Chapter 136 - You're Fired

Amelia Bones looked at the memory for the 10th time and let out a tired sigh before a knock was suddenly heard on her door.

"Come in." She said and the door opened to reveal four aurors. Rufus Scrimgeour, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymhpadora Tonks and last but not the least the reason behind his latest headache, John Dawlish himself.

She restrained the urge to strangle the corrupt auror that was giving such a bad name to their whole office and gave a nod to Rufus who returned it with a curt nod of his own before entering the room with hasty steps.

He sat on the seat across her while the other three aurors remained standing behind him. Though the fact that Kingsley and Tonks were standing a step behind John in order to always keep him in their sight was not missed by her.

"Amelia. We need to deal with this situation as soon as possible." Rufus stated, not mincing his words in the least.

"Deal with what situation exactly. The situation in which our reputation now lies in ruins. The situation in which one of our aurors follows the ministers orders like a loyal ŀȧpdog. Or the situation in which there's mob standing outside the ministry and demanding John Dawlish's head."

"Auror John Dawlish." He reminded her.

"Not anymore." She replied and passed him the parchment which stated that John was now effectively being removed from the Auror department.

But because of the low number of aurors in her department and the fact that they had so little funding and couldn't afford to lose any more manpower, she had made the critical mistake of giving him a rather light punishment.

A decision which she was now regretting wholeheartedly.

Rufus looked at the preachment and grimaced "If we remove an auror from our department on the words of a boy then we'll look weak."

"That boy… is none other than Harry Potter. Who is at this point one of the richest self made teenager and the President of the largest company in Magical Britain. And John Dawlish went and threatened to blow his brains for no reason in the middle of the street. Then he had the gall to lie to my face when I asked him to report the situation." She snarled "I don't care whether we look weak or not, I'll not have an Auror like him in the auror department a moment longer. This decision is something I should have made the moment I saw Harry Potter's memories. It was my decision to give him the light punishment and keep him in the auror force regardless of his misdeeds."

"I'll now correct that mistake while I'll accept all the repercussions that come with it."

"What are you talking about?" Rufus asked with a slight frown on his hard face.

"I'll be effectively be stepping down from my post as the Head of the DMLE." She said and Kingsley and Tonks instantly started protesting her decision.

"I'll not be swayed in this matter Kingsley, Tonks." She said as she looked at two of the best aurors in the department. "So please don't try."

"But maam. You cannot leave us like his." Tonks said with a pout and Amelia almost smiled at her childish behaviour. Almost.

But she had to maintain her stern facade so she threw a blank stare at her until she started fidgeting before she said "No Tonks. I made a mistake and now I need to pay for it."

"If I may Madam Bones?" Kingsley said after a short silence and she gave him a nod, already knowing that he would try to think of a logical way to make her stay regardless of her mistake.

He had always been one of the most calm headed and logical auror which was why he was so valuable.

"If you leave your post now then that would not help the situation. In fact, that would make the situation even worse." He said with a grim expression and she rose an eyebrow at his statement.

"Continue." She said.

"Harry Potter had already told the public that the Minister of Magic has already cut down the funding of the Auror department by a huge amount. And he has already claimed that you did what you did because you were desperate to hold onto the last few aurors serving the ministry which is true." He said "So if you leave your post at this crucial moment then the public most likely think that you're being made a scapegoat by the Minister and are being forced to abdicate your position which would not go down well with them at all."

"So I don't think that leaving your post right now is a good decision at the moment." He concluded "And if you still think that you need to atone for your mistake then just keep doing your job as you've been doing for the past few years. That's all we could ask of you."

Amelia thought about his words for a long moment before realizing that his words indeed made sense.

So she gave a nod and said "Very well then Kingsley. You've persuaded me to stay so I won't be leaving my post. By John Dawlish still needs to go and I want the news to be published in the front page in tomorrow morning Daily Prophet Edition."

"But madam Bo…" Dawlish started but she stopped him with a glare.

"No more excuses from you Dawlish. I may have never found a concrete evidence but it was a open secret in the department that you were in the minister's pocket ever since you were ȧssigned as his personal bodyguard. The made you bold and you made a lot of mistakes which I ignored. But now you've crossed the line and I cannot ignore this any longer."

"You're fired."

—————

Cornelius fidgeted in his seat Dolores Umbridge brought any evidence that could even remotely connect him to the disgraced auror John Dawlish.

He had always considered that man a fool which was why he had also been so easily roped in to become his grunt.

But that foolishness along with the power that he got from having a minister on his back made the man even more reckless.

That fool should have realized that even having a minister in your back doesn't mean that you'll be able to get away with doing anything.

Being the minister himself, he knew that fact better than anyone else. Which was also why he usually kept his head low and only showed himself to the public when he needed to take credit or give rewards to other people.

Such positive actions made sure that PR always remained on the positive side. Something that he always strived for,

And because of that, he had decided to meet with Harry Potter to make his acquaintance once he realized how highly influential the boy was becoming.

After all, the boy may have been a genius but he was not an omnipotent being.

Which was why he had sent John Dawlish to invite the boy.

But the foolish auror had somehow learned that the boy had werewolves working in his company and had taken his order the wrong way. Thinking that he needed to subjugate and bring the boy to the ministry cells no matter what.

The sad thing was that even after that huge blunder John Dawlish had made in Diagon Alley, he would still have been able to hide this incident under the rug.

Amelia knew that Dawlish worked under him and would not knowingly take action against the Auror in fear that he would lower the funds sent to sustain their auror force even more.

As for the Daily Prophet, he had good relations with the editor in that newspaper an a few backroom deals would have made sure that the incident never made it to the public.

But now, this happened.

He had to admit that the boy was a true genius to be able to use the Magical Phones in such way.

But because of the blunder made by the foolish auror, now it would be even harder for him to create friendly relations with the boy-who-lived.

He was very good at such things.

But first, he needed to find every evidence that connected him with the Auror and erase that evidence. Then he would have to go out in the public and discredit the fool to make sure that the public understood that he had no hands in this incident even though he was mentioned a few times in the memory sent to everyone.

And if the boy refused to come to his side, then he would have to find some way to destroy his reputation.

After all, with the invention of the Magical Phones and him having 100% shares in the Magical Goods company made sure that the boy would only become even more influential in the future.

He the boy would either join him or he would be destroyed.

There would be no middle ground.

Author's Note:- Once again Conelius burns some bridges in order to save his own hide while looked self-righteous while doing so.

I don't know much about politicians but I guess this is what happens in real life as well.

And if you like my work and have a bit of change to spare then please consider supporting me at- pat.reon.com/ankit1

Have a nice day :)