Scrimgeour made the decision expected of the Head of the Auror Office, buying precious time for rescue operations across London.
But the Ministry of Magic under Fudge clearly would not cease functioning just because he had defied orders. Black-and-white vortices marking Apparition flickered continuously at the street corner, and the people appearing this time wore standard Ministry robes.
Most of them were pale-faced and fearful, their grips on their wands awkward and unfamiliar. They were clearly clerks and support staff urgently pulled from their offices, not combat personnel.
Having just stepped down from the stage, Scrimgeour watched them coldly. Among these employees were not only clerical staff from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but also the tense-faced Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, and even two staff members in support uniforms who clearly had no business being on the front lines.
Leading them was a short, stout, balding middle-aged wizard wearing thick-lensed glasses. His name was Sebastian Finkl, the new Senior Deputy Minister who had replaced Umbridge.
As he walked from the street corner to beyond the cordon, Finkl kept wiping nonexistent sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
His tiny eyes behind his lenses nervously swept over the Muggles lying around the stage. Perhaps it was his first time seeing such a scene; he and the employees behind him walked especially slowly.
Vincent jumped down from the stage and stood beside Scrimgeour. "Fudge's people are here. Can you handle them?"
Scrimgeour tugged faintly at the corner of his mouth. "Thanks to you, nothing I do now will seem surprising anymore, no matter how reckless."
"Vincent Wayne!"
The two turned toward the voice and saw the stout Finkl bending his way into the cordon in an especially comical posture.
"I, Sebastian Finkl, am here under the direct orders of Minister Cornelius