The photographer from the Daily Prophet's camera flashed, shooting out a cloud of smoke into the crowd as Gilderoy Lockhart took to the stage. He was greeted by applause and whistles from those gathered.

"Good evening! It is great to be back in Diagon Alley! It feels like only yesterday I was hear buying my school supplies. And who would have known when I started at Hogwarts that I would have gone to write eleven best-selling books, return to my school to teach young witches and wizards following in my footsteps everything that I knew and win Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award for eight times!"

Some of the witches applauded. One shouted "We love you, Gilderoy!"

Lockhart winked in her direction.

"But I'm not here to discuss that—I won't beat You-Know-Who by smiling at him, will I?"

The witches laughed.

"No, I am here to talk about why I should be your next Minister for Magic!"

Wild applause greeted these words. Mrs. Weasley joined in. Lockhart certainly did have public backing—albeit from the most 40+ and female demographic. There were some younger faces in the crowd too—Dudley saw a group of girls in their late teens giggling and applauding.

"I am the only candidate for the position who has actually faced You-Know-Who! I know how his mind works. I know he fights. I know what to expect! And we can be prepared!"

The crowd cheered again.

"We all saw the news about the Azkaban breakout!"

Angry mutters.

"That would not have happened on my watch! No, no, no! Mark my words—You-Know-Who knows better than to tangle with me again."

The crowd clapped.

"Now, I don't want to badmouth Madame Bones—she is an excellent witch, I'm sure. But she is not the leader the magical world needs. You need someone who will take the fight straight to Voldemort's door!"

The crowd cheered again.

"You need someone who will show him we are not frightened!"

More cheers and whistles.

"You need Gilderoy Lockhart!"

The crowd of witches roared.

Lockhart waited for the noise to die down. "Now, I am sure you have many questions about my policies—but I'm afraid I can't tell. You-Know-Who has eyes everywhere—I don't want to tip my hand now, do I?" He winked, roguishly.

"And I know it is the Wizengamot who will eventually decide who should lead the nation, but I urge each and every one of you to write to the Ministry and ask, nay, demand, that they select Gilderoy Lockhart as the next Minister for Magic!"

The biggest cheer yet broke out at those words, and a small group of witches—each wearing T-shirts proclaiming they belonged to the "Magical Meians" which Dudley assumed to be a fan club started a "Lockhart!" chant.

Lockhart stepped forward now. Dudley expected he would take questions from the audience, but instead, he asked them questions.

"What's your name, my dear?"

"Gladys Gudgeon!" a plump, bespectacled witch said breathlessly.

Lockhart smiled kindly at her. "And why do you think I should be Minister for Magic?"

"I've read all your books—I loved Year with a Yeti …"

"My favorite, too," Lockhart beamed.

"And, well … anybody who can defeat a yeti by transfiguring with nothing more than a box of chocolate frogs, an enchanted hat and a trick wand is Minister for Magic material in my book!" said Gladys Gudgeon.

"Smart," Luna said, softly.

"What is?" Dudley asked, glancing down at her.

"Well, by asking he crowd questions instead, it means he doesn't have to take any questions himself," Luna said. She pointed to a pair of grim looking wizards, then to a youngish witch with a determined face. "They don't look like Lockhart fans," she said. "I bet they're supporters of Lockhart's rivals, hoping to ask some difficult questions. Lockhart isn't giving them the chance, look."

Sure enough, Lockhart was asking questions of another witch. "Which attributes of mine do you think would make me the most suitable Minister, Josephine?" he asked.

"Definitely you bravery!" the witch called Josephine said. "Why … the things you've done."

"And you, sir! You I recognize! I signed an autograph for you just last week -Tobin Wolstenholme, isn't it?"

"Quite right sir," Wolstenholme said—he was a chubby, elderly wizard with a bushy white beard.

"And why do you support me over the likes of Madame Bones or Rufus Scrimgeour?"

"They haven't done what you have, have they?" Wolstenholme said.

Lockhart now approached Mrs. Weasley, who had turned bright red.

"Ah, now you must be Mrs. Weasley—the mother of my friend, Ron!" he said, cheerfully.

