The Greatest Minister for Magic in History Part 11

Lucius Malfoy could not believe the encounter he had earlier.

When the Muggle woman started talking to them in that shop, he had restrained himself from cursing her only by reminding himself it was in a Muggle area – and there were witnesses.

However, the woman's uncanny perception as to her visitors had spooked him mightily. He decided to watch and wait. He was conflicted in his own mind between being happy and angry with himself for it.

It was obvious that the woman had some ability in divination or some other magic – there was no way a pure Muggle could see so much.

Her instant ability to see that his wife and son had been through cleansing rituals and that he had not had floored him.

And then for her to instantly see Draco's connection to Slytherin's totem? It was otherwordly. The purchase of the necklace with the icon for the caduceus and the meaning behind it were all traits that he wished for his son to achieve.

Even as they traveled home, he could see the almost reverent reaction that his son had to the small item.

Another shock had been his effort to retrieve the one enchanted item that had not been stored within the Gringotts ward in his home: The Dark Lord's diary.

Seeing the marked effects of the lack of Dark artifacts on his wife and child, the Malfoy Patriarch had opened the almost empty cachet which had formerly held the Dark items he owned. He had ordered his house elf, Dobby, to hide it away from the Manor when the goblins and Aurors had arrived to set up the wards and ensure all were contained. He had placed it in a small iron casket, often used to transport and store heavily enchanted items.

He decided that it was time to get this item destroyed.

When the box had been retrieved, he had opened it. Reaching in, he pulled out the book. But something felt … off. The expected attack against his mind had not materialized. The compulsions he had noted long ago were not present.

He carefully opened the cover to find a large hole through the inside pages of the book. Lucius felt dread. A parchment was pasted to the inside cover. He opened it carefully. Its content surprised him.

Mr. Lucius Malfoy

Wisdom has deemed that this item should not exist and by my hand it has been destroyed. As to how this was achieved? In this, I am Magic's servant. That is all that you need to know.

Also know that I have taken steps to prevent the return of your former master. His return would spell doom for both the magical world and – more important to you – your family.

You are far better off without him – trust me.

Think kindly of me should you encounter me in the future.

Sincerely,

The Lone Traveler

Lucius trembled at the acknowledgement that everything the High Priestess had said to him just hours before had been vindicated. His family had been blessed by magic and his effort to distance himself from his former path was the correct path for him and his family.

And so, he found himself in the bowels of Gringotts, subject to a cleansing ritual that he had never expected to ask for. The attending goblins even had inspected his Dark mark – and they had a long term plan to take care of it. Due to the nature of the mark, a simple ritual would not do, but a step-by-step plan would. He had agreed to it and its enormous comparative cost: 2500 Galleons.

The loss of the link to that madman was worth the price many times over. Lucius hadn't even blinked when he agreed to pay the fees.

Lucius sat in stoic silence as the ritual began.

Cornelius Fudge reviewed the final files for the Senior Undersecretary position. The biggest reason he had been avoiding the subject had finally been taken care of: Dolores Umbridge.

Alastor Moody's investigation had found several more spying charms throughout executive offices and the magical signature had been the same. When the Wizengamot had been called, each member's wand had been recorded (for security reasons) and the results compared.

Moody had then, once the signature had been matched, investigated the woman. He had found that the Selwyn proxy had been blackmailing the actual head of the family to hold the seat. The woman herself had come from common stock and her family had no place in the Wizengamot.

The Selwyn head had been given immunity in what he had been blackmailed about in exchange for testimony against the woman. When she had been arrested, she had tried to raise a great stink.

The problem for her was: No one – no one – had any interest in protecting her or coming to her defense. A request for veritaserum had been approved (her claim as to Pureblood privilege had been summarily ignored as a Moody had already uncovered her mother was a Muggle and she had a squib brother).

The list of crimes she had committed to achieve her influence had been staggering. The trial had been quick and the woman had been shipped off to Azkaban – good riddance. Her views on Muggleborns and other magical creatures was extreme and what she had been willing to do to achieve her position … some people were better off cut away from magical society.

Dolores Umbridge had achieved what many had thought impossible: The toad-like woman was more disliked among magical families than Bellatrix Lestrange. And that was saying something. Her father had turned her into a bitter, twisted woman. She would be forgotten if anyone of any sense had any say in things.

Her vaults had been locked down in case any of her brother's descendants every achieved magical status – minus a few, large fees. There was one large payment which sat there in case her squib brother ever showed up – he would get paid even though he was a squib. Her and her father's free use of the Cruciatus deserved some recompense - regardless of the man's squibdom.

