"What's wrong, Sir Humphrey?" Henry asked, noticing the expressions on Humphrey's and Bernard's faces.
"Oh, I just thought of a rather interesting possibility." Humphrey smiled slightly. "As far as I know, this Mr. Fudge appears to have been promoted by Headmaster Dumbledore."
Harker's teacup paused in mid-air. He looked at Humphrey, then at Elizabeth, and finally at Henry.
"Promoted?" he repeated. "You mean Dumbledore chose Fudge as Minister for Magic?"
"Oh, my wording was imprecise." Humphrey smiled. "To be more precise, Dumbledore gave him the position."
"Before becoming Minister for Magic, Mr. Fudge served as Deputy Director of the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes," he continued. "According to Sir Arnold's records, it was a department responsible for handling magical accidents, disaster responses, and their aftermath. Not the most central authority, but a very important one, especially under certain special circumstances."
He paused.
"For example, the thirty-first of October, 1981."
Henry frowned. "1981? That's not..."
"Yes, Your Highness," Humphrey said. "That year, your classmate's parents, the Potters, were murdered, and Mr. Fudge was one of the first Ministry of Magic officials to arrive at the scene. Following certain events, he became one of three candidates for Minister. The first candidate, Barty Crouch, was forced to withdraw from the race under certain circumstances, and the second candidate, Dumbledore, had no interest in the post, so the turn passed to Mr. Fudge."
"Sounds rather like the process of becoming Prime Minister, doesn't it?" Bernard chuckled beside him, then caught himself and quickly fell silent.
Ah yes, a resignation tip every day. You really are something else, Bernard.
Henry spoke up promptly, drawing Harker's lethal gaze away from Bernard. "Sir Humphrey, when Mr. Fudge first took office, did he often consult Professor Dumbledore?"
Humphrey looked mildly surprised. "How did Your Highness know?"
"I guessed," Henry said. "A minister who rose through the accident investigation department, suddenly required to govern the entire wizarding world, would certainly need someone to guide him, and Professor Dumbledore is the most suitable candidate."
"Your Highness guessed correctly." Humphrey nodded. "According to what the Cabinet knows, in the early days of Mr. Fudge's tenure, he frequently sought Dumbledore's advice by owl and relied heavily on the latter's wisdom to manage the wizarding world. One could say that during that period, Dumbledore served as his mentor."
"Mentor," Harker savoured the word. "And now?"
Humphrey was silent for a moment.
"That is the problem, Prime Minister," he said at last.
Henry looked at Humphrey, waiting for him to continue.
Humphrey set down his teacup and clasped his hands over his knees, as though presenting an important report at a Cabinet meeting.
"Your Highness, Prime Minister," he said, "have you considered how someone who has relied on another person for a long time will eventually come to view that person?"
Harker frowned. "Gratitude?"
"Yes, gratitude," Humphrey said with a smile. "You'll recall what I mentioned about the former Prime Minister's memoirs. So-called gratitude is nothing more than a fervent expectation of future favours. It is an extremely fragile emotion, worn down by time, diluted by habit, and corroded by self-doubt."
"When someone has depended on another person for a long time, a subtle unease gradually takes root. He will ask himself quietly in the dead of night: do I truly have the ability? Is my position a product of my own worth, or of his? If I were to leave him behind, could I still stand on my own two feet?"
Harker nodded thoughtfully.
"So you're saying that Fudge's feelings toward Dumbledore are shifting from gratitude into..."
"Suspicion," Humphrey said for him. "Not yet, perhaps, but in the future. Or rather, it has already begun to fester."
"Yes," Henry said slowly. "He'll start to wonder whether Dumbledore wields too much influence, whether everyone listens to Dumbledore more readily than they listen to him, whether he himself is nothing more than a puppet propped up by Dumbledore."
Humphrey's eyes lit up.
"Your Highness is very accurate," he said. "And there is something else."
"What?" Henry asked.
"Mr. Fudge understands Voldemort's terror better than almost anyone, because he has witnessed firsthand the destruction Voldemort caused," Humphrey said. "But Dumbledore is not afraid of Voldemort. Dumbledore defeated him. Dumbledore is Fudge's only protection against Voldemort, and yet also his greatest political threat. That contradiction will slowly fester in Fudge's heart."
"That is the paradox of power," Harker said. "You need people to support you in order to secure your position, but once you are secure, those very supporters become your greatest threat, because you can never know whether they back you as a person or merely as the occupant of a seat. And you cannot know what they will do the day they decide they want someone else in it."
Humphrey turned and regarded Harker with the patient, appraising eyes of a proud father.
"But," Henry looked up, "Professor Dumbledore doesn't care what Mr. Fudge thinks of him. He doesn't care about the position, or the power, or whether others defer to him. He cares about what he wants to protect."
Harker frowned. "Protect what?"
Henry considered for a moment.
"Everything," he said. "Hogwarts, the students, that magical world. He doesn't need Fudge to listen to him, because he has other ways to safeguard those things. Fudge's suspicion and estrangement have no effect on him whatsoever."
Humphrey cleared his throat.
"Your Highness," he said, "what you just said reminds me of the last words Sir Arnold spoke to me before he retired."
"What did he say?" Henry asked.
Humphrey looked at him and said slowly, "He said: 'In the game of thrones, the most dangerous people are not those who want power, but those who don't care about power, because you can never guess what they will do next.' Your headmaster is evidently one such person."
"So what are you suggesting?" Henry asked directly.
Humphrey smiled. "Sir Arnold asked me for some information about the wizarding world in recent years the other day. We both agreed that Mr. Fudge will inevitably clash with Professor Dumbledore at some point, and that when the time comes, Fudge will seize whatever leverage he can, including Your Highness."
Henry was not surprised. He had known that Dumbledore and Fudge would eventually come to blows, and he had expected the shrewd minds in Whitehall to foresee it as well. After all, their political acumen far surpassed Fudge's.
"You mean I should do something, don't you, sir?" he asked with a smile.
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Early chapters: [email protected]/palevolt100