Chapter 90: Ch90. Fudge's miscalculation
Around half an hour passed since Natasha departed and the worried Tom finally received a signal that she was done with her part. Sighing in relief, Tom stopped his boredom-killing tinkering with the wards and stood up before walking towards the house.
And when he was about to knock, the door opened, revealing a smiling Natasha, exaggeratedly bowing in a mock invitation as if she owned the place., "Welcome to my humble momentary abode, my dear."
Tom cracked a small smile at that and quipped, "I guess you had no problems if you are still in the mood for joking."
"Mhm. The Aurors proved to be very valiant opponents. They were very understanding and obediently let themselves be one-hit K.O." Natasha jested some more, "I'd almost be tempted to proclaim I don't need any friends with enemies like this."
"Aw. Now that hurts my feelings." Tom feigned feeling hurt and put his hand on his heart.
Natasha stepped closer to Tom and gently put her right hand on his left cheek, "Sad. But we were never meant to be friends." She leaned closer and briefly kissed Tom's other cheek before pulling away with a cheeky smile, "I love you too much for that."
"I am almost regretting that we still have a job to do." Tom ruefully said, his hand that found its way on her hips suddenly strayed a bit lower, making Natasha chuckle.
"No horny." She teased and Tom played along by clicking his tongue before he pulled his hand away.
"Where is Fudge?" He changed the topic to insert a bit of seriousness into their fooling around and get back onto the track.
Realizing the time for jokes and flirting was over, Natasha straightened up and became serious almost instantly, "He is tied up in the living room. Both he and his wife were already sleeping so I only put her under the sleeping spell to make sure she won't be waking up anytime soon." She reported in a professional manner before turning on her heel and starting to lead Tom toward the living room.
In the living room, Fudge was surprisingly already awake, frantically looking around in distraught as he found himself bound to a chair, his mouth taped shut and his wand nowhere in sight. This was definitely not how he imagined waking up when he went to sleep tonight.
When Tom walked into the room, Fudge's eyes snapped in his direction, causing the man to notice and recognize both Tom and Natasha, and a realization suddenly went off in his head as he started to try talking through the duct tape blocking his mouth while squirming around in fright.
Tom noticed that there was already an empty chair prepared in front of Fudge and nearby was also a table with... stuff.
Clearly, Natasha had already realized what kind of purpose she would be serving here and while it soured Tom's mood, he just inwardly sighed, knowing that as distasteful as this would be, it was the easiest option for them to ruin Malfoy's plans.
Tom nonchalantly sat on the free chair and for a few seconds, he just silently stared at Fudge while slowly rapping his pointing finger on the table, making the man feel nervous as the continued silence only fed his unease.
After a while, Tom sighed, "You know... I'd much rather spend my night in bed with my beautiful lover but here we are. You just had to act like your usual self and disregard my offer of friendship." He wryly frowned in disappointment.
Fudge didn't need to be the sharpest wand in Wizarding Britain to realize he was in this situation because of the newspaper stunt he pulled. Lucius asked him to get these foreigners but Amelia Bones instantly shut that down... because they indeed acted within the current wizarding law... so Fudge had no other way than to go the reputation-smearing route.
But he would have never imagined that his opponent would actually fight back! Especially not like this. Not by breaking into his house and taking him hostage.
Still, knowing something and experiencing it were two different things. Despite being aware of why he found himself in this situation, Fudge couldn't help but desperately squirm while his mind was frantically racing around, futilely trying to find a way to get out of his situation.
"But I am not angry due to your refusal." After giving Fudge a bit of time to consider his words, Tom spoke again, "That's just politics and I am not nearly arrogant enough to think others will just bend over and disregard their own benefits for me."
Tom did hope Fudge would let his greed speak for itself after he verified that Tom was indeed the richest man in Wizarding Britain, but he also recognized the big possibility that it wouldn't be that easy.
Which was fine. If he had to work for it a bit, then all would be well and good. It was expected.
But...
"I wouldn't mind if you decided to chase your own benefits and played hard to get." Tom helplessly sighed but his tone gained a bit of mirth, "Unfortunately for you, Minister, you are not a complete idiot."
Fudge even stopped squirming at the unexpected praise.
The way this whole thing happened and the reasons behind Fudge's actions were frankly ridiculous. It was exactly because the man was not as stupid as Tom thought him to be that the problem arose.
"I get it." Tom said in an understanding and calming manner, "A new guy comes around the block and offers you a good deal, but you are not sure if he can put his money where his mouth is, so you simply decided to be cautious. That is completely understandable, Minister."
Tom didn't think Fudge would be this cautious but he could respect that there was more to him than he let on. As corrupt as the man was, there was a reason why he became the Minister and why he could keep the office despite his admittedly useful... misgivings.
"Instead of trusting the words of this new guy, you went for a less profitable deal with a man of whose influence and wealth you were assured of." Tom narrated what happened, "The problem is... the deal you accepted puts you in a hostile position against me and I don't like that, Minister."
Oh, Tom was aware that Fudge was in disbelief someone actually dared to strike back in a direct way. The problem of closed-off communities like Wizarding Britain was that they lived in their own world.
The Ministry had a tight leash on their obedient sheep and that's where Fudge's miscalculation came from. He didn't realize that foreigners would be different from his own population that let itself be crapped on and enjoyed it.
"You went too far with your efforts at discrediting us and as much as I hate this mafioso way of dealing with problems, your attempt is too effective. You didn't leave me much of a choice." Tom said and slowly stood up, making Fudge tense in anticipation of Tom's next action...
But Tom just turned around and walked towards the door leading to the kitchen, making Fudge confused, unsettled, relieved, and also slightly hopeful that they just wanted to scare him.
His hopes were dashed in the next instant when Tom, just as he reached the door, looked at Natasha and spoke in a detached tone, "He is all yours, Natalia. Make it hurt but don't damage him beyond what my potions can fix."
It made Tom's heart heavy that this had to be done. He didn't like ordering Natasha to do things he knew she wouldn't like but he trusted her to do a good job.
Fudge instantly froze at these words and realized what his fate was going to be...
He started to struggle against his bonds in even bigger desperation than before but Tom just ignored his pleading gaze as he turned to him and gave him a slight nod, "We will talk again after a few minutes, Minister. Hopefully, your opinions on some matters will change by then."
With that, Tom walked out of the room, and the crimson-haired woman who stood in the background during Tom's monologue stopped leaning on the wall and approached Fudge, her eyes cold and her expression completely emotionless.
Fudge's personal hell began.
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