Professor Umbridge.

Why do you think Umbridge is so much worse? What Fudge did (and chose not to do) had an effect on many more people than anything Umbridge ever did. I think we just get more angry with Umbridge at times because what she does is more personal to Harry. But that doesn't mean that what Fudge has done is not much worse.

As far as Harry becoming an auror is concerned, the other thought I had is that it might be a bit anti-climactic.

Because Fudge was in denial. lord voldemort would cause the minstry a lot of trouble (like when the death eaters tried to get the profficey(sp?.) And then the public would see that not even the minisrty it's self could help them.
Of coarse there's always the saying 'it's worse for a good man to do nothing than the thing it's self.'
And with Umbridge what she did was like tourture or something. Making Harry write in his own blood. Bleck!

I agree.
Fudge was in denial. He's not evil, he's stupid.

Umbridge is twisted. I don't care what anyone says. She's a hateful, sick woman.
It's not really about what she did to Harry. It's that she'd do something like that in the first place.

It's the difference between cruelty and sadism.

A wolf is cruel. He is hungry and doesn't care what the rabbit thinks of it all.

A sadistic person is not looking for practical gain (like food) but inflicts pain purely for the joy of inflicting pain.

As far as Fudge and denial is concerned, as I believe I stated before, to be in denial, you have to know what is going on and that it is bad in the first place. I don't think anyone here would deny that Fudge knew what was going on. It's not denial itself I'm saying is bad. If some kid on the street decided to deny Voldemort's rise, at most he only harms himself, if even that. But Fudge isn't just some person on the street. He is in a position of power. It is his job to protect the wizarding community, so denial is not an excuse.

I never said I approved of Umbridge. She is an evil, sick, twisted woman. When I read Order of the Pheonix, I want to jump through the page and hit her with a cast iron skillet.
Yes she is sadistic. Yes what she did to Harry was evil, but in the grand scheme of things, what is making Harry writing in his own blood compared to permitting the rise of the most evil wizard the world has known?

On another note, it is about what she did to Harry. It doesn't really matter what she would do, it matters what she did or didn't do.

What I meant there is that it didn't matter that it happened to Harry. She could've done it to anyone, and I'd feel the same about it.

Wait didn't Fudge get kicked out of the ministry for something. Now some one else is the Minister. I think that's what you call 'em.

Yes.
Chapter One of the 6th book, "The Other Minister."

Yep and Scrimgeour doesn't seem much better than Fudge. Ok, so he's got better leadership skills, but that he wants to use Harry to make it seem like the ministry are winning the battle against Voldemort is rather low. I mean, after what the ministry put Harry through the previous year its pretty cheap to be doing that, particularly since the ministry is basically ignoring what it did to Harry during that time.

Of course you wouldn't. That's the nature of reading a story. We care more about the hero. You really think if you had heard whispers in the book of her doing that to some unknown Slytherin 4th year you'd care as much?
But that isn't really my point anyway.