ᵖʳᵒᵘᵈ ᵖᵃʳᵉⁿᵗˢ ; ʰᵃʳᵐⁱᵒⁿᵉ

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter 31 - Lies and Tantrum's and Betrayal - Oh My!

"He can't be dead!"

"Albus, he was eaten by the biggest fucking dragon I've ever seen - of course he's dead." Cornelius held up his hand to stop the old fool repeating the same mantra again.

"What convinces me he's gone for good - more than the hundreds of witnesses who saw the enormous dragon have him for a snack - is that Amelia Bones tendered her resignation immediately after the event. She's tight with Potter, probably heading to Italy as we speak, so that means they think Voldemort's gone for good too. Potter and Granger have been way ahead of the game since leaving Hogwarts - sometimes on a completely different page from everyone else."

"So you're saying you believe Potter over me?"

"Looking at both your recent records, there really isn't a choice to be made. They've squashed the Death Eaters, and everyone else who got in their way. Voldemort is dead, as is Dolores and you were made to look a fool today. We both understand what a disaster my name coming out of that cup would have been, and something Potter was clearly capable of doing. You thought you were trapping a former student, Potter not only reversed your trap - he took out Voldemort for good measure. That's not someone I want to cross in any manner."

Cornelius could see Albus still wasn't buying it. He held a different opinion, therefore Albus Dumbledore was right - and everyone else was wrong. Shaking his head, the Minister served this old fool some home truths.

"I listened to the radio broadcast today, the commentator practically christened those two as the reincarnations of Merlin and Morgan Le Fay. Your own efforts didn't fare so well, as a competitor or an organiser. Did you really not have anything in place to save a champion who found themselves in serious trouble? That Potter did, and it worked brilliantly, is simply another massive point in his favour in any comparison against you..."

"But that's preposterous!"

"Is it? Potter is no longer the Boy-Who-Lived, he's now the Dark-Lord-Destroyer. Is there any doubt in your mind Potter not only orchestrated today's event, he was in total control the entire time. That was the conclusion the radio commentator quickly came to, and so would most of those watching in the stadium. The Ministry is going to be inundated with demands that Potter gets awarded an Order of Merlin, First Class."

"You can't possibly..."

"Of course I can't - he'd very publicly tell me to stick it up my arse. The only chance we would have of Potter accepting is if we offered his betrothed the same, and probably her muggle parents too."

"The Wizengamot would never vote for that."

"Albus, it's days, like Hogwarts, are numbered as well. Amelia tried to warn me, but it wasn't until I sat down and thought about it I realised the Ministry itself is under a very real threat too. There's no point of being the Minister of Magic if there's no witches or wizards left in the country to govern. The Potter family has left Britain for good, so has the Blacks. I suspect the likes of Bones, Longbottom, Abbot, Lovegood and even Weasley will soon follow. Add in the number of families Britain lost during the Death Eater purges and you'll start to see the dilemma we're facing. I have people exploring the extent of the problem at this very minute, I'm already positive I won't like their findings."

"What can I do to help?"

"There's three areas you could really help the country, Albus. Number one, call off this tournament - it's just an embarrassment now."

"I would love to, but it can't be done. Once started, the tournament has to continue until the cup is won at the end of the third task. The tasks themselves have to be challenging, we can't have them sitting down and playing chess for the cup. There also has to be a certain break between tasks, to give any injured champions enough time to recover and compete. What are the other two areas?"