It didn't take long before the Floo flared again and Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, came through. He looked livid.
"I wanted my guards to come along but the Floo rejected them. Why?" he asked Dumbledore.
Dumbledore sighed. "Each person coming into Hogwarts needs to get the approval of the owners. You didn't ask for them to be approved, only for you."
"A Minister should always have his guards nearby," Fudge stated.
"Why? Do you expect to be under attack here? I can assure you that nobody is going to try and harm you while here. With the owners asserting their authority, Hogwarts is much safer than it has been for a long time."
"Then why did they fire Dolores?" Fudge insisted.
"You may ask them, you know. I wasn't present," Dumbledore said placatingly.
Fudge turned stormily to the three teens, whom he barely even noticed until then. "Care to explain?"
Just like earlier, Susan took the lead. "She doesn't comply with the minimal requirements for the position and she wasn't approved by the headmaster or the owners."
"I chose her for that position," Fudge insisted.
"That has no hold at Hogwarts. According to the charter, no external ruling power has any say in handling the school. It is signed by the members of the body that preceded the Wizengamot and the ruling monarch of the time. In case of dispute, the current monarch is to be the arbitrator." Susan sounded very factual.
"I can pass a law to change that," Fudge warned them.
"No, you can't. Such a hostile act is cause enough to appeal to the arbitrator. Would you like the current monarch to start checking how the Ministry acts?" Susan didn't sound aggressive at all, but the warning was very clear.
Fudge shuddered. He knew that the Ministry could not stand any scrutiny, certainly not under his 'leadership'. He still couldn't give up, though.
"I trust Dolores completely. Why can't you do the same?"
Susan smiled. "For a start, to teach at Hogwarts, one needs to have mastery of the subject, or, for assistant professors, very good NEWT grades in that subject. As far as we know, your dear Dolores has no mastery of any kind and failed her NEWT in Defence. I doubt she's even good enough to be a clerk at the ministry."
Fudge didn't like what he heard, although he knew it to be true. All of it. Had the ministry adhered to regulations, Dolores would have been lucky to get any job higher than a janitor. He still couldn't accept three children as the ultimate authority at Hogwarts.
"The ministry can buy Hogwarts from you. I'm sure we can find the money for that."
Susan's smile turned predatory. "Oh, I've already calculated it. You see, the charter stated the price in ounces of gold and the buyer must also pay for all the profit lost. It's a very simple calculation and I only put in minimal profit. I still ended up with a very large number. I asked my aunt about it and she asked the goblins. There's not enough gold at Gringotts to pay that sum. There's no way for the ministry to buy Hogwarts, the way I understand it."
Fudge had enough of that. "I'll send Aurors to take control of the school!"
Susan's smile didn't falter. "You may, if you like. That would be an act of war and force us to appeal to the monarch, although I doubt any Auror would be even able to reach the gate unless we allow it."
Fudge felt completely out of control. He didn't like the feeling, although he got it more often than he cared to admit. He turned to the old man. "Dumbledore! How could you allow this?"
Dumbledore moved his arms in a "what can I do" gesture and added, "There was nothing I could do or prevent. Their ancestry proves their ownership and I have to accept it. They are my employers, after all."
Fudge was even more furious than when he arrived but he could do nothing. He turned to the teens. "You will soon regret opposing the ministry!" he spat before taking the Floo back to his office.
They all sighed in relief, yet Dumbledore wasn't content.
"You made him your enemy and put your families in danger. Was it worth it?"
Harry didn't like this direction of thought. "Fudge will be out of office in a matter of hours if he tries anything. His toad should also be out of here as soon as possible. We may need to give her a nudge since it doesn't look like she intends to leave very soon."
He took another breath and added, "Now, have you thought of what you intend to do? Do you still want to play politics and leave the school or stay the headmaster and leave your other positions?"
Dumbledore sighed. He was barely able to keep standing but the teens seemed disinclined to sit and he just couldn't sit while they were standing, even if they allowed it. That would show him as a weak old man, not the image he wanted them to have of him. "You can't expect me to decide on such a short notice. I have quite a few things to finish before I can resign from any of my positions…"
Harry didn't let him continue. "It's very simple, actually. You can send your resignation letters during the afternoon and have them approved by tomorrow morning or you can give us your resignation from Hogwarts by breakfast, tomorrow. You have no other option."
"But…" Dumbledore tried to protest.
Harry lifted his hand to stop him. "Even if you resign right now, we know you may have to still spend some time on your other jobs, if only to pass them in an orderly manner to your successor, but the resignation must be sent today. Had we made ourselves clear?"
Dumbledore nodded in defeat. "Very clear, Lord Potter."
He still hoped he could cast some spell to change the situation, but it was becoming very clear he would be unable to do that. The three said, "Goodbye," and left the office one by one, just like the previous evening, not giving him any chance to act stealthily. Although he thought he could defeat any of them in a duel, he wasn't sure he could defeat all three. Besides, both Potters were extremely powerful. He wasn't sure if they hadn't already surpassed his level, despite the binds cast on them. He wouldn't like that power to be turned against him.