"Yes!" Mrs. Weasley squeaked.

Dudley had never seen her look like such a nervous schoolgirl before.

"Ron," Lockhart exclaimed, "Is an old student of mine! I spent last year teaching him his friends how to cast a patronus"

Mutterings greeted this.

"Well …" Ron began, but Lockhart was focused on Mrs. Weasley.

"So, Mrs. Weasley—do you plan to write to the Ministry of Magic to demand they vote for me?"

"I … well …" Mrs Weasley began.

Dudley knew why she was uncertain. Her own husband was one of the candidates. He couldn't believe that Lockhart had forgotten.

To get Mrs. Weasley out of an awkward predicament, Dudley stepped forward. "Professor," he said.

Lockhart smiled at him. "Ah, Dudley! Yes … I'm sure you all recognize my good friend, Dudley here—Dudley Dursley …"

The crowd clapped.

"… saved the Philosopher's Stone in his first year, accompanied me to seek out Slytherin's monster in his second, helped to capture Sirius Black, Triwizard Champion …"

"One of …" Dudley said.

Lockhart didn't seem to hear.

"… and my young protégé. Taught him everything I knew, haven't I, Dud?"

Lockhart put an arm around his shoulders.

"An exceptionally talented wizards—following in my footsteps. Who knows, one day, he might write his own bestselling books about his adventures!"

The crowd clapped again.

"Anyway," Lockhart was steering him towards the stage now.

Dudley felt all eyes on him.

"Dudley is here to throw his weight behind my campaign to be Minister for Magic—isn't that right, Dud?"

Dudley nodded and, feeling that he better speak, he stepped forward.

"Professor Lockhart has been my friend for years now. He has taught me a lot. I saw firsthand how he beat Slytherin's Serpent and a few weeks ago, he saved me from Lord Voldemort …"

There were squeals of alarm and many of the witches and wizards jumped with fright. One even dropped an ice cream down his shirt. One roly-poly witch's monocle fell off which was ten trodden on by the witch in front of her as she jumped with fright.

"Oops, I mean, You-Know-Who," Dudley said quickly. He could see Fred, George, Ron and Ginny laughing at the back.

"So, erm, that's why I support Professor Lockhart. He's, well, proved his bravery by facing Vol … You-Know-Who. I can't say that about any of the others."

The crowd applauded and Dudley quickly returned to the others. He felt glad it was over. Lockhart was now wrapping up his speech and was saying he would be hosting an autograph session in one hour after he had eaten.

"That went well, didn't it?' he said, jovially. "If everyone there writes in, it may swing a few votes my way." He beamed around at Dudley, Luna and the Weasleys.

"Now, I promised you a good meal—come along. My favorite restaurant, I'm a regular. I highly recommend the dragon steak—it's delicious!"

Professor Lockhart's campaign rally made the front page of the Daily Prophet—a photo of a grinning Lockhart with Dudley was on the front page under the caption "Lockhart for Minister?"

Dudley put up with Fred and George's teasing, and spent an enjoyable few days with the Weasley family and Luna. Luna was stopping over with Ginny, so Dudley could spend a lot of time with his girlfriend.

On nice evenings, they went to the back field to play three-on-three quidditch. Dudley, Ron and Luna versus Fred, George and Ginny. Luna was quite a good flyer, but lacked concentration. She was just as likely to pay attention to a passing bird or a cluster of gnomes peeking out at them than she was the quaffle.

Luna, it turned out, loved gnomes. "They're smarter than people think," she told Dudley, scattering crumbs of bread for them. "Daddy has been trying to learn their language so he can uncover their secrets."

Dudley watched the gnomes squabbling over breadcrumbs. One was choking as it had ate a pebble by mistake. He very much doubted they had much to share.

The Order still met occasionally, but all seemed to be quiet. Using extendable ears, Dudley and his friends eavesdropped in as Arthur Weasley provided an update on the upcoming elections one evening. All of the potential ministers had given a speech to the Wizengamot. Dudley recalled that Lockhart planned to bring him to one to speak on his behalf, but it seemed permission had been refused.

