A battle of Subtlety and Manipulation

Chapter 22

-Harry-

Glancing up at his Lordship Seats from his spot on the ground floor he sent a smile at his wives and Fiancés that sat upon them, getting a loving smile and a few blown kisses in return. "Attention!" Dumbledore called out, drawing his attention towards the ancient pain in the ass "As this meeting was called for by Lord Potter I shall let him take the floor.".

"Thank you Chief Warlock." he said formally before turning to the assembled crowd "Lords and Ladies of the Wizenagamot, I am sure by now you have seen the Daily Prophet and the slanderous article written about my person. I called this meeting to ascertain the truth of what has occurred by both myself and Minister Fudge as well as see to it that the situation is handled accordingly.".

"And why have we been called for what is clearly a private matter?" Draco drawled, the blonde's trademark sneer clearly visible.

"Because," he said coldly "I find out that Minister Fudge did indeed make that article then I will declare a blood feud between my Houses and his own.".

At those words the entire room became as silent as the grave as blood feuds were serious things and if one declared one then the situation was rarely ever solved without deaths from at least one of the parties. "Minister Fudge," Amos Diggory turned towards the furious Minister "what do you have to say about the article which says that you accused Lord Potter of kidnapping and torturing you.".

"I did have that article published as it is true!" Fudge roared, "That brat had me kidnapped and transported to a place where I was beaten, cursed, had my mind probed.".

"Where is your proof?" he demanded coldly "So far all I've heard is you spew accusations but give nothing to back it up.".

"Proof?!" Fudge demanded "You're the only one it could have been! I don't need proof!".

Snarling he pointed his wand towards the ceiling and intoned "I, Lord Hadrian James Potter, do solemnly swear upon my life and magic that I never ordered the kidnapping of Minister Fudge, nor did I torture him in any way as he has accused me of.". There was a bright flash of light as his magic rippled from his wand before he calmly cast Lumos to show that he still had his magic. He and his wives had taken the time to design that oath in a way that, even though he had switched the parcels, he hadn't 'ordered' Fudge's 'kidnapping' nor did he do any torture himself to Fudge as he had been accused of as even he would admit that forcing the man to marry Umbridge had been torture.

"As I have proven that Minister Fudge's accusations are without merit I hereby challenge Minister Cornelius Oswald Fudge to an Honor Duel in recompense, if my challenge is refused then I shall initiate a blood Feud." He said calmly as he stared up at the minster, wondering what poison the man would pick. If Fudge picked the Honor Duel then Fudge would be destroyed utterly and quite possibly die while if the man refused a blood feud was just as likely to end the man's life and strip him of his fortune.

"I…I accept the challenge of the Honor Duel." Fudge said with a shaky nod before a greedy gleam entered the fat pig's eye "And as the challenged I am the one to decide the stakes.".

"And those would be?" he asked emotionlessly, having a good idea as to what Fudge would demand.

"A fight to the Death," Fudge snarled viciously "all magic allowed and the winner gets control over the fortunes and Houses of the lose as well as the loser's wife.".

"I don't want your wife." He said in disgust causing Dolores Umbridge-Fudge to glare down at him venomously.

"You wouldn't win to begin with," Fudge snorted contemptuously "but I will have my wife as my second and offer something else to you if you 'win'.".

"If I win then I choose the new Minister." He stated coldly, having already received a nod from the girls to go ahead with the Duel "And they will be sworn in immediately after the Duel's completion.".

"I'm afraid Lord Potter," Dumbledore spoke up "that Minister Fudge cannot wager that.".

"Actually he can," he spoke up while shaking his head "as any Minister can choose who their successor should be in the case of their death which is why most don't declare one, to avoid assassination from said 'successor'.".

"And who do you wish to be the new Minister?" Fudge asked coldly but he could see a hint of curiosity in the man's eyes.

"Amelia Gryffindor nee Bones." He said with a smirk causing Fudge to gulp once before nodding.

"Very well," Fudge said "I, Minister Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Lord of the House of Fudge, hereby do accept the terms agreed upon. The duel will commence in one hour in the Ministry Dueling room.".

"Agreed." He said with a nod as a pulse of magic, much like the one that had been released when he made his oath, rippled forth as people quickly went to the dueling room to try and get the best seat.

"Harry," Amelia said as she and the others walked down to him "promise me that you'll crush him.".

