Chapter Twenty: What That Makes Us

The gift of Dolores the toad had gone down rather well, and as such, it was decided that the new first years were given the task of looking after it. It was the following lunchtime that Dumbledore received word that Umbridge had not turned up to any of her classes so far that day, so he cancelled the Defence classes for the rest of the day before going off to inform DMLE of the disappearance of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Twenty minutes later, Dumbledore returned to the Great Hall with Minister Fudge, three Aurors, and a woman with lank, black hair and a monocle. Two of the Aurors the Quartet recognised as Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks.

Harry turned to Neville and asked, 'Who's the woman wearing a glamour?'

'Er, which one are you talking about?' he replied, confused.

'The one with the monocle,' replied Harry.

'Amelia Bones, she's the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but I have no idea why she's using a glamour, but I do know her niece, Susan, is in our year but in Hufflepuff, she's Hannah's best friend,' Neville answered.

Harry was about to ask Hannah to call Susan over, but the carrying voice of Cornelius Fudge reached their ears.

'Yes, that's a good idea, Amelia; perhaps a search of Dolores' belongings will give us some idea as to where she might have gone.'

'Very well, Aurors Shacklebolt and Tonks along with me shall conduct the search,' replied Madam Bones, before leaving with Tonks and Kingsley.

Dumbledore then invited the Minister to sit down to have some lunch.

As Fudge and his Auror bodyguard waited, Harry and his friends resumed their conversation with Harry asking Hannah to call Susan over to their table to join them.

Susan Bones was a pretty girl with her red hair in pigtails. Hannah made the introductions between her best friend and Harry before he asked Susan the same question he had asked Neville.

'How did you know about the glamour?' was Susan's shocked reply.

'I can see it,' was Harry's reply.

'Oh, well, um, when she started at the ministry she wanted to be taken seriously by her superiors so she started using a glamour to make herself look less attractive, at home she wears glasses and her hair is the colour as mine,' Susan said.

'Sexism at the ministry, who would've guessed?' asked Ron, sarcastically.

'Along with bigotry and corruption, of course,' said Hermione.

'Wouldn't be surprised if she was smarter than pretty much everyone else at the ministry,' said Ron.

Susan raised her eyebrows at Hermione's words but said nothing as they all waited for the searchers to return.

It was five minutes later when Madam Bones along with Tonks and Kingsley returned to the Great Hall, but with grave looks upon their faces.

Fudge saw that there was something wrong and said, 'Did you find anything?'

'Yes, we did, and it's not good,' replied Madam Bones. She then took a deep breath and said, 'As Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I must place you, Cornelius Fudge, under arrest for Accepting Bribes, Embezzlement and Corruption, and furthermore, I temporarily strip you of the office you hold along with the powers of that office, you will surrender your wand and come quietly, now.'

'This is ludicrous!' shouted Fudge.

'It's all in black and white, Cornelius,' said Madam Bones, producing a ledger that contained everything that he had entrusted Dolores Umbridge to keep a secret, so, knowing the drill, he used two fingers to draw his wand to surrender to the Aurors before he was taken away.

Madam Bones turned to Albus Dumbledore and said, 'The Wizengamot will need you back as soon as possible because I'm fairly sure we're going to need a new Minister of Magic.'

'Please contact me when you have arranged a meeting,' replied Dumbledore.

'I shall, good afternoon, Headmaster,' Madam Bones replied before taking her leave.

It was at that moment that lunch ended as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny made their way back to Gryffindor Tower, Ron could not stop chuckling, so when they arrived, Harry turned to Ron and said, 'What's so funny?'

'Well, Harry, I don't know how to break it to you but we just overthrew the government, and you know what that makes us?' said Ron.

Harry looked at Hermione and Ginny who both shrugged, before saying to Ron, 'No.'

'Anarchists, little brother, Anarchists,' said Ron, with a smile.

The four of them then fell on to the couches by the fire laughing.