If you are ready, if you are prepared

This vignette isn't part of the seven part series that starts with "Why Snape never eats here" – it's just an excuse to look inside the head of Cornelius Fudge. However, if you read the series you will get a better feel for the particular version of the Potterverse in which this story is set.

Chapter 1: Cornelius Fudge

He'd hardly tasted the food at the evening feast before the Third Task began, even though it was excellent, as usual. Firstly, he really couldn't spare the time away from the office, and secondly, stumping up the thousand Galleons of prizemoney had strained the Ministry's line of credit with Gringotts to the limit. He'd sat there, exchanging the bare minimum of pleasantries with Ludo Bagman and Madame Maxime, while in his head he ran through the budget figures yet again – but there just didn't seem to be any way out of the mess.

He'd thought, with a pang, how easy it must be for the Muggle Prime Minister - he can always print up some more of that funny Muggle paper money if he runs short – and do wizards like Albus Dumbledore have any idea of the number of Galleons it takes to run St Mungo's, Hogwarts and the Ministry? The money has got to come from somewhere - thank Merlin for the generosity of certain prominent pure-blood families - and hosting the World Cup had cost a fortune! He'd had a taskforce of five hundred working on that all year, ticket sales were never going to cover the cost - and it was money thrown away after that awful business with the Dark Mark.

The Dark Mark! That photograph of the Dark Mark had been on the front page of every newspaper in the wizarding world, along with some very unflattering headlines, and the Irish had been furious. They'd dredged up all the old complaints about You-Know-Who's doings being blamed on their Irish Muggles - the IRA or whatever they called themselves – and they'd acted as if that was all his idea, just because he'd been the Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes at the time. Well, what was the Department supposed to do – they couldn't use the gas explosion story every time there was a mass Muggle-killing!

Yes, the Irish had been furious, but that had been easier to bear than the Bulgarian's false sympathy - and their outrageously inflated claims for damaged tents. Oh, the Bulgarians had pretended to be understanding, but he'd known that secretly they were gloating over his embarrassment, because there's always been a certain sympathy for You-Know-Who's ideas in parts of the Continent - Durmstrang still doesn't admit Muggle-borns – and look at who they've got for a Headmaster!

He'd mulled over it for a little while, and then he'd thought, the European Ministries are still nursing a grudge over the Grindelwald war, even though it was fifty years ago - and it wasn't our fault that the Muggles made such a mess in Europe. Grindelwald whipped the Muggles up to fight each other but it was mostly their own doing – and in Britain we didn't get off scot free, either, we had six years of hysterical Muggles swarming all over the place, poking their noses into places where they normally didn't venture, shooting at every strange noise and every strange light in the sky. And there'd been casualties, too, because the Muggles had some nasty weapons, ones that could make quite a hole in a flying carpet ...

Not to mention the refugee problem, hundreds of foreign witches and wizards turning up, usually with nothing but the robes they stood up in, and most of them not speaking a single word of English! It had been an incredible headache for the Ministry – before his time, of course, but people were still talking about it when he started his career, in the Improper Use of Magic Office, of all places - and who would have thought that a Ravenclaw from a respectable but poor family would ever rise so far?

Then he'd gone back to thinking about the budget, and he'd thought – damn Scrimgeour and his constant complaints about the cut-backs in the Auror recruitment program! Every Department has had to make economies and the Auror Office is no exception, after all we're not on a war footing any more, You-Know-Who has been gone for thirteen years and I simply can't justify the expenditure.

Thinking about Scrimgeour had really annoyed him, because the fellow is a typical bull-at-a-gate Gryffindor, he doesn't appreciate that sometimes you've got to stop and think. Bloody Scrimgeour, the ambitious bastard, he'd gone off on a frolic of his own after the debacle at the World Cup, sent a team of Aurors to search the Albanian forests yet again – and the Albanians had been, understandably, up in arms about that, which hadn't made it any easier when he'd been forced to get personally involved in the search for Bertha Jorkins. The Albanian Minister got very shirty indeed at any suggestion that You-Know-Who, notorious refugee from British justice, was hiding in his country or involved in some way in the disappearance of an English tourist.

He'd brooded over that for a minute, because the World Cup had been a tremendous blow to the prestige of the Ministry – and the blasted Triwizard Tournament is turning out to be no better, it's been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish! And then he'd been angry, he'd thought, Dumbledore himself assured me that no under-age witch or wizard would be able to compete – and Harry-bloody-Potter still managed to get his name into the Goblet of Fire!

