Amelia removed her monocle, storing it in the pocket of her briefcase before snapping it shut. The rest of the Wizengamot were packing up and shuffling off around her. The entire hearing had lasted less than twenty minutes, though quite honestly, Amelia was silently seething that it had gone on at all.

"Well, you got the outcome you were hoping for I'm sure." Cornelius Fudge muttered behind her, righting his bowler hat.

Amelia drew a deep, calming breath and turned to the Minister. For someone of such a high status, he was alarmingly short. The round bowler had made him look not unlike those muggle gnomes bumbling around with fishing lines and wheelbarrows, wearing suits that were always just a little too small for their rounded had been colleagues for almost two decades at this point but Amelia still had yet to develop the patience to deal with someone as infuriating as the Minister for Magic.

'This is exactly why Hufflepuffs should never go into politics' she thought. People pleasers, too nice, too accepting, too naïve. Too focused on making the world a haven for everyone that they blind themselves to anything that might disrupt their perfect little vision of 'normal'. Blind themselves to the truth of the world, the bad that always haunts the good.

Amelia hadn't been in Hufflepuff. She was a Slytherin. Clever, cunning, realistic. She knew how the world was woven like a web, each string tangled in another and all precisely placed to hold up society like a marionette puppet. It was a delicate balance, maintaining the strings. Try to change too much, pull the wrong string too hard and the puppet would collapse. Don't change them at all and it would stale and rot.

Slytherins understood the importance of the strings, how to use them, control them. Keep the puppet dancing with seemingly little effort.

Fudge was visibly putting in a lot of effort and the puppet was barely holding it together. It was embarrassing to watch.

"Excuse me?" Amelia put on her most menacing smile.

"That boy," Fudge grumbled, "Getting off, scot free, after all he's done. Proud of yourself are you? He'll be spreading those ridiculous stories now, just you watch. If the Prophet gets a hold of this, there'll be uproar!"

Amelia glared down at him. "That boy did nothing wrong by the laws that you yourself helped draw up, Cornelius."

"He broke the Statue of Secrecy!" Fudge bellowed.

"He performed a patronus charm to save himself and someone else from a deadly threat," Amelia replied with a strained patience. "That someone else, by the way, being his cousin who is already fully aware of Harry's status as a wizard even if he had never witnessed Harry perform any spells. It is also true that under Section 5 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy; immediate family members and/or guardians of underage wizards are permitted to know about magic and the magical community. But I don't need to remind you of that Minister since as I recall, your mother is a muggle and I know for a fact that she is fully aware and has witnessed you and your ability to do magic."

Amelia smiled politely down at Cornelius who had turned a rather alarming shade of puce.

"Those are different circumstances—"

"They are not different circumstances and you know it Minister," Amelia cut in. "Now, I'd kindly ask you to move out of my way instead of wasting anymore of my time trying to discredit a 15 year old child for, once again, acting with heroics above his years."

"Heroics above his years!?" Fudge's yell echoed across the now empty chamber. "That boy has done nothing but spread baseless lies for the last 4 years!"

"Are you calling my niece a liar, Minister?" Amelia's voice was as cold as ice.

"I—what? No, why would I—"

"My Susan has been in that school as long as Harry Potter. I have heard the stories. The real stories, Minister, not the convoluted whispers that trickle in from the Prophet. The truth from his own classmates. That boy has fought basilisks, mass murders, dragons, dementors—"

"THERE WERE NO DEMENTORS!" Cornelius shouted, the vein on his forehead "There are no dementors outside of Azkaban. There are no Dementors wandering around Muggle neighborhoods!"

"We have witnesses to the Dementors, Cornelius, that has already been established—"

"It's all lies. Potter is being forced into it by Dumbledore! You support that man over me, Madame Bones, I know it! We can all see it! You want him to usurp me, take over the role of Minister for Magic! It's corruption of the highest order!"

Amelia paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing on the small man who was sweating under his bowler hat, chest heaving from his angry tirade. There was a limited amount of patience she had for her colleague and it was growing thinner by the minute.

"Trust me Minister, I have no desire for Albus Dumbledore to come anywhere near the Ministry of Magic." Cornelius looked at her shocked, but she continued in a steely voice.