"Don't worry love," he promised as he pulled her into a deep kiss "that won't be a problem…although first I need to block out the idea of the man's first 'wager'.".

"Don't worry Harry," Rina said as she cupped his face to kiss him tenderly "we'll drive away any mental trauma that they tried to inflict upon you.".

"I don't know what I'd do without you girls." He said sincerely as they moved to the dueling room and spent the rest of the hour before his 'fight' kissing and cuddling with each other.

"Attention!" a rather grizzled man with a lion like main of hair called out while stepping onto the platform, "The Duel between Minister Fudge and Lord Potter is about to commence!".

Giving each of his girls one final kiss he walked up onto the dueling platform as Fudge did the same, "As per the duelist code I bare my chest to show lack of armor, requiring my opponent to do the same." He said to the man who he assumed was acting as referee before he opened his robe and shirt to revel his bare skin.

"This is preposterous!" Fudge blundered as all eyes turned to the minister "I refuse to do it!".

"Refusal would mean that you surrender and as this is a duel to the death you would be executed immediately." He said coldly as Fudge paled before growling and pulled apart his robes to reveal a dragon hide vest.

"Remove your armor so the duel may commence Minister." The grizzled man demanded with a glare and received one from Fudge in return as the blundering oaf of a politician removed the shiny black dragon hide.

Once the vest was removed the referee stepped back and pointed his want into the air before shouting "Begin!".

Before the referee had even finished giving the okay to go Fudge had begun casting, firing off several borderline dark spells and he was sure he saw a couple of illegal ones in there anyway. Using the reflexes he had hones through years of quiditch combined with his more recent sword training he bobbed and weaved throughout the spells, firing off a few minor 'joke' spells of his own to trip up and anger his opponent.

By the time a panting Fudge had finished firing off the massive barrage of lethal spells he was only panting slightly from his dodging while Fudge was wearing neon pink robes, clown shoes, had green hair, and a floating sign that proclaimed him to be the 'king of fools'.

"Alright," he said with a savage grin "my turn." Before he began firing off his own barrage of spells such as reducto, bombarda, Incendio, confringo, and the arrow shooting spell. Fudge rapidly put up a shield to block the spells, sweat appearing on the man's brow with each one until he ended his barrage, seeing Fudge on his last legs.

"I won't lose like this!" the man yelled, spittle flying from Fudge's mouth "Not to you Potter! They will be mine! Avada Kedavera!". He was prepared to dodge the screaming jet of green light but, to his shock, instead of shooting out of Fudge's wand the emerald light seemed to grow from the wand, cracking it apart before it exploded and struck its own caster, blasting the corpse of Cornelius Oswald Fudge, once minister of Magic, off of the dueling platform, dead as a doornail.

"No!" Umbridge screamed as she rushed towards her dead husband before she spun around and pointed her wand at him in fury "You filthy Half-Blood!" she screamed "I'll kill you! Avada Ked-" only to cut off when an arrow pierced the woman though the heard as her eyes rolled up and she dropped to the ground on top of her husband dead.

Turning he saw Bellatrix glaring at the woman, her wand still smoking, "Nobody hurts Harry," Bellatrix growled "nobody." Causing him to sigh mentally. He may have broken her of her habit of calling him 'master' but she was still as fanatically loyal as a house elf.

"Winner is Lord Potter!" the referee declared loudly, breaking the silence that had ensued as everyone stared at the two corpses of the Late Minister and First Lady.

Walking over to Amelia he pulled her close and whispered "Let's go…I don't really want to be here right now." Getting nods from the others and, once Amelia had been sworn in, they all returned home to get away from the death that had happened that day.

-Dumbledore-

Sitting in contemplation within his office Albus Dumbledore stared at the fire crackling merrily in the hearth, trying to decide what to do. During the duel Fudge had all but killed himself, pushing past his magical limits and reaching into a depleted core as the spell rebounded upon its caster and Umbridge was just as foolish, attacking with lethal intent before being given the right to by the referee had technically given Bellatrix the right to use lethal force to defend her husband.

Now though he was trying to find a way to spin the situation to his advantage, something made even harder due to the new 'minister'. He knew that if he could get enough of the Lords or Ladies on his side then he could use their support to destroy Potter in the court of Public opinion and regain control of the situation. The only question was, how.