Chapter 1 - The Other MinisterIt was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind. Q1 - What do you think of the book opening like this?He turned over the second page of the memo, saw how much longer it went on, and gave it up as a bad job. Stretching his arms above his head he looked around his office mournfully. It was a handsome room, with a fine marble fireplace facing the long sash windows, firmly closed against the unseasonable chill. With a slight shiver, the Prime Minister got up and moved over to the windows, looking out at the thin mist that was pressing itself against the glass. It was then, as he stood with his back to the room, that he heard a soft cough behind him.Q2 - Did you think Umbridge was back?It was coming – as the Prime Minister had known at the first cough – from the froglike little man wearing a long silver wig who was depicted in a small and dirty oil-painting in the far corner of the room. ‘To the Prime Minister of Muggles. Urgent we meet. Kindly respond immediately. Sincerely, Fudge.’ The man in the painting looked enquiringly at the Prime Minister.He was not remotely pleased to see 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 looking distinctly careworn. He was thinner, balder and greyer, and his face had a crumpled look. The Prime Minister had seen that kind of look in politicians before, and it never boded well.At this, the Prime Minister had found his voice at last. ‘You’re – you’re not a hoax, then?’ It had been his last, desperate hope. ‘No,’ said Fudge gently. ‘No, I’m afraid I’m not. Look.’ And he had turned the Prime Minister’s teacup into a gerbil. ‘But,’ said the Prime Minister breathlessly, watching his teacup chewing on the corner of his next speech, ‘but why – why has nobody told me –?’ ‘The Minister for Magic only reveals him or herself to the Muggle Prime Minister of the day,’ said Fudge, poking his wand back inside his jacket. ‘We find it the best way to maintain secrecy.’ ‘But then,’ bleated the Prime Minister, ‘why hasn’t a former Prime Minister warned me –?’ At this, Fudge had actually laughed. ‘My dear Prime Minister, are you ever going to tell anybody?’Q3 - Do you think the President gets a familiar visit from the US magical authorities?‘So you think that …’ he had squinted down at the name in his left hand, ‘Lord Vol—’ ‘He Who Must Not Be Named!’ snarled Fudge. ‘I’m sorry … you think that He Who Must Not Be Named is still alive, then?’ ‘Well, Dumbledore says he is,’ said Fudge, as he had fastened his pinstriped cloak under his chin, ‘but we’ve never found him. If you ask me, he’s not dangerous unless he’s got support, so it’s Black we ought to be worrying about. You’ll put out that warning, then? Excellent. Well, I hope we don’t see each other again, Prime Minister! Goodnight.’Q4 - Do you think Fudge here believes Dumbledore?Whatever the press and the opposition might say, the Prime Minister was not a foolish man. It had not escaped his notice that, despite Fudge’s assurances at their first meeting, they were now seeing rather a lot of each other, nor that Fudge was becoming more flustered with each visit. Little though he liked to think about the Minister for Magic (or, as he always called Fudge in his head, the Other Minister), the Prime Minister could not help but fear that the next time Fudge appeared it would be with graver news still. Q5 - Cool point about who the other minister is…Fudge took a great, deep breath and said, ‘Prime Minister, I am very sorry to have to tell you that he’s back. He Who Must Not Be Named is back.’ ‘Yes, alive,’ said Fudge. ‘That is – I don’t know – is a man alive if he can’t be killed? I don’t really understand it, and Dumbledore won’t explain properly – but anyway, he’s certainly got a body and is walking and talking and killing, so I suppose, for the purposes of our discussion, yes, he’s alive.’Q6 - Why won’t Dumbledore explain it, and what is he explaining?‘I thought Dementors guard the prisoners in Azkaban?’ he said cautiously. ‘They did,’ said Fudge wearily. ‘But not any more. They’ve deserted the prison and joined He Who Must Not Be Named. I won’t pretend that wasn’t a blow.’ ‘But,’ said the Prime Minister, with a sense of dawning horror, ‘didn’t you tell me they’re the creatures that drain hope and happiness out of people?’ ‘That’s right. And they’re breeding. That’s what’s causing all this mist.’Q7 - Will you ever look at mist the same way again?‘Now see here, Fudge – you’ve got to do something! It’s your responsibility as Minister for Magic!’ ‘My ...
