Three Hallows' Eve || Harmione & Jily

Chapter 13.1

Chapter Thirteen - The New Minister

Thursday 1st November, 1990

1990 MINISTERIAL ELECTION CONCLUDES!
FOSTER FLOURISHES AS FUDGE FALLS FROM GRACE!
BRITAIN'S SECOND MUGGLE-BORN MINISTER ELECTED!

For only the second time ever, a Muggle-born candidate has been elected as the country's new Minister for Magic, after what will surely go down in history as one of Britain's most chaotic - nay, pandemonic - Ministerial elections.

On January 1st, five people confirmed their bid for the top job, chief among them being: Bartemius Crouch Sr, Cornelius Fudge, and Robert Foster. After months of campaigning, this newspaper's September polls were absolutely decisive in that Mr Crouch would reign victorious. This year, almost 90 percent of the more than one thousand British people who were polled said they were voting for Crouch Sr.

As regular readers will of course know, the Daily Prophet September polls have, for more than a century, accurately predicted the outcome of the election. Well, 1990 has bucked the trend! After one of the most unbelievable Octobers on record, not one but two - yes, two! - of the Ministerial candidates were involved in a scandal that cost them their chance!

In our 13th of October edition, a little over two weeks ago, people up and down the nation were shocked to find out that Bartemius Crouch Senior had been arrested by the DMLE for a veritable plethora of charges. The alleged crimes include, but aren't limited to: Use of an Unforgivable, Aiding the Escape of Custody, Falsifying Official Records, Resisting Arrest, and Perjury. Crouch Sr.'s detention resulted in his being dropped from the election altogether, as a person with unanswered charges hasn't been able to stand as a Ministerial candidate since 1904.

Then, not three days later, this publication was provided with leaked financial documents which detailed uncountable cases of bribery and corruption involving Cornelius Fudge. Within hours of the Daily Prophet's morning release, Director Bones of the DMLE had issued a statement regarding the arrest of Cornelius Fudge too! The long-time Head of the Wizengamot Administration Service sang like a siren to the Aurors, admitting to all charges against him and implicating not less than SEVENTEEN members of the Wizengamot, several of the Hogwarts governors, and a shocking number of people in various positions of power.

After all of this, it's no wonder that the wizards and witches of Britain longed for a breath of fresh air in the Ministry, and Muggle-born Robert Foster promises just that. In his acceptance speech, the incoming Minister pledged to bring about fairer treatment for all magical Britons, stating that he plans to focus on overhauling all of the 'antiquated and unjust' laws in the country that the 'financially and morally corrupt leaders of old have forced onto the people of Britain.'

Minister Foster promised that more announcements would follow over the coming days and weeks as he began his work on 'bringing Britain into the 20th century, even if it comes ninety years too late.'

-o-

At the Potters' house in Cambridge, the little party cheered as James read aloud the day's paper for the third time that morning. The election was a massive success for all that James had been working towards for most of the last decade, and was a sign that more changes were on their way for Britain.

The election officially ended at a minute to midnight on the 31st of October, and James and Lily had accepted Alice and Frank's offer to take Harry and Thea off their hands so they could celebrate properly as the last of the votes were cast and the results were announced. Minerva had visited in the evening between classes and the Halloween feast to give early congratulations as the WWN suggested that the election looked to be going in Foster's favour.

Remus had arrived shortly before eight o'clock - the full moon in just two days wasn't even enough to put a damper on his spirits. One of the newest bills that James was looking to try and put before the Wizengamot was regarding the fair treatment of witches and wizards infected with lycanthropy: free or Ministry-subsidised Wolfsbane Potion was one of the items on the bill, alongside legislation making it illegal to discriminate against registered lycans in much the same fashion as it now was for Muggle-borns.

Sirius had joined them not long after Remus arrived, accompanied by his girlfriend Aspen Lyre, much to the amusement of the others who all remembered how ardently he'd pursued her in school. They'd run into each other at St Mungo's not long after Aspen had been healed by Harry; Sirius had been consulting in the Kye Mirror Ward, which cared for patients who had managed to end up with parts of their body transfigured. Aspen had been released from the care of the hospital as Sirius was on his break and they'd bumped into each other, which had led to them happily dating now for just over a year.

'Did you notice who was missing from their coverage on who was implicated?' Remus asked with a chuckle as the cheering settled.

James shook his head and flicked through the paper, turning to the article in question and running his finger down the list of names. All seventeen of the Wizengamot members were listed, as were the three Hogwarts governors who didn't have a seat in that chamber. Two employees in the Department of Mysteries and a handful from St Mungo's, including one of the board members, were also included. He furrowed his brow and looked up at Remus questioningly.

Remus took the paper from James and leafed through before placing it back on the table for the others to read, pointing to a tiny article about halfway through.