I had mixed feelings about the election. One the one hand, the TWP had made huge gains since the last election, where they had received only around 3000 votes, and Dumbledore's party's nominee had been kept out of the office. On the other hand, Crouch had gotten in – a man famed for his harsh stance on Death Eaters. It was concerning, and since Crouch would seemingly have the backing of the PWP in the Wizengamot, he may be able to do a lot to counter the Dark influences in Britain. I hoped that the TWP, with Lucius and I at the helm would be able to prevent that from happening; only time will tell. We had tried to unearth something to use against Crouch, to maybe turn voters to turn to Fudge, but there was nothing, that would damage him in the eyes of the public at least. The man hadn't done his infamous 'throwing people in Azkaban without a trial' yet, and there was little else that had blemished him in canon – I wasn't willing to expose Barty for this. The situation wasn't that desperate, I was hoping he could be managed.

Somehow, Dumbledore had shot himself in the foot regarding the Progressive Wizarding Party's candidate. What was the man thinking? Twernese Singh was a complete unknown in the country. While his unknown nature could have been overcome, with extensive campaigning and the like, Dumbledore had done no campaigning, he had done nothing to help the candidate apart from endorsing his nomination at the start of the campaign. One statement, even from Dumbledore, can only go so far. Even so, the lacklustre result for the PWP was still a shock. I briefly contemplated if he had deliberately done it, so as to get Crouch elected, but soon banished the thought. I didn't believe that the man would go as far as to throw an election for his own party just to get a man elected who was tough on Death Eaters elected, especially when there are plenty of candidates from his own party who have that same belief – though to a lesser extreme. Others, however, seemingly did not share my view. As I sat down for breakfast, I saw this headline emboldened on the front page of the Daily Prophet:

PWP Representatives Angry at Leader. Some Are Asking: Did He Throw the Election?

By Alex Skillton, Political Correspondent

Readers, as we have told you many times, many in the Progressive Wizarding Party are blaming the leader of the party and current Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore, for the poor election result they had earlier this week. And now, some in the PWP are allegedly suspicious of the man's motives during the election campaign. One PWP Representative, speaking on the condition of anonymity told me, "In every election he has ever taken part in, Dumbledore has campaigned vigourously. Except at this last election. Some of us are asking why. What purpose could he have, apart from trying to get another candidate elected? We know that he fought hard against the Death Eaters, as did Crouch, so that is the obvious conclusion. I do not want to believe it, but it is the only conclusion I can come to."

Some are even questioning if a vote of no confidence in the Chief Warlock may be called by the leader of the minority party in the Wizengamot, Lord Arcturus Black, who commands 42 Wizengamot seats, Dumbledore commands 48. If Dumbledore's standing in his own party has fallen as much as we have been led to believe, then it is plausible that enough of his own party may vote that they have no confidence in him. If that were to occur, a new Chief Warlock would need to be elected by the Wizengamot. Lady Abbott, however, disregards these rumours, saying simply, "Whilst there are some dissatisfied members of the party, none would vote to remove Dumbledore of his position as Chief Warlock."

What happens next in this saga, readers, remains to be seen.

The article was unbelievable, and I told Lucius this as we were sat in his study, the day after the article was published.

"The truth is, my Lord," he began "that if the PWP were to vote Dumbledore out of office as Chief Warlock, they would be acting like a bunch of Dorcuses. As you know, my Lord, the Chief Warlock controls the Wizengamot timetable; they can make life extremely tricky if they want to, for people they don't like. If they were to remove him, I doubt that they would be able to get another light witch or wizard, from their party at least, appointed."

"How so?" I enquired.

"Simply put, my Lord, there wouldn't be enough support. They don't have a majority, and Dumbledore was the only wizard popular enough to get the necessary number of the independents to vote for him, if he goes, there will not be enough votes to get another PWP Representative elected – none are popular enough."

I hummed for a moment. "Use your contacts and enquire around, see if there would be enough support. If so, go ahead with a vote."

"Yes, my Lord."

He set off to do just that.

Two days later, and there was much excitement in the Wizengamot chambers, as Lucius Malfoy walked into the large spherical room, encircled with benches. One row, however, had chairs rather than benches, Twenty-seven of them. The chairs were much more elaborate than the benches, encrusted with precious jewels, and the backs of the seats had the seals of houses embroidered on them. To the left of the seat belonging to the head of the House of Yaxley was a chair-sized space before the seat belonging to the head of the House of Travers. Another chair used to occupy that space, belonging to the Weasleys, before a previous head of the family gave up their hereditary seat, in exchange for his large debts being forgiven by the Ministry. Before he sat down, he walked across to the Head of the House of Black, Lord Arcturus Black. He briefly whispered to him and awaited a nod before he took his seat.

Soon enough all but four seats were occupied, three vacant hereditary seats and a seat that was on the left-most side of the room from the doors to the chamber. The seat was on a dais upon a row of benches already raised above all others. The seat was normally occupied by the Minister for Magic, but she was not here. On a seat, opposite to the doors of the chamber and upon a dais large enough to be equal to the height of the seat reserved for the Minister for Magic sat the Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore. As the noise in the room quieted down, he stood up and spoke, an Amplifying Charm applied on his voice.

"I hereby call this session of the Legislative Wizengamot to order. Aurors, please close and seal the doors." He commanded. After they did so, he began again. "This special session of the 438th Wizengamot is now in session. I have been handed a letter of resignation by the Minister for Magic, which I shall now read to you, for the purposes of verification."

Chief Warlock, Lords, Ladies, and Representatives of the people of Magical Britain and Ireland,

I write to offer my resignation from the post of Minister for Magic, while I wish it were not necessary for me to have to write this letter, I understand that it is for the best, and that it will allow the nation to heal, and for the Ministry to work to better the lives of the people, once again.