And then, his legs were killing him after standing in place for so long.
–..–
"What do you expect to happen now?" Susan asked.
Hermione gave it some thought. "Dumbledore will resign from politics. Although he has no control over Harry now, he still hopes to have some influence and that seems to be his main concern. As for the others… I'm not sure. We need to evict Umbridge already and she'll run to her dear minister. Can't you estimate their next step?"
Susan sighed. "Neither of them is a very logical person, making predictions much harder. Still, I think they won't act immediately. They will try to gain some political support before doing anything overtly. Are your families protected well enough? They may try to use them to reach you."
Hermione frowned. "I'm not sure. The Gringotts manager at Nice mentioned something about that, but I can't remember the details. We were a bit overwhelmed at the time, you know."
Harry sighed. "I don't care much for the Dursleys, but I think they should be left out of this. We may need to protect them and your parents. How can we do that?"
"Gringotts has very good warding services, and they don't mind whose house they ward, as long as the owners agree," Susan told them. "I also wonder if I shouldn't add some wards to my Aunt's house. I doubt anybody would dare attack her while at the Ministry."
"Then, we may just all go to Gringotts together and save time. Well, after we take care of Umbridge," Harry said.
He then concentrated on the wards, finding that the toad woman was still in her office. He didn't think she was ready to leave, but that was her problem, not his. It was way after noon time, so she had no right to still be inside Hogwarts.
A bit of more concentration made the wards act. Hogwarts evicted the foul woman. A moment later, he sent her belongings after her.
Umbridge found herself plucked from her office chair and dropped unceremoniously a short distance outside the gates of Hogwarts. She barely realised where she was when her stuff started falling around her. Most of her cat-decorated plates fell on the ground, many of them breaking on the way. Her blood quills fell on her face, their tips scratching her almost like arrowheads. Her trunk and all the other belongings followed, including the dirty underwear that the house elves had not yet collected to launder.
It took her several minutes to collect everything, repair what she could and pack it all in her trunk, cursing Potter and his accomplices the whole time. Once finished, she shrank her trunk to fit in her robe pocket and apparated to the Ministry, swearing vengeance.
–..–
Harry, Hermione, and Susan walked to the Potter apartment and used the Floo from there to reach Gringotts. Susan asked to talk to her account manager and Harry asked for his.
A short while later, the Potters were sitting in front of an older goblin. It was the same one who helped him at the beginning of the summer vacation.
"What can I do for you today?" he asked politely.
Harry answered. "In our position as owners of Hogwarts, we've just fired the DADA teacher, Ms Dolores Umbridge. Knowing her position and her tendencies, we feel that we need to protect our families against her, in case she wants to harm any of them as a way of revenge against us. We'd like to have wards set around their lodging and possibly their workplaces. Protecting their cars may also be helpful if you can do it."
The discussion was straightforward and they quickly agreed about the kinds of wards and the prices. Harry didn't mind paying a bit extra for immediate action, ensuring the Grangers, their clinic and their cars were well-warded. Reluctantly, he also asked for similar protection for the Dursleys. Despite their behaviour, they were still his family, somewhat.
Hermione needed to accompany the warders to help them understand how the clinic was working and what methods there were to reach it. Harry went along. Susan could return to Hogwarts on her own, as agreed.
While waiting at the clinic, Harry thought that he could do some more to move their plans forward. He called Andy on the phone.
"Andy, we just had a confrontation with the Minister and his toad — Umbridge. It looks like we can no longer go slow in discrediting them. Can you make the Prophet move faster in that direction?"
He had to wait for her to check a few things before she answered, "That's alright. They planned to start the series about Fudge during the weekend, but it's ready for publishing, so we can start tomorrow if you like. The toad is also in that, so they're going to fall together."
Harry smiled. "Good! They are becoming a menace. The sooner we rid our government of them, the better."
–..–
When the morning mail arrived the next morning, Harry was still surprised at the headline. "Minister Lackey Sent To Teach At Hogwarts Without Minimal Credentials." He thought some other misdeed of the minister would take the headline. It was still alright with him.
The article explained the requirements for teaching and how neither the minister nor his lackey confirmed to them. It also compared the book assigned by Umbridge to the books of previous years, showing how far it was from the official requirements of that subject. No name was attached to the article. It was only signed by 'The Prophet's staff reporters' which was quite unusual. Well, it was probably a teamwork, so nobody could get personal credit.
On one of the inner pages, Harry also found a small article that informed of the resignment of Albus Dumbledore from his positions in the Wizengamot and the ICW, stating that he was too old to keep them along with his position at Hogwarts, that he considered his most important one.
Harry chuckled. On a normal day, this could have been the headline of the front page. He suspected the headmaster would have even liked it to be, to possibly pressure the owners and let him keep these positions for a bit longer. He felt sure this was better.