"Actually, from a certain perspective, Cornelius Fudge wasn't entirely useless," Herpo said with some feeling. "At the very least, he was very selfish, foolish, and easily swayed by extremely shortsighted suggestions."
Voldemort seemed to be pondering something, his fingertips rubbing his wand as he answered absently, "That almost sounds like you're praising this Cornelius Fudge."
"Why not use the Imperius Curse? That would control him better, make him obey my orders, and prevent mistakes."
Herpo explained, "Unless you want the entire Magical World to know what you're doing through that method, don't even think about accomplishing such a thing."
"Someone would always notice something wrong, such as those Aurors. Not to mention that England's Magical World still has one person... Dumbledore."
"It would be better to guide Cornelius Fudge into making certain decisions, giving him the illusion that these were the correct decisions he reached through his own thinking."
"I think you've seen the benefits... Until Cornelius Fudge fell from power, he never realized that his so-called ambitions and decisions had actually all been given to him by my servants."
"Of course! Cornelius Fudge was also a rather remarkable wizard. Those who were drawn to him all seemed to be especially strange employees, such as that Dolores Umbri..."
"What about the even earlier matters?" Voldemort interrupted, his cold eyes fixed on Herpo. "Herpo, I remember you just said it yourself..."
"Because of the 'Wizarding World War' pushed forward by Gellert Grindelwald, many of your servants were wiped out."
"But as far as I know, that war didn't spread to England. Could it be that during that period... you had no development in England at all?"
"That is extremely suspicious!" He leaned forward, dangerous red light flickering in his eyes. "Herpo, are you planning to hide something from me again?"
"Do