Harry Potter ... he'd seemed a nice enough boy when he met him at the Leaky Cauldron, but he was really beginning to wonder about Harry Potter, obviously the boy has a bit of a temper – that Hover Charm, and then blowing up his aunt – and a real talent for getting into trouble, too. And while you have to read Rita Skeeter with a certain degree of scepticism – the stuff about Harry seeking power through friendships with werewolves and giants was a beat-up, Lupin was an old friend of the boy's father, and Hagrid was harmless, or if not exactly harmless, he was at least well-intentioned - there's always a grain of truth in Skeeter's stories. Usually, more than a grain of truth, Merlin knows how she gets her information - and if half the things she's written about Harry Potter are true, the boy is more than a little troubled. But Dumbledore still seems to have a soft spot for the boy, but then Harry Potter has always had special treatment, beginning from virtually the day that he started at Hogwarts – hadn't the boy been allowed to play on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a first year?

And he had to wonder about Dumbledore, he was the wizard who'd eventually stepped in and dealt with Grindelwald, the only wizard that You-Know-Who had ever feared – but Dumbledore didn't seem to have much of a handle on what was going on in his own school. That business with Quirrell, the man was one of Dumbledore's own staff! And the Basilisk, how could anyone miss a twenty foot long serpent slithering around Hogwarts, Petrifying students left, right and centre? Not to mention Sirius Black - the fellow had broken into Hogwarts twice, and then escaped from under Dumbledore's very nose!

Perhaps Dolores was right, he needed to take more of a personal interest in Hogwarts, particularly since Lucius isn't on the Board of Governors any longer – that had been a thoroughly awkward affair, and the most outrageous accusations and counter-accusations had been hurled around on all sides. True, Lucius might have acted a little hastily in getting Dumbledore suspended, but Lucius had his only son and heir to think about, the boy was at Hogwarts, and everyone knew how things stood with Narcissa, she was a very beautiful charming witch, but there were plenty of wizards who would have divorced a wife who couldn't give them sons.

Yes, the events of the past year pretty much proved that the Ministry needed to be keeping a closer eye on goings-on at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - what could Dumbledore have been thinking of, to let the Potter boy get away with yet more of his attention-seeking behaviour? And there'd been a veritable storm of owls about that, and not just from the Bulgarians and the French - Beauxbatons and Durmstrang draw their students from all over the Continent - permitting Hogwarts to enter two champions in the Tournament had been an absolutely fabulous way to antagonise half of Europe!

He'd almost groaned when he remembered the attack on Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Minister had been apoplectic, and Madam Maxime had demanded that Prior Incanto be performed on her wand – he'd been a bit quick to suspect her of involvement. Poor old Barty, looks like he started losing the plot at the World Cup - his own elf caught red-handed casting the Dark Mark! A sad, sad business, Barty's son had been a Death Eater - the poor misguided boy must have taught the spell to the elf, and when she saw the Death Eaters messing around with those Muggles she'd lost her head and cast the Dark Mark.

Normally there would have been a full inquiry by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but, well, everyone knew what had happened to Barty's son, and Barty had dismissed the elf, so was there anything to be gained from dredging up the whole tragic story?

He'd thought at the time that it was best to let sleeping dogs lie, especially when there were so many skeletons in the closet, Ludo Bagman, for example ... nobody really wants to be reminded of those days, do they? Although in hindsight he had to admit that it would actually have been better if there had been a full inquiry – it might have flushed out the fact that Barty Crouch was losing his marbles, and where has poor demented old Barty wandered off to now? At least young Percy Weasley is doing a good job of managing the day to day business of the Department of International Magical Co-operation, he's a keen young fellow, remarkably bright for a Gryffindor - twelve OWLs and even better results in his NEWTs – and, thank Merlin, the lad doesn't seem to share his father's embarrassing Muggle-mania ...

Finally, the enchanted ceiling overhead had faded from blue to a dusky purple, the feast had ended, and he'd watched the four champions head into the maze, privately hoping that either Viktor Krum or Fleur Delacour would win, and something could be salvaged from the catastrophe.

