Scrimgeour's painstakingly prepared shelter had fallen—or rather, the shelter Albert had prepared for Ministry of Magic employees had fallen.
After the Aurors collectively chose to sit on the fence following Scrimgeour's death, and after George mentioned that the entire Hopkins family had been captured, Albert had anticipated this. Kidnapping children to force their relatives into submission had always been an old Death Eater trick. It had only happened much later than he had predicted.
The Death Eaters really weren't very efficient!
Still, that was actually a good thing for them.
"Do you think they took me for an idiot, or are they idiots themselves?"
Albert shared the matter with Isabelle. He felt that looking at the problem from someone else's perspective might reveal something he had overlooked.
"They probably... possibly thought that whether or not they could get your help, they had to try. What if it worked?" Isabelle's words made Albert fall silent. The people in the Order of the Phoenix really might have been thinking that way.
"That is possible."
After giving it some thought, Albert really did feel that was likely the case.
After losing Dumbledore, the Order of the Phoenix's standards had collectively declined. Just look at their terrible move of trying to get the "truth" from Harry, and it was obvious how poor their actual abilities were.
"What are you planning to do about Hagrid?"
Isabelle glanced at the message in the Communication Bookmark. This was what she truly cared about. She knew Hagrid was Albert's good friend, and if possible, Albert would usually be willing to lend him a hand.
That was right. Hagrid had been captured by the Death Eaters, the day after they took control of the Ministry of Magic shelter.
The new Minister for Magic, Piers Shinkle, had casually found an