Chapter 740: All Fudge's Fault
Chapter 740: All Fudge's Fault
"Rufus, what is the meaning of this?"
Fudge placed that day's issue of the Prophet on the desk of the Head of the Auror Office with a grim expression, feeling a sense of frustration and injustice.
He felt wronged, as if all the blame was being placed on him simply because he was the Minister of Magic.
It was unfair.
Scrimgeour glanced at the headline of the Prophet before looking up at the stoic Fudge and speaking, "Robards is still in Auror training. He's young and hot-headed, and lacks flexibility in handling matters, which led to this misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding? It doesn't help for you to tell me it's a misunderstanding," Fudge said, taking a deep breath. "The public already has a negative perception of the Ministry's Aurors. You know what I found in my mailbox this morning? It was stuffed with at least fifty protest letters. Can you understand how I felt at that moment? Now, can you explain to me why an Auror who is still in training was sent out on a mission?"
"Aurors are constantly on the lookout for Black's whereabouts," Scrimgeour reminded him. "We are severely short-staffed, and the Ministry hasn't had any qualified Aurors for several years. The best solution is to have the trainees participate in non-critical patrol work under the guidance of experienced members. This way, they gain some experience while we address the manpower shortage."
Fudge fell silent.
Indeed, there was a tradition like that.
"Many people are demanding that we remove the Dementors from Hogwarts," Scrimgeour continued. "Quite a few villagers from Hogsmeade have protested to me, saying that the Dementors disrupt their daily lives. As for Dumbledore, he has never liked those creatures. To be frank, neither do I."
"No one has ever enjoyed dealing with them," Scrimgeour said.
"Well, I'd like to hear your suggestion now," Fudge said. "Should we have the Dementors return to Azkaban? They've caused far too much trouble lately."
"All evidence indicates that Black is lurking around Hogwarts, waiting for an opportunity," Scrimgeour said, clearly disagreeing with the idea of sending the Dementors back to Azkaban. "I believe the threat of Black is far greater than the trouble caused by the Dementors. It's best that we capture him as soon as possible; otherwise, who knows what else Black might do."
"If they are to remain near Hogwarts, we should ensure they don't cause any more trouble," Fudge said. In truth, he didn't want to remove the Dementors either, as they were far more suited to capturing the vicious Black than the Aurors.
However, Fudge was tired of being the scapegoat. He didn't want to take the fall every time something went wrong, so this time, he was bringing someone else in to share the blame.
"The Dementors are just hungry," Scrimgeour said, feeling helpless about the situation. "The Ministry can't provide them with too many human sacrifices, and hungry Dementors can't resist the temptation of food." He couldn't do anything about it unless the Minister of Magic signed off on providing more sacrifices.
"Haven't we already provided them with over two hundred people?" Fudge asked, dissatisfied with that answer. That number was already more than enough.
"The Dementors have completely drained the happiness from those people," Scrimgeour said, equally helpless. "I think it's best to provide another batch of sacrifices and then negotiate with the Dementors."
This tricky task fell to the Minister of Magic, while Scrimgeour was responsible for capturing Black.
As Fudge struggled to resolve the issue with the Dementors, Rita Skeeter, who had been stirring up trouble in the Prophet, was also working on her next article.
The booming sales of the Prophet had given Rita Skeeter a sense of the public sentiment, and a certain letter had provided her with some inspiration.
Rita Skeeter planned to write a report about the Dementors.
She believed that those dark creatures, which had gone "out of control" several times, would make for a juicy story that would attract the attention and concern of students' parents, ensuring that the next issue of the Prophet would sell well.
Indeed, Rita Skeeter had a talent for this kind of thing. She was clever and knew what people wanted to read and how to cater to their tastes to sell newspapers.
Thus, Rita Skeeter's report on the Dementors was a huge success.
Wizarding families with children studying at Hogwarts paid close attention to the Dementor issue after reading Rita Skeeter's article.
Although most wizards had never encountered those evil dark creatures up close and couldn't understand the fear they instilled, their opportunity had arrived.
By going to the Three Broomsticks or the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade for a drink, they could experience the Dementors up close.
Any wizard who had truly encountered the Dementors would understand what Rita Skeeter wrote about in her article: when a Dementor drew near, all pleasant feelings and happy memories would be sucked away, leaving only the worst memories of one's life.
As a result, more wizards began visiting Hogsmeade, and as they truly experienced the horror of the Dementors, they became more determined to resist Fudge's ridiculous actions.
Upon reading that article, Fudge was furious, tearing the newspaper to shreds in anger.
The day after the article was published, many wizards who had personally experienced the evil of the Dementors wrote to Fudge, demanding that he remove the Dementors from Hogwarts to prevent those monsters from going out of control again and causing irreparable harm.
Even though Fudge repeatedly claimed that Black was hiding near Hogwarts and that the Dementors were there for the safety of the villagers and students, and emphasized that the Ministry had strengthened its management of the Dementors to prevent a recurrence of past incidents, many people still questioned his decision.
Initially, Fudge had wanted to shift the blame to Scrimgeour, as the Aurors under the Ministry were dealing with the Dementors, and this matter should have been the responsibility of the Head of the Auror Office.
However, his attempt to pass the buck failed. It was as if the public had singled him out, and any time something went wrong, it was deemed to be Fudge's fault.
If Albert knew about this, he would surely bestow upon Fudge the title of "King of Scapegoats."
In the British wizarding world, not many people knew who the Head of the Auror Office was, but almost everyone knew that their Minister of Magic was Cornelius Fudge. Now that there was a major problem in the Ministry, it was naturally the Minister's responsibility.
In fact, they weren't wrong. The decision to send the Dementors to Hogsmeade was indeed Fudge's directive. He knew that Black's target was Potter, so naturally, he wanted to protect the Savior. Additionally, if they captured Black, he could fulfill his promise to Malfoy by having the Dementors give him a kiss.
However, Fudge never imagined that this decision would cause him so much trouble.
(End of Chapter)
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