The Other Minister
chapter one of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Muggle Prime Minister sits alone in his office but is interrupted when Cornelius Fudge arrives – shortly followed by the new Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour – to tell him that a new war has broken out against Voldemort.
With a slight shiver, the Prime Minister got up and moved over to the window, 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.
(by Drew Graham)
“To the Prime Minister of Muggles. Urgent we meet. Kindly respond immediately. Sincerely, Fudge.”
(by haystax45)
The Prime Minister’s first, foolish thought was that Rufus Scrimgeour looked rather like an old lion.
(by VikingCarrot)
“I’d rather not be interrupted,” said Scrimgeour shortly, “or watched,” he added, pointing his wand at the windows, so that the curtains swept across them. “Right, well, I’m a busy man, so let’s get down to business.”
(by Heather Campbell)
“Well, that’s really all I had to say. I will keep you posted of developments, Prime Minister – or, at least, I shall probably be too busy to come personally, in which case I shall send Fudge here. He has consented to stay on in an advisory capacity.”
(by VikingCarrot)
The Prime Minister gazed hopelessly at the pair of them for a moment, then the words he had fought to suppress all evening burst from him at last. “But for heaven’s sake – you’re wizards! You can do magic! Surely you can sort out – well – anything!”
(by salamandersoup)
Fudge… really did manage a smile this time as he said kindly, “The trouble is, the other side can do magic too, Prime Minister.”
(by Heather Campbell)
about the chapter
It’s sometimes easy to wonder how the wizarding world manages to keep itself a secret. It would be difficult, of course, for a wizard to spread the word to Muggles (or, say, perform magic to get attention), as they would soon be hunted down by the Ministry of Magic. But there are loads of families of Muggle-born wizards, like Hermione’s parents or the Dursleys, who know about the magical world, who aren’t subject to wizarding laws of secrecy, and who could easily just tell the world that wizards exist. But in this chapter Fudge points out the catch, when he asks the Muggle Prime Minister, “are you ever going to tell anybody?” And of course, the Prime Minister realizes that “he would never, as long as he lived, dare mention this encounter to a living soul, for who in the wide world would believe him?” Even if Muggles did try to spread the word around (and there have to have been a few senseless enough to try), they would simply be seen as crazy. It’s a brilliantly self-perpetuating system.
Something You May Not Have Noticed
We don’t ever learn what Cornelius Fudge’s background was, but given the way he interacts with the Muggle Prime Minister – making him “feel like an ignorant schoolboy” – it’s hard to imagine he’s anything other than a pureblood. From our perspective it’s easy to see how condescending he’s being in expecting the Prime Minister to know things that he’s never fully explained to him, but Fudge seems to have no ability to put himself in the shoes of a Muggle – and if his parents had been Muggles (or even Muggle-borns), I’d have to imagine he would understand the Prime Minister’s perspective a little bit better.
This also makes sense from the perspective of the prejudice we see throughout the books towards Muggle-borns; they are looked down on quite as much in the wizarding world as other minorities are in the Muggle world, and while it’s possible that a Muggle-born has been chosen as Minister of Magic at some point in time (after all, Margaret Thatcher became the only female Prime Minister in the past few decades, and Barack Obama the only ethnic minority leader of either Britain or the U.S. last year), I imagine it’s still far more likely than not that any given Minister of Magic would be a pure-blood wizard.
The Wizarding World
There’s a quote I always think of when I read this chapter. It’s from Harry’s trip aboard the Knight Bus, when Stan Shunpike tells him that Muggles don’t hear the bus because Muggles “Never notice nuffink, they don’.” The idea that the destruction in the West Country was caused by a hurricane – clearly a story created and perpetuated by the Ministry of Magic’s Office of Misinformation to cover up what really happened – has always particularly fascinated me. Can you imagine how many Memory Charms wizards would have to cast to make this story work? You’d have to get to every meteorologist in the country, and many more across the world as well. You’d also have to have an understanding of Muggle society that is far, far superior to the understanding held by Arthur Weasley’s Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office, just to know what a meteorologist does and how to find them all. And no matter what wizards do, there will always be Muggles who are able to look at what happened and see that the story just doesn’t hold water. But because those Muggles don’t have a better explanation, they will always simply remain mystified. Perhaps the wizarding world is at the heart of most Muggle conspiracy theories! We know crop circles are their fault, after all; why not other things as well?
