Fudge named MoM in Harry's first year???

[Alice I]

I am up to OOTP with the girls and as we were reading the Chapter "Luna Lovegood" Harry checks out an article about Fudge trying to take over Gringotts.

The article may have been complete rubbish but it clearly states that Fudge was elected MoM five years ago, making his first year as MoM Harry's first year at school!

I have always gotten the impression that Fudge was MoM for a much longer period of time.

Part of the reason for this was that Sirius said that after Crouch's son was convicted he lost favor and Fudge got the "Top Job" instead.
Crouch Jr. was sentanced when Harry and Neville were around 2 or 3 yrs. old.

Does anyone else have a take on this?

[Nobby]

yeah i've always thought that fudge was in power for a lot longer period....... ummm.... makes you wonder who was MoM before

[Female_alien]

Really? 5 years?
Actually, I didn't even think about how long is Fudge a MoM, but I find a little too obvious that Fudge was elcted the same year harry started to attend Hogwarts. that's just me

But you really do start wondring who was Mom before him

[Female_alien]

uuuuuu sorry for double posting, but Nobby!!! you're back!! So glad to see you my old friend!
I know you're busy, but it's good o know you're still coming here

[Fool on the hill]

When I read "...and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone", I got the impression that Fudge had just recently been elected. I checked the part where Hagrid reads the Daily Prophet -

Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learnt from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.
'Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual,' Hagrid muttered, turning the page.
'There's a ministry of Magic?' Harry asked, before he could stop himself.
''Course,' said Hagrid. 'They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice.'

Hagrid doesn't say that Fudge's the new MoM, but it's always sounded to me like that.

Was Crouch the Minister of Magic? I can't remember - he could have been the - uh, I don't know the word - chief judge or something?

[Gower]

Crouch was never the minister of magic, he nearly got the job, but was shunted sideways after his wife and son died. It does seem very unlikely to me that Fudge had only just got the job in the first book.

[TDM]

Well, about Crouch, I remember Sirius saying that he almost came back and got the top job, but Fudge got it instead. Or something like that. Maybe I'm just thinking wrong. Maybe not at all...

[Nobby]

yeah i think it mentions somewhere that he was slightly more popular in the wizarding community so got the job that way!

uuuuuu sorry for double posting, but Nobby!!! you're back!! So glad to see you my old friend!
I know you're busy, but it's good o know you're still coming here

yeah i pop in now and then to check out what's happening--- i couldn't go long without seeing my darling wife now could i! Loves ya!

[Nobby]

oops can someone edit that 4 me

[pinky p]

oh my gosh now i reeeeally want to know who it was!!!!

hmm... maybe it was nicholas flamel? i could see him having been an MoM....

great to see new discussions!

-pinky p

p.s. hello to kim!

[Athena Appleton]

I am up to OOTP with the girls and as we were reading the Chapter "Luna Lovegood" Harry checks out an article about Fudge trying to take over Gringotts.

The article may have been complete rubbish but it clearly states that Fudge was elected MoM five years ago, making his first year as MoM Harry's first year at school!

I have always gotten the impression that Fudge was MoM for a much longer period of time.

Part of the reason for this was that Sirius said that after Crouch's son was convicted he lost favor and Fudge got the "Top Job" instead.
Crouch Jr. was sentanced when Harry and Neville were around 2 or 3 yrs. old.

Does anyone else have a take on this?

That is really weird. Early on in the series (although I think it's in CoS, so it technically could be explained) Ron is familiar with who Fudge is, because he recognizes him as Arthur's boss. However, if that line is in CoS, which I think it is, when Ron and Harry are hiding under the Invisibility Cloak in Hagrid's hut), then Ron could have met Fudge as his father's boss during the summer...

But you're right...

However, we don't really know the time difference in how long it was when there was the whole mess with Crouch's son and him being passed up. Example:

Voldemort is beaten when Harry is one year old.
Sometime after that, the Lestranges and Crouch Jr. are tried for torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom. However, unless I'm mistaken, we don't know for sure how much longer this happened. Unless a comment is made in regards to how old Neville was when that happened, it could have happened a few years later (as in, he began living with his grandmother when he was three or four... the story would still be about the same, seeing as a three-year-old separated from his parents would remember not much more about them than a one-and-a-half year old). Assuming it happened when Neville was closer to four or even five years old, he's still "raised" by his grandmother (think about it. A lot of people who are transferred to a different house other than with their parents say someone else "raised" them). So, Neville's, say, five-years-old when his parents are tortured. I would assume the trial comes quite soon afterwards, as Crouch is in a hurry to get rid of them, but it could come as late as a year or so afterwards. Then the fallout could still take some time. The current MoM stays in office another three years or so, then they start looking for someone else. Because of a scandal years ago regarding Crouch's son, he's passed over in favor of Fudge.

So, in summary:

Neville (and Harry) are four with the Longbottoms are tortured.
Neville (and Harry) are six when the trial takes placed.
Neville (and Harry) are nine or ten when the MoM resigns.
Neville (and Harry) are eleven when the new MoM takes office.

Might be stretching it, but if you think about it, it could happen. However, I don't have my books with me, so I don't know if anything in this little theory has been disproven already.

[Mint]

well....I dont have books with me either. I hope I understood this right "after Crouch's son was convicted " thats not very definite... It could have happen years after that...right?

[Athena Appleton]

That's kind of what I'm thinking. After all, doesn't it seem like it would be just a little too coincidental that the whole business with Crouch's son would fall right on the eve of the election (or appointment... I don't know much at all about British politics) of the Minister of Magic? I think there was probably a good bit of time between the time Crouch Jr. gets convicted and the Minister resigned... it's just that it was a past scandal that tarnished Crouch Sr.'s reputation.

[Ferrus]

Veeeery interesting. I certainly wonder who the past MoM was, but I don`t think it was Nicholas Flamel, I reckon it would have been mentioned on the chocolate frogs card in PS.

[Tween_Luv]

yeah, i also wonder how many times DD was asked to be MoM and turned it down.