His voice had lost the false warmth it had held when he faced Umbridge.
In its place was an utterly cold rationality.
"Fudge has already been backed into a corner by our moves in business and security."
"The Ministry of Magic has to save face."
"They have to interfere in education to prove that they haven't lost their authority."
Douglas turned around.
His penetrating gaze swept over the four people present in turn.
"If we forcibly keep her outside the school gates."
"The Ministry of Magic will use external legal provisions to put pressure on Hogwarts from the shadows."
"They'll cut our funding."
"They'll hold up job placements for students about to graduate."
"They'll even use the Wizengamot courts to harass our professors."
"You know our opponent has never been the Ministry of Magic. We shouldn't waste too much energy on them."
"That's nothing short of thuggery."
Professor McGonagall pressed her lips tightly together in anger.
"That's precisely why we need to invite this thug inside."
Douglas walked back to the desk.
His index finger tapped lightly against its cold surface.
"Once we give her a position that is nominally supreme."
"She'll no longer need to draw on the Ministry of Magic's outside power to attack us."
"Because she'll arrogantly believe."
"That the investigation order in her hand alone will let her crush us completely within the framework of the school rules."
Sirius gave a short, cold snort.
"You intend to turn the Academic Affairs Office into a maze of endless loops that traps her?"
"Exactly."
Sirius supplied the answer in Douglas's place.
A hunter's cunning gleamed in his gray eyes.
"Once she enters the Academic Affairs Office."
"Every regulation she issues will have to go through a complicated paperwork approval process."
"Every curriculum reform she proposes will face a