"The only reason that boy was forced to drive away Dementors from a muggle neighbourhood was because he was not being protected. The only reason Harry Potter has had to perform any heroics in the first place is because Albus Dumbledore has allowed dangers into the walls of that school. He has repeatedly put his students in danger, my Susan in danger. He may have defended Harry today, Minister, but if you can recall, Albus Dumbledore never once even looked at the boy. Harry was as alone in that hearing as he has been whenever he has had to tackle the monsters he has encountered."

Amelia glared sternly at the small man in a bowler hat below her. He was cowering.

"A man like that cannot be trusted with the welfare of minors let alone the welfare of the population of this country. Minister Fudge, for all your faults — and you have many — you care more about the protection of our society than he does. Albus Dumbledore would sacrifice many to save a few. You are doing your best to save them all."

Cornelius didn't seem to know how to take the compliment. Amelia watched on, amused as the Minister stammered, fixing his lapels and brushing down his tweed jacket.

"Yes well… It's a difficult job; being Minister for Magic… A lot of people are relying on you and all that…"

Amelia just smirked. "I'm sure, Cornelius."

"So... you— you don't believe all that nonsense about You-Know-Who returning do you?"

"Of course I do."

Cornelius shot her an irritated expression but Amelia merely raised her eyebrows.

"Minister, you may have not lost anyone in the first war, but I did. He Who Must Not Be Named murdered my mother and father. He murdered my brother, his wife and children. Susan is an orphan because of him. I will not make the mistake of underestimating him a second time."

Amelia's words were cold but firm. It had been almost two decades since she had lost her family but the pain still burned as raw as the day she had walked into her parents house, the foundations still smouldering as the dust settled in a thick blanket over the wreckage. The Bones estate had stood proud and strong for over 11 generations. It's wards and defences were built into the bedrock, tied to the magic of the land. It was a fortress.

Voldemort had torn it to the ground in under an hour.

She shuddered at the memory.

"I'm sorry…"

Amelia glanced down again to see Cornelius staring at her nervously. His apology had been whispered, but the sincerity was loud and clear. She fixed him with a calculating stare.

It was true, Fudge was not the ideal Minister for Magic. He was naïve, idealistic. 'Short, stupid, incredibly irritating, terrible taste in hats…' Yet despite that, Amelia could see that Fudge really did care in his own convoluted way. He did not want to see people get hurt. He didn't want to fight in any war, to even admit that they were on the brink of one. He was a politician, not a general. He wasn't built for war.

He was a Hufflepuff. He didn't know how to play the strings of politics. He would blindly tangle himself in them trying to create his perfect haven.

It was only a matter of time before he hung himself in the ropes.

"A word of warning, Minister Fudge," Amelia said calmly, picking up her briefcase. "There is a war coming, even if you insist on denying it. You are making enemies on both sides of the fight. I just hope you have allies left when you are no longer protected by your position. You will need them before long."

The Minister did not reply to this, simply drew himself up, raising his chin in an attempt at a proud stance. Amelia wouldn't use the word 'impressive' to describe him…

Determined, maybe.

Cornelius tipped his hat respectfully to her before stepping back, allowing her to pass. She nodded politely and strode out of the courtroom.

She passed Harry and Arthur Weasley standing together in the hallway just beyond the doors to the chamber. The boy had looked so small during the hearing. So afraid and vulnerable, perched on the edge of a chair meant for criminals and thieves. It was hard to believe that this was the boy Susan spoke so highly about. That this was the boy Albus Dumbledore believed would save them all, the boy the entire wizarding community was looking to as a saviour.

The Chosen One.

She was supposed to trust that a fifteen year old child could defeat the man who slaughtered the Ancient House of Bones?

Amelia wasn't a fool. She was clever, cunning, realistic. She was a Slytherin; proud, noble, defiant. She would not put her faith in someone else or leave her ambitions to chance. There was a war coming, she knew that. And she wasn't going to leave that child to fight it alone.


For The Houses Competition

Prompt(s) chosen: Amelia Bones and Cornelius Fudge - Pairing