Dolores Umbridge.
In the wizarding world, most wizards either wouldn't recognize the name at all or would only have the vaguest awareness of this Senior Undersecretary of Magic.
In fact, Umbridge had rarely appeared in the public eye before now. Her visibility was even lower than that of some relatively unimportant department heads.
Rather than calling her the Ministry's second-in-command, it would be more accurate to describe her as the kind of strategist who hid behind the Minister of Magic, quietly offering counsel and pulling strings from the shadows.
But if you took that name into the Ministry and asked around, you would be met with several very different, yet equally shocking, answers...
Coincidentally, Malfoy's intelligence network contained rather detailed information on this Senior Undersecretary.
More precisely, from the moment Cornelius Fudge sought to firmly secure his position as Minister of Magic and began drifting apart from Dumbledore, the Ministry had already been thoroughly infiltrated by those aristocrats...
"Overbearing, arrogant, unreasonable, rigidly authoritarian, and a wizard whose desire for control borders on the extreme," Draco said flatly. "You could say that every insult you can think of applies to her, and that's exactly how wizards who know her describe her."
Draco delivered all of this in an even, detached tone. If one didn't know who they were talking about, it would have sounded like they were describing some Dark Lord who had appeared out of nowhere.
In other words, she was essentially a tyrant, and a thoroughly detestable one at that.
Yet this very wizard, someone who wouldn't have seemed out of place even if she'd been thrown into Azkaban, had somehow managed to firmly claim the Ministry's second-highest seat and even earn the Minister's trust.
Hearing Draco's assessment of Umbridge, Hermione covered her mouth in disbelief.
"Draco... if she's really as awful as you say, then why...?"
"Why is she able to hold such an important position?" Draco finished for her.
"Yes. Because I don't think a Minister of Magic can just appoint a Senior Undersecretary based purely on personal preference. Especially since, back then, Dumbledore hadn't lost his grip on the Ministry yet."
Hermione's reasoning wasn't wrong. Before his falling-out with Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge truly couldn't do whatever he pleased within the Ministry, nor could he casually promote his own people to such prominent positions.
In other words...
"Did I ever say that Umbridge got her position solely because of the Minister?" Draco asked.
"Huh?"
"Sure, Cornelius Fudge may have played a small role," Draco replied, "but that was never the main reason. I told you before, didn't I? She climbed up from the very bottom step by step, relying on her own abilities."
For some reason, despite how inspiring that sounded on the surface, Hermione caught a faint note of irony in Draco's voice. Puzzled, she tilted her head slightly.
After taking a small sip of tea, Draco continued softly, "Do you know why she's called an Acromantula?"
The word came up again from Draco's lips.
Hermione shook her head. "Why?"
"Because every step she took upward was built on other people's corpses."
"...."
Even though it was still spring, a chill crept through Hermione at Draco's words.
She drew herself in slightly, instinctively leaning closer to Draco's side...
...
Draco glanced at Hermione beside him.
He knew her goal was to enter the Ministry of Magic and become a Minister powerful enough to influence the wizarding world, even to the point of changing the status of house-elves.
A fine goal. A worthy dream.
Still, Draco decided it was better to let Hermione understand early on just how different the real wizarding world was from life at school...
"Most wizards don't know this, but Umbridge, who publicly claims to be pureblood, is actually a complete half-blood. Can you understand why she would lie about that?"
"Because... of the status purebloods have in the wizarding world?"
"Exactly. But that part isn't unusual. Plenty of wizards do the same thing. Even that person operates under the banner of being pureblood."
Yes, the person Draco was referring to hadn't just convinced himself he was pureblood. He had even gone so far as to change his name.
But since this wasn't the time to talk about him, Draco only mentioned it in passing before continuing. "It's just that... in order to hide that secret, Umbridge did one more thing."
Hermione bit her lower lip. All of a sudden, she didn't want to know the truth anymore. Beside her, Pansy calmly took a bite of her steak. Judging by her expression, she had clearly already guessed what Draco was about to say.
There was one way to completely bury a secret forever...
"After she entered the Ministry, her Muggle mother encountered a Death Eater who had 'wandered into' her home."
"..."
Hermione understood instantly.
That was no accident.
If she hadn't been mentally prepared, she might have screamed on the spot.
Even after everything she'd experienced alongside Draco, murder wasn't something a fifteen-year-old girl raised in a relatively peaceful world could accept calmly.
The idea that a murderer might be sitting nearby, sharing a meal with them, felt utterly unreal...
Hermione stared at Draco in a daze, the kind-hearted girl clearly struggling to process such a horrifying revelation.
Noticing her stunned expression, Draco seemed to understand what was going through her mind. He reached out and gently smoothed a hand through her soft hair. The steady, reassuring touch gradually pulled her back to herself.
The next second, Hermione snapped out of it and angrily swatted his hand away.
"I'm not so fragile that I need your comfort!"
She said that, but the faint reluctance in her eyes gave her away. Watching from the side, Pansy pursed her lips slightly...
After shifting awkwardly, Hermione finally lifted her head and met Draco's eyes with determination.
"I know how hard this is," she said seriously. "But I don't believe I'll become... a second Umbridge."
Draco blinked, then shrugged helplessly. "I think you've misunderstood me. I never thought that. I just wanted to remind you that as a non-pureblood, the road ahead will be harder for you than for anyone else. Even so, you still want to become Minister of Magic?"
"Of course!"
"Then... good luck, future Minister."
That completely unserious title made Hermione both angry and embarrassed, and she punched Draco lightly in the waist.
What she didn't notice was that, somewhere amid Draco's teasing and banter, the unpleasant weight that had been hanging over her moments ago had quietly faded away...