The Final Word
“I have come close to using a chapter very like this in ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ (it was one of the discarded first chapters), ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ and ‘Order of the Phoenix’ but here, finally, it works, so it’s staying. And that’s all I’m going to say, but when you read it, just know that it’s been about thirteen years in the brewing.”–J.K. Rowling, jkrowling.com
“[Terrorism has] never consciously [shaped my writing], in the sense that I’ve never thought, “It’s time for a post-9/11 Harry Potter book,” no. But what Voldemort does, in many senses, is terrorism, and that was quite clear in my mind before 9/11 happened…. There are parallels, obviously. I think one of the times I felt the parallels was when I was writing about the arrest of Stan Shunpike, you know? I always planned that these kinds of things would happen, but these have very powerful resonances, given that I believe, and many people believe, that there have been instances of persecution of people who did not deserve to be persecuted, even while we’re attempting to find the people who have committed utter atrocities. These things just happen, it’s human nature. There were some very startling parallels at the time I was writing it.” –J.K. Rowling, July 2005
Finally, time for my favorite book! I was fascinated by this chapter, because we are truly given a muggle’s point of view. Just one question though–”We know crop circles are their fault” – what did I miss?
Alex said this on February 2, 2010 at 3:32 pm
@ Alex: I think they’re referring to something in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, though I can’t remember exactly which beast was responsible for them. Mooncalves?
Hope that helps! This is my favorite book too!
Kaylee
Kaylee Tonks-Lupin said this on February 2, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Well remembered, Kaylee. Here’s the quote:
It’s from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, under the Mooncalf entry on p28-29.
John Kearns said this on February 2, 2010 at 4:25 pm
To repeat what everyone else has said, time to start my favorite book!
wizardinventor said this on February 2, 2010 at 6:31 pm
After I had read this book the obligatory two times in the first week I started imagining conversations between the Minister of Magic and various heads of state – Nikita Khruschev, Gerald Ford, Queen Elizabeth, and especially George W. Bush.
Caroline said this on February 2, 2010 at 7:10 pm
One thing I love about JK Rowling’s writing? She is always seemingly so conscious about the themes and parallels that the is including in her books and this chapter is a perfect example. Even if everything wasn’t perfectly planned form the beginning, she has the skill and the storytelling acumen to tie everything together so well.
And while this isn’t my favorite book of the series (that goes to Deathly Hallows, hands down) I’m really looking forward to some of the artwork for this one. Rowling creates some incredible images here, everything from little Tom Riddle in the orphanage to the final battle to the eerie cave scene. Can’t wait!
Meri said this on February 2, 2010 at 7:14 pm
I can’t believe we’ve reached Half-Blood Prince already! I love Viking-Carrot’s piece with the two Ministers of Magic–love the juxtaposition between those two men (even though they’re wearing the same outfit–GREAT artistic touch!)
Natalia said this on February 2, 2010 at 9:04 pm
I was thinking about one of JKR’s quotes, how she said that she never thought “Time for a post 9/11 Harry Potter book.” And I realized that if this book were set in America, I doubt the Muggles would so readily accept stories of hurricanes and faulty bridgelines. The American Muggles would definitely be on the prowl for terrorists, which in my opinion have shaped the book differently. Just a thought :)
Erica said this on February 2, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Did everyone picture Tony Blair when reading this chapter? I did. Not sure who J.K.R. meant it to be, if anyone. But I think technically John Major was still PM in reality in the timeline of the stories. And when the PM was going to talk to the “wretched” President of some distant land, I of course thought of Bush, though it could have been any president and Clinton was US president at the time.
I loved this chapter because it put such a large hole in the wall between the worlds that we had come to accept over the past five books. And it just left me wanting to know more!
Ben said this on February 2, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Ben: both my roommate and I pictured Tony Blair while reading this chapter. :D
Natalia said this on February 2, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Concerning Fudge’s background there’s a quote from Dumbledore to Fudge in GoF that can give us an idea: “You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood!”
About this chapter, and we’ll hear about this later, there’s this quote: “I’ve been writing to Dumbledore twice a day for the past fortnight, but he won’t budge. If he’d just been prepared to persuade the boy, I might still be…”. After all that Fudge made Harry suffer during OotP he still had hope that Harry (and Dumbledore) will give him his support to remain in charge as Minister of Magic…
Jose Lopes said this on February 3, 2010 at 3:50 am
I left part of the text behind, Dumbledore says to Fudge: “You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!”
Jose Lopes said this on February 3, 2010 at 7:22 am
Natalia, I agree, I love that image!