But it had been a long time before anything had happened, and when a shower of red sparks was finally seen, it had been Krum who was in difficulties - and when they went in to get Krum, Minerva McGonagall had found Miss Delacour lying Stunned, not far inside the maze.

There'd been a long, anxious wait before suddenly Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory had appeared from nowhere, clutching the Triwizard Cup, and he'd known straightaway that something was wrong, very wrong – Cedric Diggory was limp, unmoving, unconscious? He'd hurried forward, gone to help Cedric – and then he'd realised that Cedric was dead, Harry was injured – girls had started screaming, it was all very confusing, Alastor Moody had whisked Harry off to the Hospital Wing, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape had all vanished, and he was left to try and explain things as best as he could to Amos Diggory and his wife.

He had no idea at all of what had happened in the maze, Cedric's parents and Pomona Sprout were beside themselves, Ludo Bagman had completely fallen apart, Bagman was just standing around wringing his hands – and the vultures from the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter and her photographer – had come buzzing around, trying to get the story.

And now Severus Snape is whispering in his ear, saying that they've caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events, and he thinks – Karkaroff? But Snape says it's not Karkaroff, he says that it's young Barty Crouch, who's been dead for twelve years, but apparently Barty Crouch isn't dead! His father – who is dead - smuggled him out of Azkaban, and he's been impersonating Alastor Moody all year, it's some scheme to do with Harry Potter, Barty Crouch thinks he's been acting on his master's orders, and it's not quite clear what happened to Cedric Diggory but Barty Crouch is involved in some way - and now Snape wants him to come up to Alastor Moody's office, to see for himself.

He hesitates, it's a wild story, and Snape makes him feel uneasy - the way the fellow ranted and screamed when Sirius Black escaped, Snape had appeared to be positively unbalanced – and while he's been too busy to read Snape's Ministry file, he'd asked Dolores to prepare a briefing note. He'd been rather taken aback by what he'd read in that note - nasty stuff, very nasty stuff indeed - and he'd been a bit surprised that Dumbledore was prepared to keep Snape at Hogwarts after the war was over, and he ceased to be useful.

Then he decides to summon a Dementor, because if it really is Barty Crouch, junior, Crouch will be going straight back to the Dementors, pending a proper interrogation. And Crouch might be after bigger game than a fourteen year old boy, even if he is the Boy Who Lived - Black must have helped Crouch, and Black might still be hanging around, and it's alarming to think that there are two dangerous, deranged escapees from Azkaban, alarming to think that two Death Eaters have somehow managed to evade the Dementors.

So now they're walking up the marble stairs, the Dementor trailing behind them, and he can feel Snape bristling with disapproval beside him, he knows that Dumbledore will be angry, but he's the Minister for Magic, and he's entitled to appropriate protection when dealing with a fanatical supporter of You-Know-Who, a madman who refuses to accept that his master is gone, defeated ...

Snape opens the door to an office on the third floor, and he walks in, nods to Minerva, who's pointing her wand at a man bound with ropes, and he can only stare in amazement, because it's young Barty Crouch all right, it's the same pale-skinned, freckly, fair-haired boy he'd seen dragged off from Courtroom Ten by the Dementors so many years ago, but Barty Crouch is lined around the eyes now and he looks much older ... and he's giggling and muttering and rocking backwards and forwards, he's muttering something incoherent about my Master, my Master, my Master will come for me ...

He draws back in horror – and then the Dementor sweeps past him, Barty Crouch doesn't even have time to scream, and it's all over - the body is slumping back against the wall, the eyes are blank, the face is slack, and Barty Crouch is just an empty shell. Minerva starts yelling, a silver cloud explodes from her wand, and the Dementor disappears out the door in a flurry of black robes.

Minerva continues to shout about the Dementor and Barty Crouch and You-Know-Who, Snape says nothing – and while he agrees that it was a regrettable incident, Minerva is definitely over-reacting. Sirius Black will receive the Kiss when the Aurors catch up with him, the Kiss is the appropriate penalty for escape from Azkaban – and Barty Crouch, junior, has committed terrible crimes, the torture of the Longbottoms and the murder of his own father! And he, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, would like to see the Headmaster right now, and Snape has told him that Dumbledore will be up in the Hospital Wing, with Harry Potter.

