The New Minister of Magic

by Jessica Brooks

Dawson Smith wrote an article recently with a little bit about the new Minister of Magic along with some other theories. I wanted to create an article that is devoted only to the new MOM, so here it is. But before I get into who I believe will be the next Minister of Magic, I’d just like to state a few things first. JK has already said herself in an interview that there will be a new Minister of Magic, so that’s covered. On her website, somewhere on the Rumors page, there is an ad for the Quibbler reading:

“This week’s issue: Fudge forced to flee! Minister chased out of his office.”

I think Fudge will put up a fight since he’ll be really angry that he was forced to step down from the post. He’ll want the next Minister of Magic to be on his side, a real friend. And who is more perfect for this than Lucius Malfoy? Yes, now you know, I believe Lucius Malfoy will be the next Minister of Magic, but before you scoff, please hear me out.

I used to believe someone that’s good would be Minister… it would help during the war; but now I’m thinking maybe that would make it too easy for the good side to win. We need a battle!! And it’s really logical too because the war that is coming is going to be worse than ever before. Well, if it is going to be so bad why on earth would JK pick someone for the Minister of Magic (like Arthur Weasley, for instance) who is on the good side? Being a top-ranking government official will be a huge advantage to either side. If the good side gets it, then it will be much easier to overtake the dark side, making the war no worse than the previous one.

I would first like to disprove Arthur as the next Minister of Magic. As everyone knows, Ron says in the 5th book that they had as much chance of winning the Quidditch Cup that year as his father did of becoming the Minister of Magic. This is the basis for everyone thinking Arthur will become the next Minister of Magic, and that’s basically it. But if you think about it, their team really didn’t have much chance of getting that cup, they were just lucky. Another thing is, JK loves to throw us surprises, and everyone knows this. Why would she choose Arthur to become Minister of Magic? The answer is she wouldn’t. As much as I’d like to see Arthur as MOM, it’s really not likely. He’s not even far enough up in the Ministry to logically be appointed.

As I said earlier, I would advise you to read Dawson’s article since I don’t want to rehash all of his material. He did say that Arthur would not have enough money to campaign, and guess who’s rich: Lucius! Another thing we know is Lucius will go to any length to ruin Arthur as much as he can. He did it in Book 2 when he put the diary in Ginny’s school book. If Ginny would have actually killed the Muggle-borns, it would have ruined Arthur’s image since he works to protect the Muggles. Even Dumbledore says this at the end of the book.

And here comes the question: how will Lucius clear his name? No one will know until they read the book of course, but knowing him, it will probably involve something horrible. The dementors have left Azkaban and the prisoners are loose. Lucius will clear his name partially by saying he was wrongly accused, and the only people that will know better are the ones who were there themselves and the ones who believe Dumbledore whole-heartily. Fudge will team up with his buddy, creating a better image for Lucius. For those who don’t believe in Lucius, he can very easily blackmail, threaten, and many other things. Lucius reminds me of the devil: he can make vulnerable people believe him. We all know that Fudge is pretty vulnerable if he believed all that crack about Dumbledore and Harry in book 5. This is why I believe Fudge will be on Lucius’s side, and if he does have any doubt, there’s always a memory charm.

I have another good piece of information that supports my theory. I was looking on this site that has all these spells and names in the book, and it breaks them down and tells what they mean. I read through them and almost every one of the names fit the description. JK used Latin, French, mythology and so on to make up the names and they fit perfectly. Like Petunia means resentfulness and something else that really fit her!! Well, Cornelius Fudge was broken down and here’s part of what it said about him:

There was a pope named Saint Cornelius, whose reign was marked by the controversy over the lapsed (those under persecution who had renounced Christianity). Cornelius’s leniency toward the lapsed drew the support of the bishop of Carthage, St. Cyprian, but aroused the opposition of the Roman priest Novatian. He was exiled, and then martyred in 253, where a bishop named Lucius succeeded him.

There is also one about Arthur:

According to Ivy, “Arthur is a possible reference to King Arthur. The World Book says, ‘There are two versions of the events that led to Arthur’s death. Both say he fought a war against Roman emperor Lucius.'”

If Arthur died, I would not be surprised. The fact that the whole Weasley family will make it through the war is very improbable. This little piece explains to what lengths Lucius will probably go to beat Arthur and become Minister of Magic.