"Yaxley's support is growing," Arthur announced, grimly. "I hate to say it, but he knows the right thing to garner support. Whereas Madame Bones' popularity is falling thanks to the Azkaban breakout."

"No luck in tracing any of them?"

"None," said Arthur. "They won't find the escapees until they find You-Know-Who.

Arthur discussed the other candidates. His own speech, it turned out, had gone down well. He had put forward the notion of allowing office heads to carry out raids without approval from their superiors. It would free up some red tape. He had also advocated for weekly raids on properties of those considered suspicious.

Scrimgeour had spoken vaguely about planning a trap for Voldemort, but hadn't shared details. "I doubt it will succeed," Arthur said to the rest of the Order. "You-Know-Who is too smart for him"

"Dolores Umbridge's support is growing too," Arthur continued. "She's drafted some anti-werewolf legislation. Has promised to send a team of Aurors on a preemptive strike against the giants and spoke about ID cards for muggle borns."

Angry mutterings broke out at this.

"What in the world for?" Augusta Longbottom said.

"She says, for their protection,' Arthur replied, scathingly. "Didn't give details about just how having an ID card will protect them. All it's going to do is give Death Eaters an easy way to tell them apart."

"Idiot woman," Augusta said. "I never liked her."

"Well, she's getting support," Arthur said. "There's surprisingly quite a few witches and wizards among the Wizengamot who think pure-bloods should be on top."

"Is she one of his?" a witch asked.

"Dumbledore doesn't think so," Arthur said.

He moved on to discussing the other potential ministers. Lockhart, unsurprisingly, had spent his entire speech talking about himself and his many accomplishments. Corban Yaxley had promised swift action against Death Eaters and stricter measures.

Mundungus Fletcher had snorted at this. "Yeah right—as if he won't use those measures against us."

"Good point," Alastor Moody had growled. "It would be easy enough once he's in charge to frame the Order of the Phoenix as You-Know-Who's followed. The Ministry and the Death Eaters will essentially be one and the same with You-Know-Who's lapdog in power."

The Watcher

The Watcher kept an eye on Lockhart as he led Dudley and the Weasleys off. He had been unimpressed. Lockhart had spent a long time talking but had said nothing at all. It had been bragging, a few statements of intent and then Lockhart essentially flattering his ego by asking his fans why they loved him. There had been nothing about strategy or policies or methods to combat Lord Voldemort. The Ministry would fall quickly if that fool was in charge.

He had learnt more by observing Dudley Dursley and his group. He had noticed that he had been holding hands with a blonde-haired girl. A possible weakness? He was always on the lookout for things that could be used against enemies of the Dark Lord. It was amazing how quickly people fell in line when their loved ones were threatened.

He had also observed the three Order of the Phoenix members. Again, he was unimpressed. Mrs. Weasley had spent the whole time in awe of Lockhart—barely aware of her surroundings. The watcher felt he could have spirited Dudley away from under her nose and she wouldn't have noticed.

The French girl, Fleur Delacour had drifted to the side of the crowd, scanning for threats initially but had soon seemingly lost interest in her task and had spent most of Lockhart's speech looking at the display in a nearby dress shop. She was a weak link.

Only the cursebreaker Bill Weasley had shown any signs of competence. He had stood in one place, not watching Lockhart but watching the crowd, then the streets around him, then the crowd again. The watcher made a mental note to pass that on to Voldemort.

Finally, he had observed the members of the Dark Force Defence League. They had maintained their positions and watchfulness well. But that was to be expected from ex-Aurors and ex-hit wizards. They had took up strong positions and kept them, keeping a pair of eyes on all possible angles of attack. They could be a problem

Events being over, he headed up the street to find a quiet place he would use to apparate back to Grimmauld Place.

Voldemort

"You know what to do?" Voldemort said to Rookwood.

"Yes, my lord," Rookwood bowed.

"Good, the Aurors will do the rest. They have been tipped off," said Voldemort. "Rest assured, you have done Lord Voldemort a great service. When the Ministry falls, this won't be forgotten."

"Thank you, my lord," said Rookwood.

Voldemort smiled. Soon, Rufus Scrimgeour would be finished. That would be one key rival out of the running, further clearing the path for Corban Yaxley.