For what it is worth, I offer my deepest apologies to you all.

Sincerely,

Millicent Bagnold, 31st Minister for Magic

"I would like to call a vote on whether to accept the resignation of the 31st Minister for Magic, do I have a second?" He asked.

A man who Lucius recognised as one of the independent Representatives stood, said "I second", and sat back down.

"With the motion seconded, we shall vote. All those in favour please say 'aye'."

Nearly everyone said aye, Lucius included.

"On the contrary, 'no'."

No one spoke.

"The ayes have it. Let the record show that the Office of Minister for Magic is hereby vacated." He spoke to the Clerk of the Wizengamot, who was busy scrawling down the happenings of the meeting. Lucius didn't care to learn the mudblood's name, even though he had seen it countless times on the official scrolls that recorded every meeting of every Wizengamot.

"I have a letter from the Independent Election Commission, certifying the results of the May 5th 1982 Ministerial Election. I, as the head of the Commission will not read it, instead, the Clerk of the Wizengamot, shall read the letter." With a flick of his wand, the letter floated of towards the Clerk, who snatched it out of the air and read it aloud. Lucius did not listen, he already knew that he had lost, Crouch had won.

After the letter had been read aloud, Dumbledore again called a vote, this time as to whether the Wizengamot will accept the results of the election. Another Representative stood, seconded the motion, sat down, and the vote took place, again it was a unanimous voice vote, for the ayes.

"With that, I call Lord Bartemius Crouch Senior to the floor."

Both he and Crouch, who was sat to his left numerous seats away, stood up and made their way to the centre of the Wizengamot floor.

Dumbledore spoke first, after Crouch had raised his hand, to administer the Oath of Office.

"Do you, Lord Bartemius Crouch Senior, of the House of Crouch, swear to uphold the Office of Minister for Magic, to defend the Ministry, and the Wizengamot, and to faithfully serve the people of Magical Britain and Ireland?"

"I do."

"Congratulations, Minister."

The chamber erupted into applause, as the new Minister was sworn into office and he took his seat. Of course, Lucius thought, the oath was purely ceremonial, there was no wand involved, thus the oath was not enforceable by magic. But it looked good, and was traditional, so it took place every time there was a new Minister.

Once the chamber was settled again, Dumbledore spoke. "Are there any more points of order?" He asked.

Lord Arcturus Black rose and spoke. "I would like to call a motion of no confidence in the Chief Warlock of this esteemed institution." His voice, despite his age still carried around the chamber, with no Amplifying Charm needed.

There was an immediate reaction to his words, whispers picked up around the room, which got louder and louder as more people started talking, photographers in the room took photographs, the smoke from their cameras filled the air, and Dumbledore's face grew pale.

"Do you have a second?" He enquired, his voice much quieter than before, despite the Sonorous.

Lucius stood tall. "I second the motion", he declared, before sitting back down.

With a pained voice Dumbledore carried out his duties, powerless to stop the vote, this was one vote he couldn't prevent. "With the motion seconded, we shall vote. All those in favour say aye."

A loud chorus of ayes followed.

"On the contrary no".

An equally large chorus of noes followed.

"With the voice vote inadequate we shall vote by wand." He declared, hope starting to seep back into his voice. Lucius was surprised that the man had not counted how many votes each side had. He supposed the man was busy with all the titles and jobs he had.

As he finished that thought, three gemstones on the back of the chair in front of him lit up. On the left was a green stone, which indicated an aye vote, in the middle was a red stone, which indicated a no vote, and on the right a white stone, which indicated an abstention. Lucius unholstered his wand and pressed the tip on the green stone.

The stones were linked to the floor of the chamber, which at the proclamation of a vote by wand had changed, so that there were now four numbers in the centre of the floor. One was in green, one red, one white, and one blue, the blue representing those that had not yet voted.

Soon the blue number became three, and Dumbledore read out the results of the vote.

"The ayes: 62, the noes: 60. So the ayes have it. Let it be known that the Office of Chief Warlock is hereby vacated." His voice was strained as he announced the results, but he walked down the steps from his dais nevertheless.

A/N: A rapid second chapter, I'm so proud of myself. In case anyone cares here are the breakdown of the results:

Ayes: 42 TWP + 11 Independents + 9 PWP = 62

Noes: 39 PWP + 21 independents = 60

Abstained: 17 Ministry + 2 Independents = 19

Not voted: 3 vacant.

Also in case anyone cares, here's the break down of the current Wizengamot:

Abbot: Progressive

Avery: WTP

Black: WTP

Bulstrode: Independent

Burke: WTP

Carrow: WTP

Crouch: Independent

Fawley: Progressive

Flint: WTP

Gaunt: Vacant (obvious reasons)

Greengrass: WTP

Lestrange: WTP

Longbottom: Progressive

Macmillan: Progressive

Malfoy: WTP

Nott: WTP

Olliviander: Independent

Parkinson: WTP

Prewett: Vacant (Weasleys cannot take the seat, would be Molly's)

Rosier: Vacant (Bellatrix's, but she cannot take the seat)

Rowle: WTP

Selwyn: WTP

Shacklebolt: Progressive

Shafiq: Independent

Slughorn: Independent

Travers: WTP

Yaxley: WTP

Amongst the 27 eligible Sacred Twenty-Eight members of the Wizengamot:

Five Independents

Five Progressives

14 WTP

Three Vacant

100 elected seats:

43 PWP

28 WTP

29 Independents

Total Seats:

48 PWP

42 TWP

34 Independents

17 Ministry

3 Vacant