"From a certain perspective, Cornelius Fudge was not entirely useless," Herpo said with some feeling. "At the very least, he was selfish, ignorant, and easily swayed by extremely shortsighted advice."
Voldemort seemed to be contemplating something, his fingertips rubbing over his wand as he replied absentmindedly, "That sounds very much like praise for this Cornelius Fudge."
"Why not use the Imperius Curse? That would allow you to control him better, make him obey my orders, and ensure nothing goes wrong."
Herpo explained, "Unless you want the entire wizarding world to know what you are doing through that method, do not even think about accomplishing such a thing."
"Someone will always notice something unusual—for example, those Aurors. Besides, there is also one person in the English wizarding world... Dumbledore."
"It would be better to guide Cornelius Fudge into making certain decisions, creating the illusion that they were correct choices he reached through his own thinking."
"I think you can see the benefit... Even when Cornelius Fudge fell from power, he never realized that his so-called ambitions and decisions had actually been bestowed upon him by my servants."
"Of course! Cornelius Fudge was quite a remarkable wizard too. The people drawn to him all seemed to be particularly strange employees, such as that Dolores Umbri..."
"And what about earlier?" Voldemort interrupted, his cold eyes fixed on Herpo. "Herpo, I remember you said so yourself just now..."
"Because of the 'Wizarding World War' pushed forward by Gellert Grindelwald, many of your servants were wiped out."
"But as far as I know, that war never spread to England. During that time... did you truly make no progress at all in England?"
"That is extremely suspicious!" He leaned forward, dangerous red light flickering in his eyes. "Herpo, are you planning to hide something from me