"Boom——"
The green flames in the fireplace suddenly surged, and then a short, plump figure "rolled" out from the Floo Powder flames. Fudge, barely standing steadily on the carpet, bent down to pat the purple Wizard Robe covered in soot, then raised his head, casting a strange look at the other two people in the room.
"Good evening, Minister."
Professor McGonagall bent her tense lips, greeting the man with a blank expression.
"Oh, good evening, Professor McGonagall, I received your owl..."
Fudge blinked, seemingly not expecting McGonagall to be the first to speak to him. He paused, shifting his gaze from the elderly man sitting behind the desk, but his words were interrupted by another exclamation—
"Bang——"
The Floo Powder flames surged again, and another short, stout figure wobbled out of the fireplace. This time, it was a gray-faced woman in a pink outfit, whose juvenile clothing color choices were obviously out of sync with her wrinkled, actual age—nothing but pink.
Upon seeing Umbridge appear, Professor McGonagall's lips immediately tightened even more.
For some reason, when she looked directly at the newly appointed secretary of the Minister of Magic's office, she always felt a physical discomfort.
A very strange feeling...
Thus, McGonagall, unconsciously pausing with her hand on the lever by the fireplace, watched as Dolores Umbridge, who was already somewhat unsteady, appeared to be kicked from behind. She was flung out of the fireplace directly, unable to dodge, or rather, Fudge didn't dodge at all, and the two figures crashed into the bookshelf opposite the fireplace like rolling gourds. The dull sound startled quite a few sleeping headmaster portraits. "Hey, be careful!"
Phineas Black's portrait shouted loudly.
"Hey, Your Excellency the Minister, are you alright——"
A sickly sweet, affected voice rang out. At this moment, Umbridge was sprawled entirely on Fudge, her eyes rolling as if plotting something. Instead of supporting her body, she lay on Fudge, voicing exaggerated concern and pretending to check for injuries under Fudge's Wizard Robe.
Since Ms. Umbridge entered the Ministry of Magic, she had done her best to start a romance with a superior.
She never cared about who it was; she only knew that once she had a powerful husband in a strong position, her status would become more stable.
Unfortunately, our Ms. Dolores had never had any marriage, although her superiors praised her "efforts" and "ambitions." Yet anyone who knew anything about her couldn't hold too much goodwill towards her.
Let alone love; perhaps men with the same hunger for power might climb into bed with her, but as just mentioned, Ms. Dolores needed a husband with a higher position and stronger authority than herself, and Fudge had clearly become the best choice within the Ministry of Magic for now.
Of course, looking beyond the Ministry of Magic, she did have other options... For instance, Dumbledore?
Here, we only discuss status and fame, unrelated to reality.
Quite obviously, Albus Dumbledore held significant prestige and fame in the Magic Realm of the United Kingdom and the whole world. After all, he had not only consecutively defeated Grindelwald and Voldemort, the two Black Wizards endangering the Magic Realm, but was also the headmaster of Hogwarts, the president of the International Confederation of Wizards, and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Dumbledore was always considered the strongest Wizard of his era and remains regarded this way today.
Therefore, the reason Dumbledore did not become the Minister of the British Ministry of Magic was simply that he didn't want the position.
Thus, during the early days of Cornelius Fudge's tenure as Minister of Magic, he continuously bombarded Albus Dumbledore for help and advice, even adopting (or outright copying) Dumbledore's suggestions and decisions on many policies. This led to a famous columnist, Ms. Skeeter, criticizing him as Dumbledore's loyal pet or an obedient owl.
However, the reputation of "listening to Dumbledore" didn't seem to become a stain on Fudge's career. Instead, Fudge's willingness to accept and heed Dumbledore's advice earned him people's trust.
Yet, even the most loyal hunting dog would bite when pushed too hard—of course, Dumbledore didn't know how he pressured this "poor" minister.
As time passed, Fudge began obsessively believing that Dumbledore sought the Minister's position for himself, even though Dumbledore had shown no interest and declined at least three times. Yet Fudge's distrust never disappeared——
He began opposing Dumbledore, for instance, by placing Dementors around Hogwarts to act as "Guardians."
Ha, what could Dementors possibly guard?
Capturing Sirius? That was merely self-consolation for Fudge; he actually just wanted his own spies watching Dumbledore to ensure the old man didn't take his position without him knowing.
Of course, using Dementors as spies was just something Minister Fudge imagined.