"J. K. Rowling - 06 Harry Potter and The half blood Prince" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rowling J. K)

'Difficult to know where to begin,' muttered Fudge, pulling
up the chair, sitting down and placing his green bowler upon
his knees. 'What a week, what a week ...'

'Had a bad one too, have you?' asked the Prime Minister
stiffly, hoping to convey by this that he had quite enough on
his plate already without any extra helpings from Fudge.

'Yes, of course,' said Fudge, rubbing his eyes wearily and
looking morosely at the Prime Minister. 'I've been having the
same week you have, Prime Minister. The Brockdale bridge ...
the Bones and Vance murders ... not to mention the ruckus in
the West Country ...'

'You -er
-your
-I
mean to say, some of your people were were
involved in those -those
things, were they?'

Fudge fixed the Prime Minister with a rather stern look.

'Of course they were,' he said. 'Surely you've realised
what's going on?'

'I ...' hesitated the Prime Minister.

It was precisely this sort of behaviour that made him dislike
Fudge's visits so much. He was, after all, the Prime Minister,
and did not appreciate being made to feel like an ignorant
schoolboy. But of course, it had been like this from his very
first meeting with Fudge on his very first evening as Prime
Minister. He remembered it as though it were yesterday and
knew it would haunt him until his dying day.

the other minister

11



He had been standing alone in this very office, savouring
the triumph that was his after so many years of dreaming and
scheming, when he had heard a cough behind him, just like
tonight, and turned to find that ugly little portrait talking to
him, announcing that the Minister for Magic was about to
arrive and introduce himself.

Naturally, he had thought that the long campaign and the