Nagging Wife is still gagged, and Grandfather Clock is still out of time. Sweet Candy is a go.
Thank you for the Candy provided; hopefully it will prove to be as tasty as you say.
From
The Doctor
...
His lips curled in amusement at the encoded message and the odd code names contained within. Despite the seriousness of the message and the warning within, he found the code names rather entertaining, and did especially like his own code name, 'Royal Turkey Cooker.'
All of this wasn't strictly necessary with the encoded keys he had used, but his agent really did love the game of shadows too much. Nevertheless, he understood its contents easily enough after so many years of playing shadowy games of power in magical Britain.
'He'll probably write a book about this someday,' he mused to himself as he moved to burn the letter and vanish the ashes. Nevertheless, he would have to contact his people in the Ministry and the Aurors so he could check on what 'Mummer Bear' was up to.
Madam Bones was a stubborn thorn in his side, one that he had been trying to get rid of for years through several different plots, but all had been unsuccessful. However, he and his allies had been highly effective at defanging her department over the years, slowly picking away at its effectiveness with a coordinated series of political moves.
His first and successful method of attack was to push through numerous tax reductions country-wide, forcing the Ministry to cut the department's budget after the war was over. This prevented the department's further growth under the justification that the Ministry's funds were limited and what was available was better spent rebuilding the national infrastructure after the war.
This was actually something his foe Dumbledore was forced into supporting; otherwise, he would quickly lose face among his close supporters and allies and, most importantly, the support of the short-sighted public.
Then there was also the need to pay off their national loans to the goblins, ones the Ministry was grudgingly forced to take on during the war due to his master's actions. This resulted in the Ministry's annual budget being cut to one third of its pre-civil war levels, helping to cripple the Ministry's effectiveness even further.
Thanks to his personal connections with the two recent ministers, mostly due to his money being directed into their election campaigns, he was able to subtly and gently direct the Ministry's limited resources even further away from Law Enforcement to other departments in the Ministry.
These other departments were ones that were directed and controlled by people far more amenable to persuasion than Madam Bones had ever been, or were outright controlled by his own allies and former comrades in the Death Eaters.
All this strengthened his own influence and control over magical Britain's government and brought powerful protections, as he was the Minister's closest friend and unofficial adviser. Then there was the added effect that, with a significantly reduced budget, the DMLE was forced to cut its basic starting wages, thus decreasing its appeal as a possible career path. This in turn discouraged the more talented witches and wizards from joining, decreasing the overall quality of the average auror amongst their ranks.
Finally, even though he had been steadily working against the DMLE, ironically enough, thanks to his Ministry connections and some well-placed bribes, extortion, and murder, he had won the exclusive right, through a magically binding contract no less, to supply the department with its dragon hide armour needs.
Under his control, the price quickly rose in the following years to 250% above the market price, but the department was still forced to buy under the terms of the contract! He was particularly proud of how that scheme continued to pay off so handsomely.
On the one hand, he was working hard to defang the department, yet he was still profiting handsomely from their death throes. It was delightful!
He was tempted, once again, to raise the price of the dragon hide in retaliation for Bones' scheming against him, but he would have to once again engineer a dragon pox plague amongst the dragon herd to somewhat justify it, which would require too much effort right now, causing him to dismiss the idea. Despite the setback with the Chamber of Secrets and the removal of the Weasley girl from Hogwarts, he felt confident that his plans would be successful in the end.
After all, the Chamber of Secrets was nothing more than an opening move in a grand plan, something designed to distract the Chief Warlock and draw his attention away from much more important matters. And now that the aged wizard was reassured that the Chamber was secure and no longer an immediate threat, his guard would be lowered, allowing for his main plan to be executed with the help of his agent.
It also had another more subtle purpose, one of helping to identify the aged wizard's agents within his own circle of influence. He knew Severus was stuck right in the middle of them and could be trusted to a point, so long as the oaths he had taken a decade earlier to win Dumbledore's trust weren't overly challenged.
Of course, the easy way around that was to simply not tell the man, even if it left him bitter and a bit resentful. To Severus' credit, he did take his responsibilities to Draco extremely seriously, and that was the main reason why he was one of Draco's possible guardians if anything should happen to him and his wife.
And with Severus being Draco's guardian, it meant that should anything happen to him, Draco would be protected from his own enemies indirectly through Severus' protection obtained by serving the Headmaster.
After all, he wasn't known as the cunning fox for nothing.
...
( Swansong Rooms )
Looking around at his group of friends and allies, he began the meeting. "All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have our agreed-upon revision timetable set up; we'll begin using it at the start of next week," Harry expressed proudly to the group as a whole, since it had been mightily challenging to arrange it so that all of them could attend. "Hopefully, the five of us can take the top spots this year."
"Yup, it would be awfully nice to one-up the high and mighty Granger," Tracy voiced eagerly, as the other two Slytherins mumbled their own agreement.
"Her head's getting a bit too big for my taste," Blaise added, his anti-muggleborn prejudice starting to shine through. "I still can't believe she had the gall to attempt to brew Polyjuice Potion. What arrogance!" he proclaimed, as Tracy actively ignored him.
He chose to keep quiet, rather than joining in with the Granger-bashing. He honestly expected that they felt the same about him at times; he thought Blaise certainly did.
After all, Slytherins in general were known for their jealousy. But, unlike Miss Granger, he wasn't openly showing off in front of the class, instead always walking the fine balancing act between answering a question correctly and showing off.
He chose the more prudent option of 'showing off' his knowledge and in-depth understanding of magic in his homework assignments, or in private discussions with his professors after the lesson had ended and the other students had left the room. Plus, he always offered his friends assistance if and when they asked him for it, rather than shoving it down their throats when they were embarrassed.
Truthfully, he was relatively certain that the five of them would take the top spots in at least DADA. With both his advanced knowledge in the subject offered to the group and his cousin Tonks assisting them in their practical revision for the subject, they were a shoe-in.
Furthermore, he privately hoped that Luna would be successful in her end-of-year exams, considering the amount of time and energy he had put into grooming her. So much time, in fact, that he expected her to get first place in her yearly exams, which would increase his own prestige within Ravenclaw House and give him some bragging rights and capital to spend with their Head of House.
Plus, it would force both her year-mates and Ravenclaw House as a whole to acknowledge her, rather than treat her like a freak worthy of only mean-spirited pranks. And if they didn't, and instead chose to target her more due to her academic success, out of petty jealousy, well, it would further drive her into his influence, into his arms.
...
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