Fudge's Comeback

Besides being a special correspondent for the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter was also an unregistered Animagus. Her Animagus form was a rare little beetle, which could fly around and make it extremely easy for her to hunt down news! After all, who would ever think to pay attention to some random insect?

That was because she loved criticizing everything in the Wizarding World! No matter who it was, no matter how much power they had—even someone universally recognized as a major figure in the wizarding world, like Dumbledore—she would often write unflattering stories about them. Naturally, that kind of reporting was especially popular with some witches and wizards.

As you might remember, last year the Daily Prophet published a story about Gringotts being breached. That incident had been uncovered in time by Rita Skeeter. The article had set off a storm of public opinion and sent newspaper sales soaring! Now, just one year later, an even bigger incident had taken place at Gringotts—and, as luck would have it, Rita Skeeter had gotten wind of it.

A wizard friend of hers had notified her about the incident in time. As it happened, he had been at Gringotts Wizarding Bank on business and had witnessed the first half of the incident: the little girl instantly subduing all the guards! So, after he followed the crowd out of Gringotts, he immediately sent her an urgent message. That gave Rita Skeeter time to Apparate to Diagon Alley, where she witnessed and photographed the entire battle that followed.

And so, the next day, before the Ministry of Magic had a chance to react, the Daily Prophet, the most influential newspaper in the Wizarding World, published a full-page story about the Gringotts incident in a flash! It landed like a bombshell in wizarding society, which had enjoyed years of peace since the disappearance of the Dark Lord.

In fact, the Daily Prophet had done more than put the story on its front page. Every other page was filled with news about the incident, too!

The story immediately set the entire Wizarding World abuzz. Witches and wizards rushed to tell one another about it. Even those who almost never read the paper gladly reached for their purses and bought a copy; they all wanted to know if the story was true. The Daily Prophet had printed several times its usual number of copies, but they sold out in no time. Suddenly, witches and wizards were more eager than ever to buy newspapers.

"These bastards! Look at this! Just look at what they've written! Didn't I tell you to keep this under wraps? What have you people been doing? Is this how you're supposed to manage public opinion?" In the Minister for Magic's office, Minister Fudge roared and flung that day's Daily Prophet straight at his secretary's face.

The secretary only offered an awkward smile, then carefully picked up the newspaper from the floor. When he opened it, he saw the enormous front-page headline: "Breaking News: Gringotts Breached Again, One Year Later! Have the Ministry's Aurors Been Completely Wiped Out?"

Below the headline, smaller text gave a brief account of the battle. Beside it was a huge moving photograph: a group of Aurors tied to stone pillars, looking utterly dejected. And, of course, Minister Fudge was there, too! They had put him in the most prominent spot in the picture, highlighting how he had stood off to the side, trembling with fear. Anyone who didn't know the full story would immediately think the Minister for Magic was utterly incompetent, rather than that the enemy had been terrifyingly powerful.

"How dare they? How dare they do this? Don't they know how dangerous that little girl is? How can they blame us for this? Those bastards! Those filthy scum!" Minister Fudge continued to scream hysterically.

Even now, Fudge still shuddered when he remembered facing that little girl the day before. How could the Ministry of Magic possibly stand against a being like that? Even Dumbledore, who had arrived in time, had been scared stiff on the spot! So it wasn't that his side was incompetent—the enemy was simply too powerful!

There were plenty of witnesses to all this. Why hadn't the Daily Prophet written about them? Why had it singled out Fudge? This had to be personal, didn't it? Was his position as Minister really so enviable that people were always trying to find ways to force him out?

"Uh..." Watching the Minister rage, the secretary shrank back and wisely kept quiet.

The boss was in the middle of a tantrum. If he dared to speak up and make excuses now, he'd almost certainly be the one to suffer for it.

The best thing to do was stay silent and take the scolding, letting the Minister use him as a punching bag. The right time for the secretary to speak would come once the Minister had yelled himself out, grown tired, and started to cool off.

So, head bowed, the secretary endured the scolding while quietly flipping to the newspaper's second page. The issue had come out so quickly that he hadn't had time to read the rest. Now, while the Minister was busy losing his temper, he had better hurry and check the contents so he could figure out how to respond.

On the second page, he saw the headline: "Shocking News: Powerful Mysterious Little Girl Appears in the Wizarding World!"

Below it, a detailed account described the mysterious little girl's battle and the day's events: wiping out the guards at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, disarming and subduing dozens of Ministry Aurors in an instant, and killing an ancient white dragon. Naturally, the article ended with a photograph of the dragon, burned down to its skeleton, along with the Flame Giant Bear sitting atop its skull and making a fearsome, triumphant display!

The third page's headline read: "Could Dumbledore Have Been Outmatched? Groveling to Win Over the Mysterious Little Girl?"

The short article was full of malicious speculation. What connection did the mysterious little girl have to Hogwarts? Were Hogwarts students supposedly caught up in the incident, too? Then it used selectively cropped photographs—including one of Dumbledore trying to appease the girl—to make all kinds of baseless arguments! Basically, it was written to be as unreliable as possible.