Techically, her brother had been made a squib due to damage he had received in the womb. Her father had taught her the curse at the ripe age of thirteen. She had been very free with it when she could get away with it: Who cared about Muggles?

Even the Minister's account manager had drank a toast to her downfall on the Minister's next visit to Gringotts. Umbridge had upset more than just the wizards and witches in the Ministry.

Knowing that he no longer had to face her protests at someone else being picked for the position before her, he had started to look with more diligence.

Finally, he picked a non-Ministry employee: Berterem Gambol. He was a business man from a family with a record of being Muggle friendly. His Grandmother had actually instigated the Hogwarts Express. She had been well respected for it – after a while.

He was not a poor man, which meant that his susceptibility to bribes would be minimal. He was Muggle friendly, business friendly Pureblood from a traditional family, and had no criminal record but often helped Aurors that he ran across while they were performing their duties. All in all – the perfect compromise.

He just hoped he could convince the man.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Yes?"

The secretary popper her head in and said, "Sirius Black to see you, Minister?"

The Minister smiled. "Send him in! Send him in!" He stood up to greet his guest.

The cheerful man walked in to the Minister's office. "Minister! How are you today?"

The Minister smiled as he shook the man's hand. "I am well! How are you doing? Have you met your godson yet?"

Sirius sat down where the Minister pointed, still smiling. "Yeah. He's a great kid! Doesn't really get along with his Muggle relatives, but they aren't truly unkind – mostly indifferent. At least now. There had been some unpleasantness, but apparently recently things have been much better."

The Minister nodded. "Well, that's good then. You are leaving him there?"

Sirius sighed. "Yeah. Better wards than pretty much anything I could arrange. After I explained to him about the Magical world, I explained about the wards and how they worked. He was okay with living with them, but he's also welcome to visit me as much as he likes. His Muggle Aunt pretty much gave me carte blanche."

"Well, I am happy for you. Why have you come today?"

Sirius gave a mischievous smile. "Well, I was informed that you wanted to meet him. As long as you don't try to use him politically, I thought I'd arrange that."

The Minister gave a genuine smile. "That would be excellent. And I promise you that I have firmly decided that using minor children for political benefit is off the table. When young Harry is old enough, I'd certainly like his support for re-election – but that's years off."

Sirius nodded. "As long as that's true, then I'm more than happy to set it up."

"When would be a good time?"

Sirius smiled again. "Are you busy Saturday?"

"I can free my schedule." He looked at Black's face and noticed he was looking a bit smug. "What is this really about?"

Black tried to look innocent, he really did, but he finally broke. "I actually really wanna tweak his relatives' noses. I figure a big government official will impress them. They've kind of ignored him, not wanting to get too involved, thinking he was less important and I want to disabuse them of the notion."

"They aren't abusive, are they?"

Sirius sighed. "No. Just bothersome."

The Minister nodded with a small smile. "I'll wear my 'Powerful Person' Muggle suit."

Sirius grinned. "Awesome!"

"We should take Arthur with us."

Sirius nodded. "It was pretty surprising that he knew the area. He had a call just a week before our first visit to a muggleborn boy of five who needed the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad out there. The funny thing is: The boy's last name is Evans."

Cornelius was curious. "Why is that funny?'

"Because Harry's mum's maiden name was Evans. They might be related!"

"Really?"

Sirius shrugged. "I wanted to check it out but Arthur stopped me."

"I see." The minister stood. "Well, I'll be ready to take a Ministry car out on Saturday at 1:00 to visit him. Will that work?"

Sirius stood as well. "That's great!" The two shook hands and Sirius left. The Minister contemplated the door for a moment and then made his way out. He told his secretary that he would return in twenty minutes. He made his way to Arthur's office.

"Minister!" the man he was looking for said. "What can I do for you today?"

"I wanted to speak to you. Do you have a few minutes?"

"Certainly! Come into the office!" Arthur led the Minister through his department and into his office. The two sat down.

"What can I do for you today, Minister?" Arthur asked.

"I just had Sirius by. I'm going to meet his godson to prepare him for the political crap he's going to have to deal with, being who he is. But Sirius mentioned another boy near him?"

Arthur smiled. "Yes. Little Mark Evans. Five year old Muggleborn. He accidentally turned his whole house blue during a children's game. We had to reverse it and obliviate."

