A single misjudgment was clearly not enough to bring down Fudge, especially when he had pinned every mistake on Umbridge.
She had issued all the orders on his behalf, even though every senior official knew she was nothing more than a mouthpiece and scapegoat.
That was politics: while proceeding with caution at every step, one also had to prepare an escape route.
Snape had been released, but that did not mean the Ministry of Magic would withdraw its people.
Until they captured the Batman Family, they would not give up.
Things only appeared calm on the surface, because the next storm was about to arrive.
On Sunday morning, The Daily Prophet dropped another bombshell.
"Oh my God, Aurors are actually so heartless that even a pet rat has to undergo strict inspections..."
Rita portrayed Ron as a kind-hearted student full of love, someone who had devoted everything he had to his pet—a saint of noble character in the Wizarding World.
"I seriously question the Ministry of Magic's standards for selecting personnel. How did such a cruel and ruthless wizard even pass the tests..."
Wales was known internally for being honest and dutiful. He simply did not know how to adapt and was a little too rigid.
But the public did not know that. They knew absolutely nothing.
"He even dared to publicly humiliate Vincent Wayne, the rising star of the Wizarding World. It is hard to imagine how overbearing he must be while enforcing the law..."
The public began questioning the Ministry of Magic again, leaving Fudge no choice but to focus first on calming public opinion.
Not long after the newspaper was published, Ron, who was still eating breakfast, was informed that he could go to the Temporary Headquarters to retrieve Scabbers.
After a week of inspections yielded nothing,