The morning sun still rose over the horizon. People waking from their dreams knew nothing of the string of major events that had happened the night before. As usual, they enjoyed breakfast while reading the Daily Prophet delivered by owl post, completely unprepared for the explosive news that greeted them:
Scrimgeour had resigned as Minister for Magic.
This news, enough to make countless jaws drop, stood prominently on the front page of the Daily Prophet.
No one knew why Scrimgeour had resigned, but it was definitely not normal.
While the entire wizarding world was still reeling, news quickly spread that Piers Shinkle had succeeded him as the new Minister.
People gradually realized what had happened, but no one dared step forward voluntarily.
The coup had been almost completely silent, without causing the slightest ripple.
Perhaps it was because Voldemort had not openly declared himself the usurper, instead hiding behind the scenes and controlling the Ministry of Magic.
It was quite a wise approach.
Even though Voldemort was not sitting in the Minister's office, everyone tacitly acknowledged that he was the new Minister for Magic. As for Cinkness, he was merely a puppet handling day-to-day affairs.
There was another advantage to this approach: it was less likely to provoke open resistance from the entire British wizarding world, nor would it trigger international disputes.
Of course, after taking control of the Ministry of Magic, Voldemort did more than simply put a puppet in power. He also reached for Hogwarts. Snape's appointment as Hogwarts's headmaster only lacked a formal document.
As for who had killed Dumbledore, that blame was naturally pinned on the famous Harry Potter. As the number one undesirable, his bounty had reached ten thousand Galleons.
Of course, Harry was not alone. He was far from the only wanted person. Albert