As they head for the Hospital Wing, he tries to argue with Minerva, but she simply won't listen, he's wasting his breath, and Dumbledore isn't in the Hospital Wing anyway, there's only Harry Potter, Molly Weasley, a couple of her boys, and a bushy-haired girl he's seen with Harry once or twice before ...

Then the door opens, Dumbledore appears, and Minerva starts ranting about the Dementor again, ranting about how Dumbledore would never have allowed a Dementor to set foot inside the castle.

Now he's angry, Dumbledore may be the Headmaster, but this isn't a matter of school discipline, this is a criminal matter, a Ministry matter!

"My dear woman," he roars, "As Minister for Magic, it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me when interviewing a possibly dangerous -"

But Minerva's voice is drowning his. "The moment that - that thing entered the room," she screams, trembling all over, "it swooped down on Crouch and - and - "

Yes, it had been a horrible sight – and now he has the problem of what to do with the empty shell, it can hardly be sent back to Azkaban, and it would be bad taste to put it in the same ward at St Mungo's as the Longbottoms ...

"By all accounts, he is no loss!" he protests. "It seems he has been responsible for several deaths!"

"But he cannot now give testimony, Cornelius," says Dumbledore, looking at him oddly.

Testimony! From what he'd seen of Barty Crouch, muttering and giggling like a lunatic, he'd completely lost his mind and was incapable of giving testimony anyway!

"Why he killed them? Well, that's no mystery, is it?" he shouts. "He was a raving lunatic! From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have thought he was doing it all on You-Know-Who's instructions!"

"Lord Voldemort was giving him instructions, Cornelius," says Dumbledore. "Those people's deaths were mere by-products of a plan to restore Voldemort to full strength again. The plan succeeded. Voldemort has been restored to his body."

He blinks, why is Dumbledore saying ludicrous, disturbing things like this? And why does Dumbledore have to use Lord ... Thingy's ... name? He must know how it upsets people!

"You-Know-Who ... returned?" he splutters. "Preposterous. Come now, Dumbledore."

"As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you," says Dumbledore. "We heard Barty Crouch confess. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort - learning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins - went to free him from his father, and used him to capture Harry. The plan worked, I tell you. Crouch has helped Voldemort to return."

He thinks, Dumbledore is still banging on about Bertha Jorkins, he still thinks there's some connection between Jorkins and the Crouches, he's really got a bee in his bonnet about that! Obviously, Barty Crouch was smuggled out of Azkaban, I don't doubt that part of the story, but as for the rest of it ... the Barty Crouch I saw tonight couldn't string two words together!

"See here, Dumbledore," he can't help smiling. "You - you can't seriously believe that. You-Know-Who - back? Come now, come now ... certainly, Crouch may have believed himself to be acting upon You-Know-Who's orders - but to take the word of a lunatic like that, Dumbledore ..."

"When Harry touched the Triwizard Cup tonight, he was transported straight to Voldemort," says Dumbledore steadily. "He witnessed Lord Voldemort's rebirth. I will explain it all if you will step up to my office."

He looks questioningly at Harry, but Dumbledore glances around at Harry and shakes his head. "I am afraid I cannot permit you to question Harry tonight."

His smile lingers - so this is where the notion that Voldemort has returned is coming from, and who knows what happened to Harry Potter in the maze tonight? Something disturbing, because Cedric is dead and it seems that Harry might have witnessed it, the way he was clinging to the body, and muttering something about bringing Cedric back – and it might have been the last straw, the thing that's pushed young Harry over the edge ...

He glances at Harry, looks back at Dumbledore, and says, "You are – er - prepared to take Harry's word on this are you, Dumbledore?"

There's a moment's silence, broken by the growling of a big black dog crouched by Harry's bed - and what is a dog doing in a hospital ward? He's heard that Dumbledore indulges the boy but this is ridiculous - Harry is permitted to have his pets with him even in the Hospital Wing!

"Certainly I believe Harry," says Dumbledore, and now he's looking furious. "I heard Crouch's confession, and I heard Harry's account of what happened after he touched the Triwizard Cup; the two stories make sense, they explain everything that has happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer."

He thinks, Dumbledore is obsessed by Jorkins! He can't have ever known her well, I hate to be unkind but she was both lazy and stupid – and I wish now that I'd sacked her, instead of letting her be shunted around from Department to Department. I expect she ended up inside an Albanian werewolf, and no loss to the Ministry, either!

He glances at Harry again and steels himself to use the name ...

