That same morning, in the corridor of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
A young Auror from a pure-blood family stopped Scrimgeour.
"Sir, have you read the open letter about those Hogwarts textbooks? Mr. Ogden's wording-"
"I have."
Scrimgeour did not stop walking.
His boots struck an even rhythm on the flagstones.
"Sir, what is your opinion?"
Scrimgeour took three steps before speaking.
"I care about the efficiency of Auror training, not the analogies used in textbooks."
He pushed open his office door.
"If these booklets help future Auror trainees understand defensive principles faster, I have no objection."
The door closed in the young Auror's face.
Scrimgeour sat down in his chair and pulled a pink-covered booklet from the very bottom of his drawer.
The fifth-year volume.
"War in the Mind."
He had already read it three times.
He had not opposed it.
But he had not actively supported it, either.
He was watching and waiting.
Hogwarts.
Umbridge's office.
An owl flew through the window and landed beside the pink desk lamp.
A note was tied to its leg.
Fudge's handwriting.
Umbridge opened the envelope and unfolded the parchment.
There were only two lines.
"Dolores, you stamped it. You deal with it.-C.F."
She set the letter on the desk.
The Persian cats on the decorative plates on the wall tilted their heads at her.
Umbridge sat in her pink office chair, her back ramrod straight (if you could tell), both hands resting flat on the desk.
Her expression was extremely ugly.
What was coming had finally come.
From the moment she had stamped it, she had known this day would eventually arrive.
It was just that Fudge's attitude had rather surprised her.
He had actually washed his hands of the whole affair.
Heh.
*Then he had no one to