Cornelius sighed. "Too bad. It would be interesting to find out if he IS related to Mrs. Potter. But they won't even remember the visit."

Cornelius noticed a paculiar blush on Arthur's face. "Weeeeell. That's not strictly completely true."

The Minister was curious. "What is this?"

Arthur gave a sheepish smile. "I've instructed my people to handle things a bit differently than what traditionally is done."

"How is that? They've not left Muggles into the Statute before they receive an invitation are they?"

"No. No. We've kept the Statute. We've just … well, we've made it more smooth for future circumstances."

"How?"

Arthur pulled out a small case and opened it. He told the Minister to take a card. The Minsiter saw that a pile of small Muggle looking business cards were in the case. He pushed one off to take it. "How does this work?"

Arthur gave a grin. "You know those spells to make certain that most Muggles are disinterested in Magical documents? The stuff that the DMLE uses for certain cases?"

The Minister nodded.

"I had these charmed with the same spell. It keys the person who takes the card in but makes it highly disinteresting to other Muggles."

The Minister read the card. It only said: "Special Branch" and then a bunch of numbers.

"How do you do it different than before?"

"Well, instead of obliviating everything, we only obliviate the obviously magical parts. We then tell the pre-Hogwarts muggleborn's parents that we're a special part of the government that deals with the supernatural and paranormal. Apparently, there are Muggle conspiracies about such things. Ashlee told me about this. Apparently, most muggles love conspiracies.

"We tell them the parents that if anything odd happens again, they can call the number so that it can be hushed up. We explain that if children are involved, the Queen has mandated that we protect children who might have been involved. If they seem agreeable, then we leave. Otherwise, we obliviate again and treat them traditionally.

"If they are okay with it and the kids do have further accidental magic, the parents call us about it. If no one outside the family saw anything, we tell them we're making a record but not to worry. Otherwise we send a 'cleaning crew' – the Muggle conspiracy believers buy it every time. The Muggles think they know something that other people don't know and the cards are charmed to be uninteresting to adults who aren't keyed in. It's saved us probably a trip out a week for the obvliviation squads. Less overtime. They're not happy about that, but they ARE happy that the Muggles are helping them do their work and they have less of a chance of coming in and creating more problems with the Statute."

Cornelius sighed. "Arthur? I don't know whether to censure you or commend you. I'm leaning toward commendation. How much has this saved from the budget?"

Arthur smiled. "Oh, about 2200 Galleons a month."

Cornelius smiled and nodded. "We should get this written up as official law. I'm all about saving money where possible. Now then, can we arrange to meet the Evans boy's family on Saturday on the way to Harry Potter's home?"

Arthur nodded. "I'll call them – their contact information is part of the deal we make." Arthur grinned. "Makes them feel like British spies – like on the telly. They love it."

The Minister and Arthur Weasley stood on the doorstep of the home of Mark Evans. The Minister's guards and Sirius watched from the Ministry car. The door opened. The woman saw Arthur and said, "Agent Weasley! Welcome. We were surprised at your call for a meeting. Has something happened?"

Arthur glanced around and said, "Can we take this inside? Special secrets and all that."

The woman smiled. "Of course! Come in, come in." The two men entered the home. "And who is this with you?"

Arthur replied, "This is the head of my section: Mr. Fudge."

The woman took on an enthusiastic look. "Wow. Your name sounds like special code. Are you a spy too?"

The Minister really had to stifle his chuckles. "Actually that is my real name: Cornelius Fudge. I asked to speak to you and have given special permission for your family to be told the real story. You understand that we have to keep this quiet, yes?"

The woman nodded enthusiastically. "I understand." She led them to where her husband and son were.

Needless to say, the explanation was NOT what they had been expecting. However, it did answer many concerns they had been having about their son.

Arthur, being a family man, explained things to the boy and explained how important keeping it secret was. He did tell him that when he turned eleven, he would be invited to a special school where he would have friends and classmates who were just like him.

The boy was disappointed that he had to wait, but all in all, he took it well.

Finally, Mrs. Evans asked, "If he's six years away from going to this school, why have you explained now?"

The Minster sighed. "Because of your name, actually."

The husband said, "Our name?"

"Are you familiar with a boy who lives a few streets over on Privet Drive named Harry Potter? Lives with his cousin – something Dursley?"

The two thought about it. "Oh wait! The Dudley boy – that's his name – used to be a troublemaker, but he hasn't been seen out and about this year for some reason. His group seems to have grown up a bit. I didn't know he lived with his cousin."

