merlin said. His croonies had done him well.
"Well, you certainly have done your research, and we know your opinion on Mister Dingo," Colin said. "What is your opinion on Zeus MacArthur?"
"He's a jerk, a fraud. He knows nothing. You think he actually wrote his articles!? No, he was just a cover to get people to read them. He's a fraud. I want to see how they do at the debate." And then Merlin added with a grin, "If they even show up at all."
"Interesting. Now let me ask you a few more questions..." Colin, Lucius, and Merlin carried on their conversation, as Colin's magical quill jotted down questions and answers.
At the end, Colin took a photograph of Merlin and Lucius flashing their award-winning smile. It was a great publicity picture. Or at least that was what Homer called it.
* * *
It was a beautiful Sunday evening in London. The sun was setting, leaving London in an orange. The view looked beautiful from inside the slightly stained windows of the Voters' League auditorium.
Zeus, Merlin, and Duke all sat on stools behind large, rectangular podiums with their campaign's logo on them. Zeus MacArthur took a deep breath as the voice of Heather Hera filled the room.
"...to the first debate of this campaign year. Today we welcome Zeus MacArthur of the Liberation Party, Merlin O'Brien of the Pureblood Party, and Duke Dingo of the Peoples' Party. Let's have a nice round of applause for the three candidates!"
There was a loud round of applause as each candidate was introduced by Miss Hera. Zeus was once again wearing Wizard Wear, as were the other candidates.
"This first question is for all the candidates. Do you believe in the proposed sale tax of six knuts? Zeus, you first please."
"Well, Heather, I believe the tax is necessary if we want to fund ourselves for any type of fighting and to better fund our schools that are lesser fortunate than Hogwarts. Not to mention that we can better fund our government and make our world more modern," Zeus said. He couldn't believe what he had just said. That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Oh no, he thought.
The crowd began to boo as Zeus straightened out his face, filled with the knowledge of knowing he had just said what had not been wanted to say.
"Merlin?"
"Well, our future does depend on taxes; but the magic world has been getting along quite well with the current tax system we need. If we do go into a war - my team has done research - the Ministry has more than sufficient funding to fight," Merlin said. The crowd applauded.
"And Mister Dingo?"
"Our world is in constant fear of any Muggle activity destroying the world as we know it. We live like them, for crying out loud! But if it works for Muggles, it'll work for us. I say right now that I am for the sales tax. How big of an army would we have to raise? What if we have a civil war?" Duke said. The crowd didn't like his answer, but they all agreed it was well thought out. Duke had hit Merlin right on the head.
"Very good answer, Mister Dingo. Now Zeus - this is for you only - how do you respond to the allegations that you're a fraud?"
"I have no comment on these false allegations."
"Thank you. Mister O'Brien, people say you are too radical. How do you respond?" Merlin had been expecting this question.
"With every candidate comes new ideas. Perhaps that candidate believes we're not run efficiently enough. Radicalism is just the bringing of new ideas. I admit it right now - I'm not like the past Ministers. My ideas are not radical; they are just different," Merlin said. He received much applause from his newly-found supporters. Just what he had expected.
"Okay. Duke Dingo, the world does not believe you are qualified, though your track record shows that you have been politically active. How do respond to the allegations?"
"I ask this question to the world: what do you think of Merlin? He's a businessman, for crying out loud! I'm a political man - according to the Peoples' Party, I'm the best man for the job. Understand?" The crowd cheered. Duke clenched his fists and did one-two punch, his new trademark. The crowd cheered again.
And the debate went on, with each candidate asked about their positions on issues. Zeus stumbled even more, while Duke stole the show, giving people his well-rehearsed answers and turning it into a contest between him and Merlin. And then came the last question...
"This is for all of you now. What is your position on the growing hatred between wizards and Muggles?" Zeus, Merlin, and Duke all inhaled deeply. "Mister Dingo, please start."
"Muggles are better than we think. We have constructed a world in which we live separated from each other, though a few Muggles are aware of our existence. We live in solitude. Doesn't it annoy you? The fact that we totally ignore them - though we sometimes see them on the streets. It's prejudice. And isn't that wrong?" Duke did his now trademarked one-two punch as his newly-found fans applauded him. His strong moral stances and especially strong answers were really helping him.
"Thank you, Mister Dingo. Zeus?"
"Well, Muggles hate us, as we are aware. And, uh, we must hate them back. They may attack any moment!" The crowd booed as the man hung his head in shame. His campaign was going nowhere.
"Merlin?"
"Thank you, Heather. Now, Mudbloods are revealing their knowledge of us, posting moving pictures - videos as they call it - on their Internet, still pictures, and descriptions of us, where to find us, things like that. And they mention killing us for all time. They have the power - we know it. So do they. Let's save ourselves and kill them now, shall we?" Merlin smiled. This had gone better than he thought it would have.
"Thank you for watching today's debate. We hoped you learned a lot about the candidates and their issues. Good luck to all and ride home safely!"
* * *
A day later, Merlin, Homer, and Lucius each stared at the front cover at The Daily Prophet, shocked beyond belief.
"DUKE DINGO GAINS SUPPORT AFTER WINNING THE DEBATE!" the headline said.
Author's Note: Hey, thanks for all the support! I really didn't get anyone's help on his, but thanks to Katie Bell for her encouraging words of support on Chapter 1! And of course, Ninamazing. I simply forgot about that - I have had way too much band this week. Practice all day. You have never been in band until you've been in our honor band. I hope you're impressed - I've been working sorta hard to get the massive ideas I had onto the screen. Even if I get writer's block, I still know what I'm doing, so don't worry! The pen is mightier than the wand. (Yeah, funny, Rex.) But thanks! And PLEASE REVIEW!