Rufus Scrimgeour

Rufus Scrimgeour
Biographical information
Born	1940?
Died	1997
Title(s)	Minister of Magic
Physical information
Gender	Male
Hair colour	Tawny
Eye colour	Yellowish

Rufus Scrimgeour(1940?-1997) was for 1 year and a month, Minister of Magic, before he was killed by Lord Voldemort in 1997, it was at his death that the Minstry of Magic fell.

Description

Rufus Scrimgeour was a man with a certain rangy loping grace; he walked with a slight limp and looked rather like an old lion with grey streaks in his mane of tawny hair and bushy eyebrows. He had keen yellowish eyes and wore wire-rimmed spectacles.

History

Head of the Auror Office

Rufus Scrimgeour was a hardened Auror, capable of fighting Dark Wizards. He worked with Aurors such as Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alastor Moody and Gawain Robards . When he was the Head of the Auror Office and often questioned Nymphadora Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt about Sirius Black^[HP5]. He left his job at the Auror Office when Cornelius Fudge was asked to step down in 1996^[HP6].

Minister for Magic

Formally the head of the Auror office, Scrimgeour was elected Minister of Magic in the weeks following Lord Voldemort's reappearance at the Ministry of Magic in 1996. The previous year, the Ministry under Fudge had denied that any evidence of Voldemort's existence was false; as a result, when Voldemort finally stepped into the open and declared open war on Britain's magical and non-magical communities, Fudge was ousted from his office and was replaced by the more active Scrimgeour. Gawain Robards replaced Scrimgeour as Head of the Auror Office.

Rufus Scrimgeour, though seemingly a more capable leader than Fudge, decided to prioritise appearances over truth in his battle against Voldemort. He quarrelled with Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School, over the use of Harry Potter, the said "Chosen One" as a mascot for the Ministry to "boost morale". He ordered the arrest of Stan Shunpike, a conductor on the Knight Bus, to give the impression that the Ministry was actively seeking and arresting Death Eaters, followers of Voldemort, even though it was apparent that Shunpike, merely innocent and foolish, was nothing of the sort.

In Deathly Hallows he reads Harry, Ron and Hermione Dumbledore's will, Later he was murdered by the Death Eaters and Pius Thicknesse the former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, who is placed under the Imperius Curse by Yaxley, is announced as his successor. Before he died, it was hinted that he did not go easily (suggesting he put up quite a fight) and was tortured by Voldemort for information on Harry's whereabouts but, as the Death Eaters did not know he was at the Burrow, Scrimgeour did not tell them. He was later respected by Harry, Ron and Hermione after the learning he defended them till his death. |- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Unknown | width="40%" |Head of the Auror office
{{{years}}} | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Gawain Robards

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Cornelius Fudge | width="40%" |Minister of Magic
{{{years}}} | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Pius Thicknesse

Personality

Having been an Auror, fighting against Dark wizards for most of his working life, Scrimgeour was according to Dumbledore a "man of action" he gave an impression of shrewdness and toughness and was more decisive and forceful then Fudge, Rufus did not underestimate Voldemort and cared a great deal about the ministry’s reputation. He even ordered the arrest of innocent people to give the impression that the ministry was doing something. He tried unsuccessfully various times to convince Harry to work for the ministry, to boost morale, once during the Christmas holidays, then again after Dumbledore’s funeral.

Miscellaneous

• Luna Lovegood once mentioned to Harry Potter that Scrimgeour was a vampire, a story her father was supposed to publish in the magazine The Quibbler. The authenticity of this claim is questionable, however, as the Quibbler has a reputation for publishing unlikely and outrageous stories. Yet the mentioned "Rot-Fang Conspiracy" could hint towards this being true as "Rot" in German is "Red" in English. Meaning that "Rot-Fang" becomes "Red-Fang".
• Cormac McLaggen, a student one year above Harry, claimed that his father used to go hunting with Scrimgeour before the latter became Minister.
• It is possible that he is related to Brutus Scrimgeour, the author of the book The Beaters' Bible, and a reviewer of the book Quidditch Through the Ages.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows