— CHAPTER ONE —
The Other Minister
It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting
alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping
8 HARRY POTTER
before. He turned, very slowly, to face the empty room.
‘Hello?’ he said, trying to sound braver than he felt.
responded at once, a crisp, decisive voice that sounded as
 THE OTHER MINISTER 9
though it were reading a prepared statement. It was coming –
as the Prime Minister had known at the first cough – from
The Prime Minister could not honestly return this compliment, so said nothing at all. He was not remotely pleased to see
10 HARRY POTTER
Fudge, whose occasional appearances, apart from being downright alarming in themselves, generally meant that he was
about to hear some very bad news. Furthermore, Fudge was
Minister. He remembered it as though it were yesterday and
knew it would haunt him until his dying day. 
 THE OTHER MINISTER 11
He had been standing alone in this very office, savouring
And with that, the two wizards stepped one after the other
into the bright green fire and vanished. 
— CHAPTER TWO —
Spinner’s End
Many miles away the chilly mist that had pressed against
The second woman caught the first and seized her arm, but
seemed to shine in the darkness; the long blonde hair
28 HARRY POTTER
streaming down her back gave her the look of a drowned
person.
others and bound itself thickly around their clasped hands,
like a rope, like a fiery snake. 
— CHAPTER THREE —
Will and Won’t
Harry Potter was snoring loudly. He had been sitting
in a chair beside his bedroom window for the best part
Not Be Named was sighted once more.
‘We’re not allowed to talk about it, don’t ask me anything,’
 WILL AND WON’T 43
said one agitated Obliviator, who refused to give his name as
he left the Ministry last night.
Nevertheless, highly placed sources within the Ministry
A second newspaper lay beside the first. This one bore the
headline:
SCRIMGEOUR SUCCEEDS FUDGE
Most of this front page was taken up with a large black-andwhite picture of a man with a lionlike mane of thick hair and
5 miles’. The
44 HARRY POTTER
largely been greeted with enthusiasm by the wizarding community, though rumours of a rift between the new Minister