It wasn't until the very last page that the paper explained what had really started the incident. The headline read: "Is Gringotts Still Safe and Trustworthy? Where Should We Keep Our Money in the Future? Can the Goblins Still Manage Gringotts Wizarding Bank?"

According to an eyewitness with knowledge of the incident, it had started when a greedy Goblin had pocketed the mysterious little girl's gold without permission. She had only resorted to violence to get back her lawful property...

A source familiar with the matter also revealed that Gringotts had paid compensation totaling a hundred times the amount taken!

Rumor had it the payment came to nearly several million Galleons! The final page also featured a photograph of Bogrod, the Goblin leader, slumped on the floor with his head bowed as he begged for mercy and admitted defeat.

"Didn't I specifically tell you to do everything you could to keep this secret? Why has it all ended up in the paper? Is this how you people keep things under wraps? What use are you all?" Even after venting his anger, Minister Fudge was still dissatisfied, and continued to glare furiously at his secretary.

"I'm truly sorry, Minister. We did our best to send people out yesterday, but... you must know that there were far too many eyewitnesses. We don't even know how many witches and wizards left Gringotts at the time! There was nothing we could do." Seeing that the Minister had more or less finished losing his temper, the secretary sensibly put away the newspaper. It was about time for him to report.

"Couldn't you have acted sooner and gone to them one by one? Or just used the memory charm!" Fudge immediately suggested a terrible idea.

"Wh-what? The memory charm? Minister, you can't be serious! We absolutely can't do that. They're witches and wizards, not Muggles from the outside world! If we used the memory charm on witches and wizards on a large scale, the furious public would throw you out of office in no time!" The secretary was truly startled by Minister Fudge's wild idea. Obliviate wasn't something you could just use on witches and wizards! It was illegal! If they wanted to use it on ordinary Muggles, that would be one thing, but if they dared use it on witches and wizards, they could expect to be thrown out of office at any moment!

"Tch! Forget it, forget it. It's too late to talk about that now! Tell me, what can we do to make up for this? Go discuss it, and come up with a plan as quickly as possible." Since things had already gone this far, Fudge knew there was no way to undo the damage. They would just have to find a way to make the best of it.

The priority now was to figure out how to contain the damage. The Daily Prophet's stories were far too damaging to the Ministry—and to Fudge himself—and they had to find a way to restore his image as soon as possible. That was the most important thing to do right now. If a Minister's power weren't supposed to be abused, Fudge would have loved to order the Daily Prophet shut down! That accursed paper had caused him no end of trouble!

"Minister, if we look at it from another angle, I don't think these stories are entirely bad for the Ministry—or for you." The secretary thought over what he had just read, and suddenly a light went on in his mind. He felt as if he had spotted the key to turning things around.

For so many years, the Ministry of Magic had nursed one particular ambition: to get involved in Gringotts Wizarding Bank. The profits at stake were simply staggering! Gringotts practically monopolized the entire wizarding world's finances and economy. It handled every deposit and withdrawal, as well as all major transactions. Just imagine how much money was involved! Even the Ministry's finances had been managed by the Goblins at Gringotts all these years!

Ministers for Magic throughout the years had all considered taking control of Gringotts, the only bank in the wizarding world. This was hardly a new idea! It had only been put on hold because the Goblins had always been so powerful, and because the Ministry had never had a suitable pretext.

But now, everything was different!

Now, they had a tremendous opportunity right in front of them! If they played their cards right, taking over Gringotts entirely might be difficult, but they could certainly secure a foothold there. This was a heaven-sent chance. The Ministry had to seize the opportunity to make those wretched Goblins pay. They absolutely couldn't let it slip by.

"Not entirely bad? How could there be any good in this? Go on, then. Tell me what you mean." Hearing his secretary say the stories weren't entirely bad, Fudge—who had calmed down—suddenly felt curious. He'd heard more than enough bad news for one day. Now he wanted to see what sort of good news his secretary could possibly bring him.

"Minister, here's what we do. We blame the Goblins for everything, then we..." The secretary leaned close to the Minister's ear and quietly outlined a few ideas.

"Haha! Excellent! That's what we'll do. I want to see everything you've just mentioned on the front page of tomorrow's Daily Prophet! I'm putting you in charge of the whole thing. Gather some people and get started at once. What are you waiting for? Go!"

After hearing the secretary's plan, Minister Fudge's expression finally brightened, and he laughed with delight. As far as he was concerned, the secretary's idea was wonderful news—fantastic news!

If the plan worked, nobody would be able to threaten his seat as Minister.

If he could really get a foothold in Gringotts and secure enough profit, the great wizarding families would have all the means they needed to keep him in office. Perhaps he could even become the first Minister for Magic to wrest control of Gringotts Wizarding Bank from the Goblins! He might even get an Order of Merlin! Ha! This was wonderful!

As he thought of the honors he would gain from this opportunity, Fudge immediately forgot all about his earlier displeasure. His reputation wasn't all that important. After all, you couldn't eat your reputation; if he lost some, so be it. As long as he seized this chance to gain enough profit and political capital, what did it matter if Fudge lost face once or twice? Those vermin still dancing around in the papers and coveting his position were doomed to be disappointed this time. Ha! A bunch of bugs thought they could steal Fudge's position as Minister? They were still wet behind the ears!