This is a topic I have been thinking about the past few days. How would the British Wizarding World be different if Albus Dumbledore had acquiesced to public demand and taken the position after Minister Bagnold retired as Minister of Magic.

Would he have tried to/been successful at enacting the kind of reform that we saw after Voldemort'a second defeat? It's canon that during his first term Fudge relied on Dumbledore for guidance so why didn't we see more reform in Ministry?

Would the Aurors/DMLE been more prepared to wage a war against Voldemort? After all, Dumbledore was one of the few people who actually believed that the Dark Lord was not truly vanquished.

Would we see figures from the Order of the Phoenix in prominent positions at the Ministry? Would Arthur Weasley have seen an upward career trajectory? Could Alastor Moody have been Head of the DMLE?

Just how different, if at all, would the Wizariding World be if he had taken the position?

 

Honestly, I think that you'd take away most of the suspense and contention out of any story that would result. Unless of course you do in fact show that Dumbledore still can't be trusted with too much power. Honestly just think about it, Dumbledore weeds out Death Eaters from government, starts covert hunting of Tom, more equality... not much of a story but wish fulfilment.

 

Dumbledore, in all his wisdom and foresight, thought he couldn't be trusted with so much power. The temptation of abusing the power he was bestowed with would be challenging to resist to, especially considering that he'd have to deal with the corruption, bigotry and general stupidity of the government. How long he'd last until that ruthless streak we know he has awoke?

Honestly, I'd read a fic that depicted this internal conflict. Not necessarily everything would be better.

 

It could work, if it's a Dumbledore centric fic. Showing him struggling with the Death Eater influence in the ministry and Voldemorts attacks. We barely see the "grownup" side of the war in canon, so pulling off the fear that people associate with Voldemort and how it causes people to turn on each other would make for an interesting story.

But that doesn't really need Dumbledore becoming minister.

 

For all his words about not knowing how to handle power, he did pretty well throughout the books. He is also, arguably, the most powerful wizard in the books and a great leader. As Hush said, it would not be much of a story, but on how good a job he would do as the leader of magical Britain? I say he kicks some serious ass.

 

I think the best (IMO only) way to do it would be to have the incumbent Minister during the first war (Bagnold, I think?) and some other Ministry officials (likely including Crouch) be taken out one way of the other, in some especially gruesome fashion. No-one is willing to step up, people like Moody, the Ministry is destabilized, and so Albus is forced to fill the role as head of the Wizengamot. It's the only period with enough satisfying conflict, what with Voldemort being active.

 

I think it could work. I envision a story where, as in the previous post, Bagnold was brutally killed along with her family. People are scared, the ministry is in turmoil and voldemort is growing in power. A this dark time, a candidate steps forward for the ministers job. Charismatic, charming and well respected in the ministry, he seems perfect, promising a hardline stance against the deatheaters.

However, Dumbledore, having known Lucius from his time at Hogwarts suspects that he is not as he seems. In the interests of caution, he puts himself forwards as the opposition candidate, only to find that his years as a teacher, combined with his actions as the leader of the vigilante group The Order of the Pheonix, has shaken the public confidence in him.

A vicious election battle ensues. Tie this in with a sub plot about him trying to establish Lucius's motives, and written against the backdrop of the War, Dumbledores increasingly brutal methods as the tide of the war turns against him and continued skirmishes with the DE's as a part of the Order, it would make an interesting political thriller. In the interests of being a dick, I would probably make election day 1/11/81...

 

Yeah, personally I'd say the fact that Dumbledore would be so worried about the possibility he'd abuse his power just makes him more qualified to be the next Minister.

 

But the Headmaster is obviously power-hungry! We call him 'Manipulative!Dumbledore' for a reason you know. He would use resources for his own nefarious purposes and the Wizarding World would never be safe!

 

I'm reasonably positive that you are being sarcastic but that's the thing with Dumbledore. He already has plenty of power (plethora of titles) along with being recognized as the most powerful wizard in England. What could he possibly do 'for himself' as Minister?

If anything, I think his 'For the Greater Good' philosophy would make him rather perfect for the position because he would have the Wizarding World's best interest as opposed to being concerned about reelection or increasing his own power.

 

Could we please stop referring to "For the Greater Good" as Dumbledore's philosophy? It's Grindelwald's philosophy, Grindelwald's reasoning for all his bad deeds, and not Dumbledore's, at least not after his sister died.

