The Defense Against Dark Magic office.
Sirius sat in the chair opposite him, his long legs crossed and propped on the desk.
He had just returned from outside.
The Marauders Power Company's quarterly reports, the expansion progress at Silvermane Academy, the training institute's final round of teaching staff reviews before Easter-those matters had weighed on him for an entire week.
But Douglas had not called him over tonight for any of those things.
"Umbridge will make a move."
Douglas spoke calmly.
Sirius raised his eyelids.
"A move on what?"
"The Ministry of Magic."
Douglas leaned back in his office chair.
"She's gone as far as she can at Hogwarts now. The textbooks have been stamped and approved, the assessments incorporated into the system. Parents may curse the Work-and-Rest Regulations, but the results are there for everyone to see-she put the story of Malfoy saving someone with the Deflection Charm into a letter to Fudge. It made the front page, and she got her political credit."
He looked at Sirius.
"What does a clever bureaucrat do after squeezing everything she can out of a position?"
Sirius thought for two seconds.
"Climb higher."
"Climb higher."
Douglas repeated it and nodded.
"She'll shift her attention away from Hogwarts and toward the Ministry of Magic. That Review Committee Percy's pushing-she's already caught its scent."
"More precisely, Percy's about to drag her into it. Someone needs to serve as Fudge's shield, and she couldn't be more suitable."
Sirius snorted, looking at Douglas with amusement.
"Someone you taught thinks just like you. You're both used to treating other people as cannon fodder, and you even picked the same person."
"Because she's the best fit."
Douglas smiled without committing himself.
Sirius's brows slowly drew together.
"She really wants to take part in getting the Review Committee up