The room was dark and almost completely empty, save for a few chairs, and a table with a single candle on it. It was not lit as it was daytime, but it looked as if it had served as the only illumination the previous evening, and was likely going to remain so for the coming one as well.

Malfoy Sr. was sitting in the far corner, brooding by himself. His wife was sitting as well, as close to him as he seemed to tolerate. Draco was on his feet and turned to face them as they opened the door.

If McGonagall had been surprised by their request to talk to the Malfoys, they had been even more surprised by what she had told them. Apparently, while they had been hurrying about, explaining things here and hushing things up there, the Malfoys had been 'detained', told to remain in one of the abandoned classrooms before they could be questioned.

Harry got an uncomfortable feeling hearing that. It seemed, the post-war state was a lot more unpredictable than he had thought.

The Malfoys looked at him warily. There was a curious lack of surprise, as if nothing could get to them. While Lucius turned back to his brooding after a moment, and Narcissa kept sending them nervous glances, Draco faced them head-on.

"Potter," he said as a greeting. His tone was more restrained than Harry had ever heard from him. He looked resigned, and Harry had no problems detecting the worry behind the outwardly composed expression.

Harry nodded to him, then stepped fully into the room. His friends did likewise. They made sure Lucius would see and hear them, as he was the most likely to know the answers to their questions, even if he had lost his former standing in Voldemort's ranks during the last years.

"There is a question we need you to answer," began Hermione.

"How did Voldemort get the dementors to obey him?" Harry went straight to the point.

"You need your questions answered, do you?" Malfoy Sr. did not even turn his head, just sent them a dark look from underneath his lank hair falling in front of his face. There was suppressed rage and wounded pride in his tone.

The three friends' hopes of getting the answers easily dimmed somewhat, and they prepared for a long argument, only to be surprised by Draco's interference.

"Father..." he began quietly, hesitantly, but with a determination that Lucius could not ignore. "Maybe we should hear them out."

Father and son exchanged a long look, and then the fight seemed to go out of Lucius. "Fine," he relented. "Let's hear them." He turned to harry. "But first, Mr. Potter, maybe you could tell us: Is this part of our official questioning -" he spat out the word official. "Or are you just having a first go at us?"

"Now that things are calming down, people are no longer as willing to just ignore you," Hermione said to Harry's surprise. He almost interrupted her to ask where she thought she was going with that, but held himself back because he did not want the Malfoys to see any disagreement between them.

It won't be long before we all have to face the damage that's been done," Hermione went on. "People might want to hold someone responsible, and you might end up getting punished."

"Really? That thought had never even occurred to me."

"Yes, really." The sarcasm seemed lost on Hermione. "It would be in your best interest to give us inside information."

Despite his initial willingness to help, it was Draco who reacted worst to that comment. He drew up to full height, and looked ready to curse her for her attempt at intimidation.

Lucius was an entirely different matter. He only seemed angry for a moment, and then his eyes sharpened. Harry was sure the older Malfoy was considering them and what they might mean for his state very carefully. It was not the first time Lucius had found himself in this situation, after all. He had managed to extricate himself from a similar situation after the first war.

"It would be in my best interest to help the ministry, and give them all the information they require," he stated in his usual drawl. "But last I checked, you didn't work for the ministry."

Ron shifted his weight at Harry's side, clearly losing his patience. Narcissa noticed as well, and joined in: "Of course, if we thought the ministry would approve of us helping you..." She left the sentence unfinished. It was clear to all where she was going with it and what she wanted to hear. Ron and Hermione were glowering at her for her barely concealed demand, and even her son was staring daggers at her. That she was asking his school enemies for help, of all people, was clearly turning his stomach.

But Harry had enough of it all. He needed the information and did not mind as much as he had thought, if the Malfoys walked free. "We'll of course make sure you will be compensated," he said. The older Malfoys looked at him, wishing for more assurance. Harry sighed. "I'll tell the minister I couldn't have won without your help, and that I don't think you should be punished. Will that do?"

Draco turned away, embarrassed, as his parents exchanged looks, finally satisfied with Harry's response. "For the last year, the dementors have been obeying the Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge," Lucius told them. "I believe you know her?" Harry, remembering the vile woman, felt colour drain from his face.

"But why her?" Harry was glad Hermione was asking the important questions, as his own mind felt rather blank at the moment.

"I'm not entirely sure." Lucius did not even attempt to sound interested. "But she's had a lot of control over them for a few years now. I guess, with the speed the ministers kept changing, she was the only stable power."

The Malfoys did not have much more to add to that. The three friends left them and headed back to the Great Hall to find the others. They walked in silence for a while, each thinking what to do next.

"I don't get it," Hermione suddenly broke the silence. "What could she be planning?"

"I know what you mean," Harry agreed. "She's the last person I can think of who would want to fight a bunch of aurors."

"Fight the aurors?" Ron exclaimed. "What are you on about?"

"Oh, honestly, Ron," Hermione began, exasperated. "Didn't you listen to what's going on? Shacklebolt and all the aurors he could get are off to fight Umbridge and her army of dementors. I guess she was afraid they'd be coming after her anyway, and she'd be safer with the dementors, but really. I thought even she'd have enough sense to realize that she'd be better off fleeing or hiding..."

"She's not going to fight the aurors," Ron said to his friends' surprise, sounding even more astonished than they looked. "Come on, guys. You don't really think she's anywhere close to where the aurors are!"

"What do you mean?" Harry was still confused.

"Well..." Ron went red as he saw that they had stopped walking and that he was suddenly the centre of attention. "She's off to the ministry, obviously. Now that she's managed to get the minister and all the aurors away from there..."

"Oh!" Hermione caught on. "You think she's trying to seize the power, to overthrow Kingsley..." She sounded dismayed that she had not thought of that sooner.

"We have to get there as soon as possible," Harry exclaimed, horrified at the thought that Umbridge might succeed. They started moving again, much faster this time. They were almost running.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Harry's tone was angry and accusatory.

Ron scowled. "I thought it was obvious! You get the protection away from the king so you can checkmate-" Ron broke off, seeing the looks he was getting and turned red to his ear tips.

"I really should get better at chess," grumbled Harry. "But I'm guessing you're not thinking of Kingsley as the king, are you?"

"No, no. The aurors, and the minister – they are the major pieces. The ministry, or – or the government, whatever – that's the king."

Hermione knew very little chess, but she knew enough to get the comparison. "You mean the Wizengamot."

"Well, yes, I guess." At this point Ron was less sure of himself. "But what's she planning to do? If she wants to be minister, she'd have to be elected..."

"The Wizengamot can name someone temporary minister, like they did with Kingsley..." Harry turned to Hermione, hoping she would have more insight into the workings of the magical government.

Hermione bit her lip, before her eyes widened in realization. "The Wizengamot chooses the chief warlock, and in a crisis, the chief warlock can act as temporary minister before there can be elections."

"But they already did that. Kingsley is temporary minister."

"Yes, but he won't be for much longer if Umbridge has her way. Remember how Dumbledore lost his position as chief warlock? Fudge called a meeting of the whole Wizengamot, one he was sure Dumbledore wouldn't know of, and allowed – well, actually forced – them to remove Dumbledore from the position. He made that insane law that allowed the Wizengamot to do that, even when the chief warlock wasn't present."

"Let me guess: the law still exists?" Harry asked, even though it was not much of a question.

"Yes. All Umbridge has to do is force the Wizengamot to choose her as chief warlock and then declare herself minister."