I think this was made quite clear in OotP where we learn that Dumbledore could've told Harry about the prophecy earlier but didn't because he wanted him to have a happy childhood.

 

Yeah, I think that he would turn into a more realized version of the well-meaning but often harmful figure that he is in the books. It would be an interesting story from his perspective- the whole "die a hero or live long enough to see yourself the villain" thing would take on new meaning.

 

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I would love to read a story along these lines.

I, for one, think that he would start off great, but would slowly feel his grip over everything slip away. We saw him admit to several mistakes in OoTP, which he attributed to his old age. I think that if he were Minister for Magic, it would be the same. He would have started of brilliantly, bringing justice to several people and quashing Dark practitioners. But then, his age would catch up to him and he would start making mistakes, maybe even more mistakes than he had made in the original story because of the amount of responsibility he would have.

He wouldn't ever be a bad person, but I feel like, in order to maintain his omniscient persona, he would start overriding his colleagues and advisor on several matters, and this would allow the Dark practitioners to slowly wheedle their way back to power through corruption and by taking advantage of the inevitable growing resentment. All in time for Harry to begin school, of course.

 

It almost feels like it would be an anti "Prince of the Dark Kingdom" kind of fic. I'd definitely read it.

 

Even as Minister Dumbledore wouldn't be almighty.

I imagine that he would plant members of the Order in several Departments of the Ministry.
First of all, to gain first-hand information from a secure source.
Secondly, to broaden his support in the Ministry.
And ultimately, to detect the various Death Eaters and expose them.

Simply the thought of Arthur Weasley convicting Lucius Malfoy! It would be hilarious.

 

I think muggleborns would've had a better standing and more equality in the magical society of Britain.

What I think if more fascinating is how Hogwarts would be governed, as the ministry has no influence over it and cannot ever have influence over it (except that High Inquisitor bullshit).

Who would've been the Headmaster/mistress? McGonagall? But how would the new Transfiguration teacher be like? Would she do anything about Binns? And where would Snape have been if Dumbledore couldn't guarantee his teaching spot anymore?

This raises too many questions to name.

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That is indeed a hilarious thought. I can already see Arthur stepping up to Malfoy like "We need to have a nice and very, very long talk. I'm unsure whether you'll actually be able to leave after that."

Or what would happen if Lucius is stupid enough to try and bribe Dumbledore? Azkaban, here we come. Some people would also immediately get the veil as sentence, Sirius would be a free man. The world would be a better place. Well, at least magical Britain would be.

 

The Ministry absolutely has influence at Hogwarts, seeing as at the end of the day it's just a school. If, say, they want to arrest a member of the staff, they're going to go right ahead and do that. And the "high inquisitor bullshit" began with the Ministry using its influence to place a teacher on Hogwarts' staff.

Calm down with the fanon.

 

As mentioned before, Unless you give Dumbledore some kind of fatal flaw, it would take a lot of conflict out of the story.

One of the reasons Voldemort so easily rose to power was because of the Ministries' incompotence to quell the fire. Not only did he invade the Ministry quite easily, the Ministry also failed to act towards the growing threat of Voldemort building an army.

Although, seeing as Dumbledore was the only person Voldemort feared, he would perhaps be forced to expand his attacks on Harry and Dumbledore to a bigger scale. In the books, Voldemort only attacks Harry when he resides at Hogwarts, However, with Dumbledore as a more overt threat, he would have to ''think bigger''.
Would it really be possible to envision this story without it switching into an all-out war mode by year five? Voldemorts attempts on Harry's life stay restricted to Hogwarts year one through four, but after that he becomes a threat to the entire Wizarding World. If Dumbledore actively took a stance (as Minister) against Voldemort in that year it would probably end with Harry fighting in a war he is much too young for.

 

If it were to have happened, though, I can't help but think of the Dumbledore who hired Quirrell, Lockhart, Trelawny, even Hagrid as the Care teacher, and kept Binns around. Maybe this ministry would have been more accepting of Voldemort coming back, but I can't help but think it will probably be wrought with its own set of ridiculous problems.

 

Definitely agree with this, I think a Ministry under Dumbledore would be far too progressive for a seemingly traditional Wizarding World. I imagine with every reform pushed through by Dumbeldore, he would begin to alienate more and more people. Considering his plethora of titles, would he be skilled enough politician to keep everyone happy? How far would the Pureblood/Traditionalist be pushed before they take drastic measures?