Dumbledore, Snap and Fudge

[thomasmwall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50369

Please forgive me, but I don't have GoF handy.  I'll be as specific 
as memory permits.

Consider:  

After the fiasco that was the Triwizard Tournament, the wizarding 
public starts to ask serious questions about the management of 
Hogwarts.

"How is it that every DADA teacher for the last four years has been 
of questionable character? Did you know that Quirrell was a supporter 
of You-Know-Who? That Lockhart couldn't even cast a spell to stop 
pixies? Remus Lupin? Yeah, he was a WEREWOLF that almost attacked a 
student AND a teacher! And who would have though we'd hear from Barty 
Crouch, Jr. again? Wasn't he in Azkaban? No? He impersonated Mad-Eye 
Moody for a whole year? Hey wait... weren't Moody and Dumbledore good 
friends?  How'd Dumbledore fall for it?

Maybe one mistake, maybe two in hiring teachers, after all, no one's 
perfect. But FOUR loons hired at the school in four years? Our kids 
are supposed to be SAFE at Hogwarts, not in the company of You-Know-
Who's supporters and other crazies.

And what about The Triwizard Tournament? Oh, what a disgrace to the 
Ministry.  Barty Crouch, Sr.: dead, ON the Hogwarts grounds. Barty 
Crouch, Jr.: dead, but hey, he was supposed to be in Azkaban anyways. 
This kid was able to infiltrate Hogwarts, was able to masquerade as a 
teacher and as an auror, was able to trick the Goblet of Fire into 
accepting two champions from Hogwarts, and was able to turn the 
Triwizard Cup into a Portkey?  A student DIED because of all of 
this?  

Now we look like fools in front of the whole wizarding world.

And speaking of You-Know-Who, where does this Dumbledore get off, 
scaring my kids with his stories of You-Know-Who's return?  Hogwash.  
There's no proof of that at all.  Says who, anyways?  Who, Harry 
Potter?!  Give me a break: we can't be expected to believe him - he's 
out of his mind! Haven't you been reading the Daily Prophet?  Poor 
kid. Too much trauma, manipulative girlfriends, all that. Tough luck. 
Now my kid is having nightmares about Death Eaters. 

And anyways, look at the facts: all Harry Potter is doing is re-
accusing a bunch of ex-Death Eaters who were exonerated years ago.  
So he can read his History of Magic testbook! So what! Leave them 
alone. After all, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are upstanding members 
of our community.  They make large donations to St. Mungo's.

I even heard that Dumbledore threatened the Minister of Magic himself 
after the whole debacle.  Can you believe it?

And that Harry Potter?  My kids say that Dumbledore openly favors 
him, even though he's as much of a rule breaker as his father.  Let 
the kid play for the Quidditch team as a first year! Yep. Helped them 
to win the House Cup repeatedly, with "special" headmaster points 
awarded after the whole competition was supposed to be done and over 
with.  And you know that scar?  Dumbledore KNEW the whole time that 
his scar hurts him, poor kid: he's got delusions of You-Know-Who all 
over the place, he's even had several fits in class.  This could be a 
safety issue.  A health issue.

All under Dumbledore's watch? HE'S supposed to be the great 
headmaster?

And now, now he wants us to talk to those violent giants?  Isn't it 
bad enough that he's got one on the Hogwarts staff?  

He wants to get RID of the dementors?  Who's going to secure 
Azkaban?  Who's going to keep us safe?  

He's been cavorting with that crazy Arabella Figg, with that senile 
old Mundungus Fletcher from the Ministry... didn't that Fletcher even 
try to scam the Ministry for some lost tent that he never had?  

And STILL Dumbledore's got dealings with the werewolf?

I tell you, the man is losing it in his old age. I thought I'd seen 
it all.  Sure, it's a shame.  He was a great wizard in his day.  
Defeated that Grindelwald. Ahh, too bad... everything wanes at some 
point.

All we'd need now is something to break the camel's back.  Could you 
imagine if it turned out that he's been in close contact with the 
notorius Sirius Black, an escapee from Azkaban.  Or maybe that he 
helped a violent, student-attacking hippogriff to ESCAPE?

You know what?  Maybe we shouldn't have placed so much trust in him.  
Maybe we need to get some new management at the school.  I'm not sure 
that my kids are safe there anymore.  Maybe we should contact some of 
the governors on the board and have them take action..."

-Tom