"Fudge is finished!"
After reading the latest front-page headline in the newspaper, Scrimgeour murmured softly.
He remembered that Fudge had previously hoped Dumbledore could persuade Harry Potter to support him, thereby helping him keep his position as Minister.
What had Fudge done to Harry Potter over the past year, that he still expected forgiveness and support from him? The very thought was laughable.
Harry Potter was undoubtedly someone who held grudges.
That much was clear from the fact that he had voluntarily accepted an interview with the reporters.
During the interview, he had even listed irrefutable evidence and pinned the label of Lord Voldemort's lackey on Fudge.
Was Fudge holding Dumbledore back because he feared Lord Voldemort's retaliation?
That explanation had once found plenty of support, but now it seemed rather unlikely.
Was he under the Imperius Curse?
Had the Ministry of Magic really decayed to the point where even its Minister could be controlled by the Imperius Curse without anyone noticing?
The possibility that Fudge was actually Lord Voldemort's lackey was the least likely scenario, but Harry Potter had mentioned Little Barty Crouch during the interview.
Little Barty Crouch had unquestionably made the greatest contribution to Lord Voldemort's resurrection, yet the moment Albert Anderson captured him, Fudge had him silenced.
At the time, while Dumbledore was absent, Fudge had ordered Dementors to search the entire castle. After finding the imprisoned Little Barty Crouch, he had them suck out Little Barty Crouch's soul so that he could not be sent before the Wizengamot for trial or testify.
If Lord Voldemort had not returned, it would not have seemed like much. He was merely an escaped Azkaban prisoner; if he died, he died. No one would have blamed Fudge for having the Dementors suck out Little Barty Crouch's soul.
But the