The Minister nodded. "Well, boys can be troublesome. But these two boys are children of two sisters, one of who was like your son and had magic. The boy Harry, her son, is actually also magical. The women's family name, before they married, was Evans."

The man looked at the Minister with surprise. "So they might be related to us?"

The minister nodded. "I should explain that the boy is living with his Aunt so that he can be kept from a certain hubbub. His family is quite important and he himself is quite well known. Not wanting him to grow up bothered by those who might want to take advantage before he went to school, after his parents died when he was a toddler, Harry was placed out amongst his non-magical relations – we call them Muggles. It was much safer for him."

"I see." The man paused and said, "So the Magical world is dangerous?"

The minister chuckled. "Not really any more than your world. The boy is actually a celebrity for various reasons. You can see why we don't want him exposed, I hope. Imagine being a celebrity as a young boy without being old enough to understand why."

The couple laughed. The woman said, "Likely to make him conceited. Better to grow up away from that. But why does that bring you today?"

"If you're willing, I would like to invite you – and Harry, whom I am about to visit – to come to our bank. We have specialists who can verify relations quite easily and I would like to see if you are related. If would mean much to the boy to have more family, from what I understand."

The couple looked at each other and shrugged. "We've made our day free. Do you want to return and pick us up when you've spoken to him?"

The Minister replied, "Actually, I have a special car out front that can hold more than it seems. The visit to Harry should take fifteen minutes – twenty at the most. Would you mind coming now and waiting in the car?" He looked at the boy. "Mark? Would you like to see a magic car with your parents?"

The boy nodded eagerly. The Evans parents, once again, shrugged and followed the Minister out, locking the door on the way.

Harry Potter was sitting out on the front porch, waiting for his Uncle Sirius to visit. He was told that there would be an important guest but not to worry.

He saw an older, very official car pull up. He looked at it curiously. Out of the back stepped … Harry was off and running. "Padfoot!" he called out.

Sirius Black watched in joy as his godson ran up to him. He lowed himself a little and the ten-year old boy jumped into his arms. "You came!"

Sirius laughed. "I said I would. Of course I came!"

The boy looked at the man holding him and blushed. "Sorry. I'm still getting used to having a godfather."

"That's alright, pup. How have you been this week?"

Sirius smiled as his godson quickly explained what he had been doing that week. It added up to: Nothing unusual. But there was real joy in listening to the enthusiasm of a child explaining regular life.

When he was done, Harry looked at the other man who had gotten out the car. He was dressed in a very expensive suit – very much like some of Vernon's visitors from work sometimes. "Who is that?"

Sirius chuckled and set Harry down. "Harry? I would like you to meet the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge."

Harry was a little surprised. "Minister for Magic? What's that?"

"He runs the whole magical government."

Harry was awed. "We have our own government?"

Sirius and the visitor laughed. The man said, "Such as it is. Hello. Hello, Mr. Potter. It is nice to meet you."

The boy was suddenly shyer. "It is nice to meet you too. Sirius told me that someone was visiting. Is there a reason you came?"

"Can we go inside? I'd like to explain out of the earshot of any passing people."

Harry looked dubious as he looked back at the house. He saw Uncle Vernon peeking through the window, along with his Aunt Petunia. He shrugged. "Let me go ask my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon."

The Minister and Sirius Black waited until the boy came back to the door and waved to them. He called out, "Come in!"

The Minister and Sirius entered the home. Standing there were the boy's Aunt and Uncle apparently. Not being familiar with Muggle animals, he never made the walrus and horse connection, but that's neither here nor there.

"Good afternoon! I'm Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic. Thank you for allowing me in your home. It's quite lovely."

The woman nodded stiffly and murmured a "welcome." The man, looking almost resigned, hesitantly put forward his hand. "You're welcome." After they dropped hands, the man added, "You're the head of his people's government? You have your own government?"

Cornelius chuckled. "Yes. We've been autonomous for about three hundred years. Legally, we still answer to the Queen if necessary, but we're pretty successful in not forcing her to get involved. In the end, we're all British."

The man hmpphed as he considered that. "I wanted to meet you both, and Mrs. Dursley especially, because I … well, there's a conundrum."

The woman asked suspiciously, "What is it?"

"Do you have family in this area?" the Minister asked curiously.

The woman was taken aback. "Not that I am aware of. Why do you ask?"

"Perhaps if we can sit down, I can explain." He turned toward Sirius and Harry who were watching. "Why don't you take Harry out to meet Mark and his parents while I finish this conversation?"

