Hogwarts: My Grandmother is the Queen

"What's wrong, Sir Humphrey?" Henry noticed Humphrey and Bernard's expressions and asked curiously.

"Oh, I was just thinking of a rather interesting possibility." Humphrey smiled slightly. "As far as I know, this Mr. Fudge seems to have been promoted by Headmaster Dumbledore."

Huck's teacup stopped in mid-air. He looked at Humphrey, then at Elizabeth, and finally his gaze settled on Henry.

"Support?" he repeated. "You mean... Dumbledore chose Fudge as Minister of Magic?"

"Oh, that's my fault for not using the right words," Humphrey said with a smile. "To be precise, it was Dumbledore who gave him the position."

"Before becoming Minister for Magic, Mr. Fudge served as Deputy Director of the Department of Magical Accidents and Disasters," he continued. "According to Sir Arnold's records, it was a department responsible for handling magical accidents, disaster responses, and cleanup. Not the most central authority, but very important—especially in certain special circumstances."

He paused.

"For example, October 31, 1981."

Henry frowned. "1981? That's not..."

“Yes, Your Highness,” Humphrey said. “That year, your classmate’s parents, the Potters, were murdered, and Mr. Fudge was one of the first Ministry of Magic officials to arrive at the scene. After some events, he became one of the three candidates. The first candidate, Barty Crouch, was forced to withdraw from the race for Minister for some reason, and the second candidate, Dumbledore, had no interest in the position, so it was Mr. Fudge’s turn.”

"It sounds a lot like how a prime minister rises to power, haha." Bernard chuckled from the side, then realized he had said the wrong thing and quickly shut up.

Okay, okay, a new quitting tip every day, right?

You're something else, Bernard.

Henry spoke up promptly, drawing Harker's killer gaze back: "Sir Humphrey, when Mr. Fudge first took office, did he often consult Professor Dumbledore?"

Humphrey was somewhat surprised.

"How did Your Highness know?"

"Just a guess," Henry said. "A minister who came up from the accident investigation department and suddenly has to manage the entire wizarding world must need someone to guide him, and Professor Dumbledore is the most suitable candidate."

"Your Highness is quite right." Humphrey nodded. "According to what the Cabinet knows, in the early days of Mr. Fudge's administration, he frequently sought advice from Mr. Dumbledore through owls, relying heavily on the latter's wisdom to manage the wizarding world. It could be said that during that period, Mr. Dumbledore was his mentor."

"A spiritual mentor," Hack pondered the word. "And now?"

Humphrey remained silent for a moment.

Then he said, "That's the problem, Prime Minister."

Henry looked at Humphrey, waiting for him to continue.

Humphrey put down his teacup, crossed his hands on his knees, and presented an attitude as if he were delivering an important report at a cabinet meeting.

"Your Highness, Prime Minister," he said, "have you ever considered how someone who has become chronically dependent on another person will ultimately view that person?"

Huck frowned. "Grateful?"

"Yes, gratitude," Humphrey said with a smile. "Remember what I mentioned to you about the former prime minister's memoir? So-called gratitude is nothing more than a fervent expectation of future favors. It's an extremely fragile emotion; it gets worn down by time, diluted by habit, and corroded by self-doubt."

"When someone becomes dependent on another person for a long time, they will gradually develop a subtle unease. They will quietly ask themselves in the dead of night: Do I really have the ability? Is my position due to myself or because of him? If I leave him, can I still stand on my own two feet?"

Hack nodded thoughtfully.

"So you mean, Fudge's feelings for Dumbledore are changing from gratitude to..."

"Suspicion," Humphrey said for him, "not of the present, but of the future... or rather, it's beginning to fester."

“Yes, he’ll start to wonder if Dumbledore is too influential,” Henry said slowly. “Does everyone listen to Dumbledore more than him? Is he just a puppet supported by Dumbledore?”

Humphrey's eyes lit up.

"Your Highness is absolutely right," he said. "And there's one more thing."

"What?" Henry asked.

"Mr. Fudge knew Voldemort's horror better than anyone else because he had witnessed the destruction he had caused," Humphrey said. "But Dumbledore wasn't afraid of Voldemort. Dumbledore had defeated him and was both his only protector and his greatest threat—this contradiction would slowly fester in his heart."

"That's the paradox of power," Harker followed up. "You need people to support you to secure your position. But once you're in that position, those who support you become your biggest threat. Because you never know if they support you as a person or the position itself. And you never know what will happen if one day they want to replace you in that position."

Humphrey turned around and looked at Huck with the eyes of an old father.

“But,” Henry looked up, “Professor Dumbledore doesn’t care what Mr. Fudge thinks. He doesn’t care about the position, the power, or whether others listen to him; he cares about what he wants to protect.”

Hack frowned: "Protect what?"

Henry thought for a moment.

“Everything,” he said. “Hogwarts, the students, that magical world. He doesn’t need Fudge to listen to him, because he has other ways to protect those things. Fudge’s suspicions or estrangement have no effect on him.”

Humphrey cleared his throat.

"Your Highness," he said, "what you just said reminded me of the last words Sir Arnold said to me before he retired."

"What did you say?" Henry asked.

Humphrey looked at him and slowly began, “He said, ‘In the game of thrones, the most dangerous people are not those who want power, but those who don’t care about power, because you can never guess what they’ll do next.’ Clearly, your headmaster is one of those people.”

"So what you mean is?" Henry asked directly.

Humphrey smiled and said, "Sir Arnold asked me for some information about the wizarding world in recent years the other day. We both believe that Mr. Fudge will definitely turn against Professor Dumbledore at some point, and he will seize everything he can, such as Your Highness."

Henry wasn't surprised. He did know that Dumbledore and Fudge would eventually clash, and he also expected that the shrewd people in Whitehall would be able to predict this.

After all, these shrewd people's political acumen far surpasses that of Fudge.

"What you mean, sir, is that I should do something?" he asked with a smile.

(I never expected that I'd end up putting that Andrew's milk in the orange.)