It's All Fudge's Fault

"Rufus, what's going on here?"

Fudge expressionlessly placed today's Daily Prophet before the head of the Auror Office, feeling indescribably frustrated and aggrieved.

He felt utterly innocent, as though every mistake had been pinned on him just because he was the Minister for Magic.

It was profoundly unfair.

Scrimgeour glanced at the Daily Prophet's front-page headline, then looked up at the expressionless Fudge. "Robards is still undergoing Auror training. Young and hot-blooded, he isn't very good at adapting when handling situations, which led to this misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding? Telling me it was a misunderstanding is useless." Fudge took a deep breath. "People have a very poor impression of the Ministry of Magic's Aurors now. Do you know that this morning, I found my mailbox stuffed full of protest letters? There were at least fifty of them. Can you understand how I felt? Now, can you explain why Aurors still in training were sent out on assignments?"

"The Aurors are constantly searching for Black's whereabouts," Scrimgeour reminded him. "We are severely short-handed. The Ministry of Magic hasn't produced any qualified Aurors in years. The best solution is to have Aurors still in training participate in less important patrol duties, with experienced members guiding them. That gives them some training while also making up for the manpower shortage."

Fudge fell silent.

There was indeed a similar tradition.

"Many people are demanding that we remove the Dementors from Hogwarts. Quite a few villagers in Hogsmeade have protested to me, claiming the Dementors are disrupting their normal lives. As for Dumbledore, he has never liked those Dementors. To be honest, neither do I."

"No one has ever liked dealing with those creatures," said Scrimgeour.

"Fine, then I want to hear your advice. Should we send the Dementors back to Azkaban? They've caused far too