"You are prepared to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, on the word of a lunatic murderer, and a boy who ... well ..."

He can't help himself from looking at Harry again, but he'd prefer to avoid actually having to say what he's thinking in front of the poor disturbed boy.

Harry suddenly speaks up, "You've been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr Fudge."

His face reddens slightly – yes, he has, and it's outrageous that the Minister for Magic has to glean important facts from newspaper articles! Why didn't Dumbledore tell him that the boy was a Parselmouth! That had been a very disturbing piece of information - not to mention the fits, which seem to be getting worse, because Percy Weasley had said, flatly, that he'd never witnessed one, and he'd had Potter in his home as a house guest.

"And if I have?" he says, looking at Dumbledore. "If I have discovered that you've been keeping certain facts about the boy very quiet? A Parselmouth, eh? And having funny turns all over the place?"

"I assume you are referring to the pains Harry has been experiencing in his scar?" says Dumbledore, coolly.

Ah, he thinks, now we're getting somewhere, Dumbledore is admitting that Harry Potter does have funny pains – real or imaginary – in his scar, and maybe the best thing is to transfer the boy to St Mungo's and have the experts check him out ...

"You admit that he's been having these pains, then?" he says, quickly. "Headaches? Nightmares? Possibly – hallucinations?"

"Listen to me, Cornelius," says Dumbledore, taking a step towards him. "Harry is as sane as you or I. That scar upon his forehead has not addled his brains. I believe it hurts him when Voldemort is close by, or feeling particularly murderous."

He takes half a step backwards, there's something menacing in Dumbledore's manner, but he's not going to allow himself to be bullied. Dumbledore is a great wizard, but he's not a qualified Healer ...

"You'll forgive me, Dumbledore," he says stubbornly. "But I've never heard of a curse scar acting as an alarm bell before ..."

Harry starts shouting, "Look, I saw Voldemort come back!"

He tries to get out of the bed, Molly Weasley forces him back, but the boy keeps shouting, "I saw the Death Eaters! I can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy - "

Now he's offended, because this is getting nasty, he can make allowances for young Potter, clearly he's had some kind of traumatic experience tonight, but this is going too far! And does the boy have any idea what he's saying? Lucius was cleared by a full hearing of the Wizengamot – and the Malfoys are such a distinguished, wealthy, generous family!

"Malfoy was cleared," he says. "A very old family - donations to excellent causes - "

"Macnair!" continues Harry.

"Also cleared! Now working for the Ministry!" he shouts.

"Avery – Nott - Crabbe - Goyle -"

Now he's more than offended, he's furious – the boy may not understand the seriousness of what he is saying, but it's got to stop, he can't be allowed to continue to repeat these dreadful slanders! And where has Potter got the information – from the old copies of the Daily Prophet they keep in the Hogwarts library? Potter must have started digging around when Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban – and hadn't he been babbling some crazy story about Black being innocent and Pettigrew faking his own death? Sweet Merlin, he should have been shipped off to St Mungo's then!

"You are merely repeating the names of those who were acquitted of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago!" he says angrily. "You could have found those names in old reports of the trials! For heaven's sake, Dumbledore - the boy was full of some crackpot story at the end of last year, too - his tales are getting taller, and you're still swallowing them - the boy can talk to snakes, Dumbledore, and you still think he's trustworthy?"

And now Minerva is buying into the argument, shouting, "You fool! Cedric Diggory! Mr Crouch! These deaths were not the random work of a lunatic!"

He thinks, Minerva has always been very close to Dumbledore, one has to wonder sometimes about what goes on between them, but what is this – a folie a deux?

"I see no evidence to the contrary!" he shouts, really angry, and knowing that his face is turning that unattractive purple colour. "It seems to me that you are all determined to start a panic that will destabilise everything we have worked for these last thirteen years!"

"Voldemort has returned," repeats Dumbledore. "If you accept that fact straight away, Fudge, and take the necessary measures, we may still be able to save the situation. The first and most essential step is to remove Azkaban from the control of the Dementors - "

He can't believe what he's hearing, because even without wands the likes of Bellatrix Lestrange are not to be trifled with, only the Dementors can keep that kind of maniac under control - and what would the wizarding community think of such madness?

"Preposterous!" he shouts. "Remove the Dementors! I'd be kicked out of office for suggesting it! Half of us only feel safe in our beds at night because we know the Dementors are standing guard at Azkaban!"

