Chapter 93: Meeting the Minister

Chapter 93: Meeting the Minister

The walk towards the Minister's office was completely quiet, Kingsley no longer interested in participating in a small talk with Tom and Natasha, preferring to grumpily sulk as he led them through the halls of the Ministry.

Under the curious gazes of other workers, the trio arrived in front of the Minister's office and Kingsley stopped for a moment, definitely intent on giving Tom and Natasha some advice on do's and don'ts.

Unfortunately for him, the second Tom realized what the man wanted to do, he pushed forward, opening the door to the Minister's office before Kingsley could even start speaking, and exclaimed, "Hello, Minister! I am glad we can finally meet."

As he said that, with the corner of his eye, Tom watched the rising surprise of Kingsley and his lips curled into a small smile, 'Heh. As if I let you take the initiative and somehow worm yourself into this meeting.'

When Fudge heard Tom's voice, he flinched and his eyes went wide, frantically looking left and right... thankfully his spooked behavior lasted only a few seconds before he recollected himself.

"A-Ah, ye-yeah. Y-You are a bit early." He said with a forced smile and Tom had to mentally applaud the man that his fear didn't show up in said smile.

Of course, his eyes betrayed his feelings anyway. Especially when he noticed Natasha standing next to Tom and froze like a rabbit in front of a fox. It was obvious to anyone who paid even a bit of attention that the man wanted nothing but to run away.

Natasha only gave him a placating smile, one an adult would aim at an anxious child.

"Now then, let's make this meeting private, shall we?" Tom pressed, gesturing with his head to Kingsley who was about to protest...

But Fudge nodded. He turned towards Kingsley and gave him a nonplussed look, one that held a clear meaning and the black-skinned Auror frowned. Still, he slowly nodded at Fudge and left the room, closing the door behind him. New novel chapters are published on

It wasn't as if he could demand being present during one of the Minister's private meetings anyway. Not even his boss, Amelia Bones, could do that.

Tom walked towards the Minister's table and without being prompted to, he sat down on the guest chair in front of it while Natasha took her position behind him, her hands gently finding their place on his shoulders.

"Well, then, Cornelius. Let's talk business." Tom said before Fudge could haphazardly blurt out something about the last night.

That really wouldn't do. Not when the DMLE was clearly more competent and bolder than Tom would have ever imagined. Fudge was obviously clueless but both Tom and Natasha could feel it.

Natasha glanced at Tom and whinily sighed, "It doesn't matter. It's not important." She tried to play it off but Tom wouldn't have that.

Tom's fingers strayed from her back towards her sides and without any warning he started to mercilessly tickle her, eliciting a lot of abrupt laughter and squirming before she started fighting back and the bed became their wrestling ring as they tried to tickle each other to surrender.

Tom might have won only because of his boundless stamina but he took pride in this kind of victory anyway. As he was straddling the 'conquered', wheezing, and laughing Natasha whose face was now as red as her hair, her hands pinned above her head by one of Tom's hands while the other was still ruthlessly tickling her side, Tom suddenly stopped, giving his victim a small reprieve.

"Come on, Natalia. If you don't tell me what's bothering you, I will unleash more of this tickling hell on you." Tom teased with a smug smile, causing her to weakly try to get out of the hold he had on her but she was too weak due to his previous tickling so it failed spectacularly.

Tom only meaningfully raised his eyebrow at her and Natasha decided to give him an exasperated look.

That was why he initiated this battle? Seriously?

"I just don't understand why you decided to pay the Minister so much money on a monthly basis when he was already in your pocket anyway." She huffed.

Tom indeed out-paid Malfoy in terms of bribes to Fudge and the Minister himself was utterly flabbergasted that he was actually going to be paid for doing Tom favors... but it clearly made the man more receptive to Tom's cause.

Fudge was a very simple man but also one who knew his limits. He was surprisingly aware of his flaws and that defined his 'ambitions'. Or to be more precise, the lack of them.

His only goal in his position as a Minister was to keep it for long enough to get so rich that once he gets out of the office, his life will be easy and fulfilling. That was it. He would become very vicious if someone endangered it in some way, but other than that, Fudge knew his place and didn't have some grand visions or stubborn opinions, and that was probably why Malfoy liked to bribe him so much.

Now that he was shown the consequences of being unruly when it came to Tom, as long as he kept him happy, in other words, as long as he paid him well, the man would never even think of 'rebelling'. That's how simple he was.

"That's it?" Tom blinked, not expecting something so... irrelevant.

"Well, I told you it is not important." Natasha rolled her eyes, not bothered in the least that Tom was still pinning her down on the bed. "If I thought it important, I would obviously share it with you."

"A-Ah. Er... you are right." Tom sheepishly smiled, really wanting to scratch his head right about now but his hands were kinda preoccupied with his significant other. "Well, okay, then, my little Padawan." He dramatically started before he put his lips near her ear and playfully whispered, "Let me explain to you the mysteries of keeping your abused servants happy!"

Needless to say, the ensuing roleplay night was long, a completely new experience, but also very enjoyable for both of them.