John, in reference to the first chapter speculation. I think the most popular theory back int he day was that we would FINALLY get a glimpse of the night Voldy attacked. It makes perfect sense – it’s very close to the actual first chapter for book 1, it would fit perfectly in book 3 because it would set up the sirius/peter thing nicely, and it would have worked in book 5 as the end of the first war in a book that begins the second war.
There were also SO MANY theories runnign rampant about what actually happened that night! Soul bits flying everywhere! Homorphus charms! Apparently half the characters mentioned in the book were there, according to one theory or another, and always one under the Invisibility Cloak – Peter, Sirius, Snape, Dumbledore, Aberforth, Frank Longbottom…anyone you cna think of. I do remember one editorial (I think on Mugglenet) where the theory was that Frank and Snape were brawling in Godric’s Hollow as Lily was fighting off Voldy. I gotta admit, the flashback in DH felt a bit anticlimactic after all that.
hpboy13 said this on February 3, 2010 at 11:41 pm
this was a great chapter it’s fun reading about the wizarding world from a muggle’s point of view
sadly this chapter didn’t appear in the movie fudge didn’t even appear in the movie either i wouldn’ve like to see who would play the muggle prime minister
seekerbillpotter said this on February 3, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Ben, I always pictured the Muggle Prime Minister as Paul Eddington, known onstage as “Jim Hacker”. Brits are cynical about our politicians, and the fictitious Minister Hacker epitomises all we project onto our real-life PMs. An almost-not-fictitious PM like Jim Hacker seems the ideal character to cast into a story like Harry Potter.
Alas, Paul Eddington died long before HPB was filmed, but you can visit his performance as Britain’s leader at http://www.sitcom.co.uk/yes_minister/.
1997 was the general election that brought in the change of government. Many people would have liked to see a fanfiction (but nobody was talented enough to write it) called “Kingsley Shacklebolt and the General Election.”
Grace has Victory said this on February 4, 2010 at 1:25 am
Michael Sheen could have done it. He is the one who played Tony Blair in “The Queen”. And I have always thought that the man in the portrait would have been the perfect part for Rowan Atkinson, and a way to get one of my favourite actors into the Harry Potter movies. But alas, the movie bridged the gap between the two worlds with that attractive waitress with the afro, not with this chapter. Love over politics. Oh well.
Ben said this on February 4, 2010 at 1:46 am
This is absolutely one of my favorite chapters! It´s great to get a recap from a whole other point of view and written with so much humor! I wish there were more pictures about this chapter, for instance how Fudge tells the Minister about the dragons, and Sirius, and Dementors etc… But I fuess the words are imaginative enough in this chapter… After all, it´s a chapter with only one very long conversation…
kim said this on February 4, 2010 at 1:55 am
Hm, so book 4 was not the last book where JKR devoted a chapter to recap what has happened so far. However, this time it’s not from Harry’s POV.
I like the idea behind this chapter, but as someone who has read all of the previous books several times I feel it’s too long.
Okay, we do learn some new information. The mentioning of the Bones murder never fails so sadden me.
The bridge which was blown up in the movie hadn’t actually been built when the events of the book took place.
As many others here, I, too, am excited that we’re starting HBP. I can’t decide between this one and PoA as my favorite HP book.
Kim said this on February 4, 2010 at 9:06 am
The Half-Blood Prince is here!
I was about 10 or so when this book came out and really could care less about politics, so I didn’t have much of an appreciation for this chapter then. I was trying to figure out what a Prime Minister was. (I’m a dumb American, ok?)
Kim, the movies don’t really go with the time frame of the books. The kids all dress in modern clothes and everything, rather than what they’d wear in the 90′s. I’m sure you’ve noticed this, though.
Mickey said this on February 4, 2010 at 3:09 pm
@Kim
The movies were never in tally with the official timeline.
You remember the PS movie. As Harry was delivered to the Dursleys, we could see a Opel (Vauxhall) Vectra A, which was not aviable before 1988. At the zoo-scene, as Harry was nearly 11, the Dursleys had a Vectra B, which was not aviable before 1995.
Marco said this on February 5, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I always love seeing stuff about the Muggle world in HP. What I am very sorry for is that we never got a look at a Muggle Studies class. OK, all the readers know everything already, but what sort of lessons are taught, and why? The few tidbits we got in book 3 don’t cut it. Whatever it is, the curriculum clearly isn’t good enough to have made Mr. Weasley the expert he really ought to be if he’s so interested in Muggles.
I always tended to think of Tony Blair in this scene too.
Jennifer said this on February 6, 2010 at 1:58 pm