You Breathe Differently Down Here
Spinifex
2. Who Won the Pool?
Ron Weasley's meteoric rise to power had surprised many in the wizarding community, but Hermione was not among them. She was well aware of Ron's drive for success - an visceral need to prove himself that had gradually eclipsed any other desires he might have had. True, academic success had never come as easily for him as it had for Hermione, and he had never supplanted Harry as captain of the Quidditch team. With studious application he had taken quite creditable N.E.W.T.s and become the de facto tactician of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but Hermione had not missed the way Ron's mouth twisted in photographs of the team after winning the Quidditch cup by an unprecendented margin of 440 points. With the exception of certain members of Slytherin house, the spectators had chanted, "Harry! Harry! Harry!" as his teammates carried him off the field on their shoulders.
Denied the opportunity to train as an Auror after leaving Hogwarts, Ron had taken a position as a clerk in the Department of Revenue Collection at the Ministry of Magic. Daily he pored over columns of nearly illegible figures before turning them over to his superiors to make final decisions. He had stopped talking about work to his friends or his family, insisting that the details which were not held in strictest confidentiality were too boring for words.
It was simply by chance that Ron had arrived late for work on the morning that an unidentified witch had burst into the foyer, firing Killing Curses in all directions before turning her wand on herself. Cornelius Fudge quickly convened a panel to investigate the matter; within a day, the Ministry issued a report that found no evidence that Imperio had been involved. The witch, a recent escapee from St Mungo's psychiatric facilities, was simply mentally disturbed. The fact that the victims included Fudge's most vocal critics within the Ministry went unremarked.
Hermione had come to support Mrs Weasley as she collected her husband's personal effects from his office, so she saw the resulting commotion firsthand. With a set jaw, Ron had marched into the corridor where Fudge's new personal bodyguards kept watch over his office door. One of the sentries nodded in recognition at the late Arthur Weasley's son. Lengthening his stride, Ron reached the entryway before the astonished men could demand that he stand back. Ron slammed and sealed the Minister's door behind him. When the pair had recovered enough to pry open the door, they were confronted by a wall of solid stone. The guards tried each of the standard Demolishing Charms in turn, but the granite was impervious to the controlled explosions. Almost half an hour had passed before the wall dissolved and Fudge emerged. Sweating and pale, he hastened to assure the onlookers that everything was under control, and it had all been a misunderstanding, or possibly a practical joke. Only when the guards had pocketed their wands did Ron step out. The unsmiling practical joker strode down the hallway without a second glance at the Minister.
And the very next day Ron took his position as the chief assistant to the Minister.
Hermione was forced to admit that Ron had been good for the Ministry. He had immediately formed a task force to investigate rumours of Death Eater activity; within six months, he had uncovered two potential assassination plots and broken up three suspicious meetings. The Ministry officially played down Ron's findings, asserting that the purported assassins were simply "unstable" and "misguided" wizards who had been committed to St Mungo's secure ward for their own protection. If Hermione entertained private doubts about the fate of the wizards, she didn't broach the topic with Ron.
In the intervening years, Ron had solidified his control of the Ministry, although the shift in power was not immediately apparent to outsiders. The Wizengamot still met to try criminal cases, although as a courtesy Ron was asked to review potentially controversial verdicts before they were pronounced. Those who protested his policies too vociferously might find themselves appointed to lonely outposts by the North Sea, but that was simply politics as usual. Fudge still came forward to issue all official Ministry statements, and if he seemed visibly nervous while reading from a prepared script - well, that could be attributed to late-blooming stage fright.
The practical upshot was that, at the tender age of twenty-seven, Ronald Weasley was quite possibly the most powerful figure in the wizarding world.