Making of a Minister was; The Corruption of Fudge

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 45662

Not having been online to see the actual website, since subscribing to the 
Digest, I have not investigated whatever archives might be in the "Hypothetic 
Alley". So if I am widely duplicating an established theory, I do apologize.

The latest round of discussion regarding just where Fudge stands and whether 
he knows just who his stance is benefiting, is a good one. I've already made 
statements in earlier posts that I do NOT believe that Fudge is a blundering 
innocent who doesn't know what effect he is having. The more canon data which 
gets brought up in this discussion, the less convinced I am that he is 
actually a DE himself. But he sure does seem to be in their pocket, and very 
comfortably so. In this I tend to agree with Eloise on this one. But This 
post is more about how I suspect he got where he is in the first place.

Over in the four Marauders = four Houses discussion we recently got a replay 
of the overheard scene in the Three Broomsticks concerning the four boys' 
school days. In that discussion Fudge states that he was a junior Minister in 
the Department of Magical Catastrophies at the time Sirius Black was 
captured, and that he, Fudge was the first on the scene. 

Now, it strikes me that this fact must have looked very nice on Fudge's 
resume come election time. And aa a Junior Minister of an "important" 
Department he would have been in the position of being well enough known so 
that the other people in the Ministry know WHO he is, without very many of 
them having had the opportunity to work directly with him often enough to 
know WHAT he is.  A made-to-order dark horse candidate.

We also know that he is thick as thieves with Lucius Malfoy and that there is 
no indication that his own underlying beliefs do not chime perfectly in tune 
with Malfoy's on any given subject. Fudge is more willing to pay public lip 
service to Arthur Weasley and his ilk's Muggle-favorable policies. But we get 
no feeling that he truly believes that such measures are either quite 
necessary or altogether fitting. Malfoy had no need to win him over in this 
regard. In these matters he was ALWAYS in Malfoy's camp. ("We know what 
Cornelius Fudge is.") 

Which does not necessarily mean that he would actively endorse the violent 
overthrow of what passes for an established wizarding government. 
Particularly as he is part of it. But he can redily be bought. Offer him his 
own neck and a comfortable retirement and he would hand Voldemort the keys 
without a protest. 

The question is how far he supported "Malfoy's" aims 15 years ago. He was 
certainly high enough up the ladder to have made a useful recruit, but his 
character does not appear to be particularly suitable to be recruited as an 
active terrorist. But, oh boy might he have been a willing collaborator. 
Which is why, upon consideration, I do not think that Fudge ever actually 
took the Dark Mark. It was not necessary to draw him into the inner circle to 
get as much cooperation and assistance from him as they wanted. And if Malfoy 
carefully never mentioned that he was furthering anyone else's aims in 
addition to his own, everybody was that much safer. 

So, at the time of S. Black's arrest, Voldemort is gone and apparantly the 
office of the Minister of Magic is up for grabs. Over the following 
weeks/months Dumbledore soon makes it clear that he does not want the job. 
Barty Crouch does and it appears that he will get it. Heaven only knows what 
Crouch's plans are for a peacetime government, but it seems fairly safe to 
say that no former DE likes the idea. We do not know whether there is anyone 
else opposing Crouch for the position.

I still contend that the Longbottom affair was a deliberate plot to discredit 
Crouch. NONE of the DE's had any idea of where to go hunting for their 
Master, and we do not know that VaporMort was in Albania at that time, 
either. But Crouch had to be stopped. And we also don't know how far any of 
the DE's "inner circle"'s communication lines went. Karkaroff claimed in 
court that no one knew the identities of more than a handfull of their 
fellows, and there is no real reason to question the substance of this claim, 
even if one might choose to quibble over degree. (Karkaroff, you will note, 
does not mention the Lestranges. He may have been a part of a different 
"cell".) The plan probably only went as far as the actual group who undertook 
it. And any information that they DID manage to get out of the Longbottoms 
was no doubt passed to some associate who may or may not have sat on it. 

My inner cynic wonders if the plot was even more deviously far-reaching than 
it looks on the surface. Just how popular were the Longbottoms? Popular 
enough for Frank to have been another (outside) possibility for the MoM slot? 
We have no reason to believe that the Longbottoms were as young as the 
Potters, after all. Why couldn't they have been closer in age to the Weasleys 
and the Diggorys. (And Lucius Malfoy.) Not everyone marries and starts a 
family right out of Hogwarts. Frank and his wife could have married  in their 
30's and still have an only child Harry's age. 

I do not suppose that Malfoy was a part of the Lestrange's attack on Crouch's 
carreer, but he would have certainly seen what was going on and been 
positioned to take advantage of the fallout. In Cornelius Fudge, he already 
had a stooge in place. One who could be proposed for the top spot that no one 
really knew anything against. In the words of Molly ivens, Fudge "dances with 
who brought him". Lucius's patronage put him where he is and he is only too 
happy to be of use to his "constituency". He IS a corrupt politician, and one 
who uses his appearance of bumbling ineffectuality to disarm the worst 
criticism of his actions and maintain some level of personal popularity -- or 
at any rate tolerance -- with the poeple whose interests he is engaged in 
trampling. But, though he clearly supports them, and their values, I doubt 
that he is actually a Death Eater. By tacit agreement, I suspect the Dark 
Lord is politely never mentioned among him and his "handlers". But he isn't a 
complete fool. He knows whose interests are furthered by his actions and he 
hopes to bring that up when it comes time for the recconing. Not a "faithful 
servant', no. But a willing "employee". And, given the Kissing of Barty 
Crouch, one who can be entrusted to undertake major damage control. (There 
WAS just barely enough time for one of the rebirthday party attendees to have 
used the confusion at Hogwarts to contact Fudge and pass along orders. No 
time to spare, certainly, but just enough. And the Dementor could have 
already been called in to meet him.)

Side question 1.: is Conelius Fudge of an age to be an old school friend of 
Lucius Malfoy? It might add another dimension to his lack of enthusiasm for 
Arthur Weasley, and give an easy "public" reason for his obvious favoritism 
in Malfoy's direction.

Side question 2.: Is Conelius Fudge, instead, a contemporary of the 
Hagrid/McGonagall/Riddle generation? IS it only a 50-year-old rumor that he 
is going on when he has Hagrid arrested, or was he there at the time?

It's only a gut feeling, but I have the distinct impression that the odds are 
that he may be one or the other. I rather doubt that he is older than the 
latter, and VERY much doubt that he is younger than the former. 

-JOdel