Fudge swallowed.
No matter how foolish he might be, even he understood by now that Eric had come prepared tonight.
The boy had been aiming at him from the beginning.
And anyone capable of becoming Minister for Magic could hardly be a complete idiot.
If he had any choice, Fudge wouldn’t have engaged with Eric’s proposal at all.
But the bargaining chip Eric had placed on the table was simply too important.
Even if there were only the slightest chance that Eric was telling the truth, Fudge was willing to gamble on it.
There was only one reason Sirius Black held such enormous value.
He was simply too significant.
In terms of status, Sirius Black had been one of the backbone members of the Order of the Phoenix during the war.
After his betrayal, he had become widely regarded as one of Voldemort’s foremost lieutenants.
Of the other Dark wizards who had served Voldemort at the time, some were dead and others had fled.
Those with more seniority than Black weren’t as formidable as he was.
Those stronger than Black were already dead.
Which meant that in the eyes of the public, Sirius Black was now practically the second most important Death Eater still alive.
The only person of comparable standing was probably Snape, currently teaching Potions at Hogwarts.
But Snape was different.
Dumbledore himself had vouched for him.
According to the accepted story, Snape had endured humiliation and hardship to infiltrate the Death Eaters as a spy.
He was nothing like a traitor such as Black.
More importantly, Black himself was also an extremely powerful wizard.
He had supposedly destroyed an entire street with a single curse.
And that wasn’t a little disturbance like Eric’s incident at Flourish and Blotts.
The street had quite literally been blown apart by magic, with more than a dozen people killed in the process.
A vicious Death Eater like that represented an enormous threat to society.
Whoever captured him would gain an immense amount of prestige.
And for Ministry officials, it would also provide an excellent opportunity to reshuffle the balance of power.
In truth, Fudge’s grip over the Ministry was not particularly strong.
He had become Minister partly because of the election, but more importantly because he had received Dumbledore’s support.
Among the candidates for Minister at the time, Fudge had been the one most willing to follow Dumbledore’s lead, displaying a remarkable talent for staying firmly on the old wizard’s good side.
Even Fudge’s relatively smooth political rise had been inseparable from Dumbledore’s influence from the very beginning.
And precisely because of that, there weren’t many people inside the Ministry whom Fudge could genuinely regard as his own.
Most of those he could rely upon had some connection to Dumbledore as well.
The heads of the various departments frequently opposed him.
Especially Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Office.
Within the Ministry, it was widely believed that Scrimgeour would become the next Minister once Fudge left office.
If Fudge wanted another term, Scrimgeour would be his most direct rival.
The reason Fudge later chose Umbridge as one of his closest subordinates and sent her to Hogwarts as a professor wasn’t so much because Umbridge knew how to flatter him.
It was because Fudge simply didn’t have anyone better.
Did he really not know what sort of person Umbridge was?
Of course he did.
He simply had to choose the tallest among a group of dwarfs.
The other people he could trust were somehow even worse than Umbridge.
If Fudge could personally take credit for capturing Sirius Black, it would be nothing short of a shot in the arm.
It could dramatically improve his current situation, where his words often carried far less weight inside the Ministry than the Minister himself would have liked.
At the same time, Fudge understood perfectly well that Eric wasn’t offering him such an enormous achievement out of simple generosity.
If Eric was willing to hand him something this valuable for no apparent reason, then the only explanation was that Eric wanted something even greater in return.
But…
What if?
What if Eric really was that miraculous pie falling straight out of the sky?
And judging by the calm, almost effortless expression on Eric’s face, the boy genuinely seemed serious.
Fudge did his best to conceal his dislike of Eric’s attitude and sat back down.
“How can you prove that what you’re saying is true?” Eric gave a soft chuckle.
“Minister, please don’t treat me like a child.” “If I proved the source of my information to you, that would be equivalent to revealing everything I know.
There are far too many kinds of magic that could allow you to trace what I told you straight back to Black.” “Something like that can’t possibly be revealed in advance.” “Not even a little.
You have only two choices.
Accept my terms, or refuse them.” Eric paused.
“Of course, I’m willing to give you time to consider.
Or rather, the waiting itself will serve as the only proof I’m prepared to offer.” “What do you mean?” Fudge didn’t understand.
He stared intently at Eric’s face, trying to discover some clue that the boy belonged to a particular organisation, or perhaps some trace that his appearance had been altered with Polyjuice Potion.
He found nothing.
Eric spoke calmly, “You won’t capture Black before Halloween.” Fudge’s eyes widened.
“Do you even understand what you’re saying?” “Halloween?
You’re dreaming!” “You mean that if I want information about Black from you, I’m supposed to obediently wait for several months?” “Yes,” Eric replied with a smile.
“Ha!” Fudge actually laughed from sheer anger.
“You’re completely mad.” “Black may have been lucky enough to escape Azkaban, but he has absolutely no chance of surviving out there for long.” “Starting tomorrow, everyone will see the news of his escape in the papers.
No one will dare provide him with assistance, and he doesn’t even have a wand.” “The measures being taken against him are unprecedented.” “We’ll deploy every Auror we have.
We’ll issue wanted notices.
We may even circulate Black’s face among the Muggles.” “We could even deploy Dementors.
They absolutely despise Black.
They’d probably be delighted to give him ten thousand kisses.” “Forget Halloween.
In two weeks, Black will probably already be back in Azkaban.” Eric merely smiled.
He had no intention of arguing.
Seeing Eric remain so completely unfazed by such an outrageous prediction, Fudge actually regained control of himself.
He looked at the boy with renewed interest.
“I admit I’m curious.” “Where exactly does all this confidence of yours come from?” “I’ll grant that you’re different from other young wizards, but you’ve made one mistake.” “You think you understand me very well, don’t you?” “Then you’re badly mistaken.” “You think tossing Sirius Black’s name onto the table is enough to frighten me?” Fudge leaned forward.
“Go on, then.
Tell me this.” “If I accept this so called deal of yours, what do I gain besides Black?” “Why should I waste my time sitting here with you?” By the end, perhaps because he was finally venting all the frustration he had accumulated throughout the day, Fudge was becoming increasingly worked up.
Then Eric opened his mouth.
He didn’t make a sound.
He merely shaped a single word with his lips.
And in an instant, it was as though a bucket of ice water had been poured over Fudge’s head.
A bone deep chill spread through his entire body.
Eric hadn’t spoken aloud.
But Fudge understood the word perfectly.
Eric’s lips moved once.
Dumbledore.
Fudge froze.
Every movement stopped.
He sat rigidly in his chair, staring blankly ahead.