"The rest of us sleep less soundly in our beds, Cornelius, knowing that you have put Lord Voldemort's most dangerous supporters in the care of creatures who will join him the instant that he asks them!" says Dumbledore. "They will not remain loyal to you, Fudge! Voldemort can offer them much more scope for their powers and their pleasures than you can! With the Dementors behind him, and his old supporters returned to him, you will be hard pressed to stop him regaining the sort of power he had thirteen years ago!"

His mouth is opening and closing, how can Dumbledore doubt the loyalty of the Dementors? They didn't join You-Know-Who in the war, they'd stayed loyal to the Ministry! And now he's starting to doubt Potter's story that the Dementors had attacked him at the end of last year ...

"The second step you must take – and at once," Dumbledore is pressing on, "is to send envoys to the giants."

WHAT! The giants! They'd caused mayhem in the war – You-Know-Who always used them when he was going for the grand effect, and the Aurors had hunted them out of Britain after the war, killed most of them ...

"Envoys to the giants?" he shrieks, "What madness is this?"

"Extend them the hand of friendship, now, before it is too late," says Dumbledore. "Or Voldemort will persuade them, as he did before, that he alone amongst wizards will give then their rights and their freedom!"

Rights? Freedom? For non-human brutes like the giants? And if he did anything like that, he'd be handing the Ministry to Scrimgeour on a plate! Scrimgeour is ambitious, no doubt about that, and his aspirations go a good deal higher than Amelia Bones' job – hell's bells, if people got wind of the idea that he'd even considered approaching the giants, Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Office, a wizard who had personally put down a number of giants, would be Minister for Magic before you could say Wingardium Leviosa!

"You - you cannot be serious!" he gasps, shaking his head and retreating from Dumbledore. "If the magical community got wind that I had approached the giants - people hate them, Dumbledore - end of my career!"

"You are blinded," says Dumbledore, his voice rising now, and the aura of menace around him palpable, "by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognise that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Your Dementor has just destroyed the last remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any – and see what that man chose to make of his life! I tell you now – take the steps that I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers for Magic we have ever known. Fail to act – and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside, and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!"

Now he's both frightened and bewildered, because Dumbledore is threatening him - and accusing him of pure-blood prejudice, accusing him of sharing You-Know-Who's vicious ideas! And that's nonsense, because in his Ministry Muggle-borns aren't favoured, but they're given a fair chance, a fair chance of advancement if they have the ability ...

"Insane," he whispers, backing away. "Mad ..."

And now Dumbledore is saying really alarming things, saying something about a parting of the ways, saying that he, Dumbledore, shall act as he sees fit.

But he rallies, finds his courage – and remembers that Dumbledore had his chance to be Minister for Magic when Millicent Bagnold retired, Dumbledore hadn't wanted the position – and it isn't fair that Dumbledore should interfere with his decisions, when he's never meddled in Hogwarts affairs, never used the Ministry's plenary powers over the school ...

He bristles, waves a finger, reminds Dumbledore that he's always given him free rein, but he can't tolerate insubordination, he can't tolerate people working against him.

Dumbledore says that the only person who he intends to work against is You-Know-Who, and it's a bit hard to argue against that ...

He rocks backwards and forwards, spinning his bowler hat in his hands, because he doesn't want to fall out with Dumbledore, not really, not over this ... the man is, after all, a legend, a household name - he's on the Chocolate Frog Cards!

He pleads with Dumbledore to be sensible, to give up this insane, distressing insistence that You-Know-Who is back ... please, can't Dumbledore just let things go back to the way they were?

And then Snape – Snape, who he's almost forgotten, because Snape has been keeping his mouth shut and keeping out of the way, standing back behind Dumbledore - strides forward, pulls up the left sleeve of his robes, sticks out his forearm, and shows him the vile, repellent mark on his arm – and he knows what it is, even though he's never actually seen it before.

He recoils, he's disgusted, revolted, and he's thinking – this place is a madhouse!

Snape is saying something, but he's not taking in a word – because Dumbledore, his Deputy Headmistress and his Potions Master have, quite clearly, all taken leave of their senses, and he just wants to get out of the place, to get out of Hogwarts and back to the Ministry, back to his own staff - to normal people, people who are both loyal and sane.