ESE!Fudge

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 113275

<snip> mhbobbin:
> 
> I agree that Fudge is a bad'un.   I think the real debate is 
whether 
> Fudge is evil because he is an incompetent and corrupt politician 
> willing to do anything to hold onto power, or if he is evil as in 
> Death Eater. I'm not yet convinced he is a DE, but his actions / 
> obstructions / attitudes are consistently helpful to DEs and 
> Voldemort.
> 
> On re-reading PoA, I was surprised to see how often Fudge 
> coincidentally shows up at strategic moments. Surprised because 
back 
> when I originally read PoA, it seemed like Fudge was a bumbling but 
> benign figure. Only towards the end of GoF, and  in OotP, does it 
> become clear that Fudge is behaving suspiciously.  In post 107368, 
I 
> detail Fudge's strategic appearances in the PoA Sirius/Pettigrew 
> saga. Without Fudge, much of what transpires in PoA would not 
happen.
> 
> mhbobbin

Mike:

I'm afraid I've placed Fudge in the DE category already. After 
reading your posts I realized there are even more situations where 
Fudge turns up or does the "perfect thing" to help LV. It wouldn't 
surprise me if Umbridge was also a DE, maybe even controlling Fudge 
or vice versa. She's definitely ruthless enough.

How many coincidences can there be before there is too many to 
overlook? Here's what I've thought of.

1. Fudge turning up all through PoA, seemingly running the whole 
Sirius-Pettigrew line. (thanks mhbobbin for that wonderul post 
detailing all the exact suspecious behavior spots for PoA)

2. Adamently refusing to believe LV has returned at the end of GoF, 
despite the fact that SOMETHING happened when Harry was taken away by 
portkey, Cedric Diggory was murdered, and a very loyal DE was 
proclaiming under vertiserum what truly happened.

3. Fudge's Dementor immediately ensures that Crouch Jr. keeps that 
story to those in Dumbledore's inner circle. It appears that he would 
have done this with Sirius too had Harry and Hermione not used the 
Time Turner...

4. Massively discrediting Harry and Dumbledore, forcing Dumbledore to 
resign his positions of power in the Ministry (Warlocks Council etc). 
Completely turing a "blind-eye" to all the things that point towards 
LV's return. (Bertha jorkins... disappeares in ALBANIA of all 
places... etc)

5. Appointing a very ruthless Umbridge to take over Hogwarts with the 
aid of his Educational Decrees. As if Umbridge wouldn't have had some 
really important Ministry work to do being Senior Undersecretary.... 
or was this more important?

6. Questionable people in higher places in the Ministry. Umbridge, 
Bagman, Imperio'd Percy?

Some other points:

-Appears to be incompetent and harmless.... kinda reminds me of 
Quirrell and Lockhart :)
-Every move he makes appears to help LV
-Most likely Umbridge is working with him

However, there is one reason that I can think of that disproves his 
being a DE. Why would Lucius Malfoy have to continually bribe him if 
he was a DE and being ordered to do this by LV?

Hopefully others can add into that.

Mike