Sirius nodded. "Okay. We'll be there." He looked at the Dursleys – he had promised himself that he'd stay polite for Harry's sake. "Thank you for your time. I'll bring Harry back before 9:00. Is that alright?"

The two nodded in agreement.

After Sirius took Harry out, the couple led him to a kitchen. The woman asked, "Tea?" She looked calmer but still unhappy.

"If you're having some, I'll certainly accept. But don't put yourself out on my account. We have tea in the car as needed." At this, the man looked mildly interested.

Vernon Dursley finally asked, "What is this all about?"

The Minister sighed. "First of all, I should say that recently we've been making some changes. When the boy's Godfather first visited, did a red-haired man come with him?"

The two looked at each other and nodded. "He didn't say anything much. He was also fairly polite. I'll admit, your lot has been far more normal and polite than we're used to in the past. When Pet's sister got married, we met her husband's friends – they didn't leave a good impression. Black has been much improved."

Cornelius nodded. "Since I took over, I've been trying to ensure that we encroach on the lives of non-magicals as little as possible. Part of that is ensuring that Wizards and Witches don't go out into your world looking like fools."

Vernon and Petunia nodded. Petunia said, "It has been much better."

The Minister looked at the couple. "Can I ask a question which might inadvertently give offense? I won't mean to – but sometimes in unavoidable."

Both of the Muggle's faces took on an almost pinched look. But Petunia nodded, giving permission.

"I notice there seems to be some … well, some resentment towards the Magical world. Is there a reason for it that you can explain?"

Petunia sat very still but then asked her own question. "What matter is it to you? We're just lowly 'Muggins' or whatever you call us." Vernon was patting his wife's hand.

"Honestly? I think it's a shame. If your sister was one of us and your nephew, I find it a tragedy that such resentment and dislike seems to be present in the family. And while I am not a miracle worker, I AM the Minister for Magic. Perhaps there is some policy or procedure that I could champion which would save future families from such heartache. The only voice I have access to, however, is yours. So, what happened?"

Vernon, wanting his son to know the truth, had called the boy in from watching the telly.

Over the next ten minutes, slowly, the story of Petunia and Lily Evans came out. While Petunia tried to be resentful of her sister, she had truly loved Lily and being forced to separate and not even being able to see where her sister went of to had caused a wide breech. As the Minister had stated, it was a true tragedy.

In the end the Minister nodded. "I don't know what I can do. But you have my promise that I will at least try. We wizards, it has been commented to me, don't seem to have much common sense and, unfortunately, since I've taken over I've found this to be rather true – it's truly embarrassing actually."

Vernon Dursley, surprisingly, was much more obviously agreeable to this than his wife. Dudley just watched wide-eyed.

"And one thing I will say: Between you, me, and the door over there, Albus Dumbledore is a rather condescending bastard – at least I have found him so. I am coming to think that allowing him free will in shaping the minds of the future might need some modification."

At this, even Petunia Dursley was somewhat won over by the politician in their kitchen – the man had pinpointed her true resentment from all those years ago.

"And Mr. Dursley? Your reasons?"

Vernon, at that, closed up. "I support my wife. My other reasons are my own. Maybe I'll tell her at some point, but right now – it's better left alone."

The Minister replied, "I can respect that." He sighed. "Are you willing for your son to come in to our bank and see if we can find out if this other Evans family are relations?"

Vernon and Petunia looked at each other even as the large boy looked dumbly curious (a Ravenclaw the boy was not). "We're coming with him. I'll be there to ensure nothing untoward goes on." Petunia nodded in agreement with her husband.

"Well, the car is out front. I will ensure you are returned safe and whole when we are finished." The Minister stood up. The Dursleys gathered their coats and things and followed the man out.

The Dursleys were quite surprised by the spacious interior of the car. While the adults mostly exchanged pleasantries and not much more, the three boys were fascinated by how the car seemed to jump between other cars on the road.

Finally, Robert Evans said, "I could go for a car like this – getting to work through London traffic is a nightmare."

Sirius, always willing to add his two cents, said, "I actually went another route. I have a motorcycle that can fly above the traffic. It even has an invisibility function so I'm not seen."

Vernon had a disagreeable look. "I'd rather stay on the ground, thank you very much. I might hate the traffic – but at least it makes sense."

Robert Evans chuckled. "There is that."

Bernice Evans and Petunia Dursley didn't add much to the conversation. The Minister and his guards also didn't say much.