Dumbledore Now Is Not the Dumbledore of the Past!

To Fudge, Dumbledore was indeed a very good backer.

But that backer had far too many principles...

Getting his help required a great deal of scheming.

Grindelwald, however, was different.

He had influence on par with Dumbledore's, and most of that influence came from his fearsome reputation!

If those troublemakers were wary of Dumbledore, then toward Grindelwald... those troublemakers felt terror!

Most importantly, Lin Wo was sometimes truly not a man of many principles.

Fudge knew perfectly well how the Daily Prophet had changed owners!

So Grindelwald, as a walking stick, was simply more comfortable to lean on than Dumbledore!

If Fudge used Grindelwald's name to get things done, which of those troublemakers would dare make a peep?

So Fudge planned to rely on Grindelwald as his backer from now on.

And as it happened, Fudge was useful to Grindelwald as well.

He had finally softened Fudge up with money, and now that Fudge was offering his allegiance on his own, of course he would not object at all.

If he could control Fudge, then in name, he could control the UK Ministry of Magic!

As it happened, Fudge knew there was bad blood between Grindelwald and Dumbledore.

After all, Dumbledore had thrown Grindelwald into prison for decades.

So, to curry favor with Grindelwald, setting Dumbledore up would count as Fudge's pledge of loyalty.

On top of that, Fudge had not really wanted to clear Sirius Black's case in the first place, so...

The two sides hit it off at once, and Fudge casually turned around and played Dumbledore for a fool.

All of this trouble, when it came down to it...

Was actually because Grindelwald had gotten out of prison.

And the reason Grindelwald had gotten out of prison was precisely because of Black...

After Black figured all this