Rufus Scrimgeour

"The Prime Minister's first, foolish thought was that Rufus Scrimgeour looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks of gray in his his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows, he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp. There was an immediate impression of shrewdness and toughness; the Prime Minister thought he understood why the wizarding community preferred Scrimgeour to Fudge in these dangerous times."

- The Prime Minister's thoughts on Rufus Scrimgeour

Rufus Scrimgeour (died August 1st, 1997) originally joined the Ministry of Magic as an Auror, where he became a hardened veteran spending most of his life fighting Dark Wizards. Eventually he rose to become Head of the Auror Office. During the Second Wizarding War, Scrimgeour was elected to succeed Cornelius Fudge as Minister for Magic. While he appeared to provide a much tougher and resolute stance against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters, he made the same mistake of creating the appearance of safety and security, while in truth Scrimgeour's efforts were wanting in progress in the war. This policy ultimately cost Scrimgeour his life, as it left the Ministry open for infiltration by the Death Eaters, who used several high-ranking Ministry officials, all of which had been subverted to their control, to launch a successful coup and bring it under Voldemort's control. Voldemort, wanting the location of Harry Potter, captured and brutally tortured Scrimgeour, though when Scrimgeour refused to talk, Voldemort killed him.

Head of the Auror Office
Rufus Scrimgeour was a hardened Auror, capable of fighting Dark Wizards. He worked alongside Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alastor Moody and Gawain Robards.

When he was the Head of the Auror Office, he often questioned Tonks and Shacklebolt about Sirius Black. He left his job at the Auror Office when Cornelius Fudge was asked to step down from his position as Minister in 1996. Gawain Robards replaced Scrimgeour as Head of the Auror Office.

Minister for Magic
Scrimgeour was appointed Minister for Magic in the weeks following Lord Voldemort's reappearance at the Ministry in 1996. The previous year, the Ministry under Fudge had denied any evidence of Voldemort's return and branded Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter liars for saying the opposite. As a result, when Voldemort finally stepped into the open and declared open war on both Britain's wizarding and Muggle communities, Fudge left office in disgrace and was replaced by the more active Scrimgeour.

Scrimgeour, though seemingly more capable than Fudge, decided to prioritise appearances over truth in his battle against Voldemort. Appearantly, Scrimgeour distrusted Dumbledore in a similar way to Fudge before him, as he assigned John Dawlish to follow Dumbledore during his frequent departures from Hogwarts. 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, even though it was apparent to Harry that Shunpike was merely innocent and foolish.

He also quarrelled with Albus Dumbledore over the use of Harry Potter, the said "Chosen One", as a mascot for the Ministry to "boost morale". He had a confrontation with Harry over this at the Burrow, alongside Percy Weasley, and later at Dumbledore's funeral.

Scrimgeour spoke to Harry once more at the Burrow a month after Dumbledore's death to read the late wizard's will to Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, interrupting Harry's birthday party. Because at the time the war was going particularly badly, Scrimegeour appeared to have aged considerable and his appearance had changed to "scraggy" and "grim". He had delayed reading out Dumbledore's personal bequeathments for thirty-one days under the Decree for Justifiable Confiscation in order to inspect the items. Scrimgeour was highly suspicious of Dumbledore's gifts to the three, namely Dumbledore's Deluminator to Ron, a Golden Snitch to Harry, and an original copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard to Hermione, and bombarded them with questions as to their intent. Scrimgeour refused to give Harry Dumbledore's final gift, Godric Gryffindor's sword, believing it to be public property that Dumbledore had no right to give away.

When Harry criticized Scrimgeour for wasting his time scrutinizing Dumbledore's things and for covering up the recent escape of dozens of Death Eaters from Azkaban, the two came close to a duel, in spite of Scrimgeour's claim that he did seek to work together to fight Voldemort. The arrival of Arthur and Molly Weasley forced Scrimgeour to calm down, and then depart. Scrimgeour correctly guessed that there might be something hidden inside the Golden Snitch, although he never found out what, as Dumbledore had made sure that the Snitch would only open "in the end".

Assassination
Shortly afterward, on August 1, 1997, the Death Eaters staged a successful coup on the Ministry, as they now had agents loyal to them surrounding the Minister, and as such were able to make a successful attempt on his life. Pius Thicknesse, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and several other high-ranking Ministry officials had all been placed under the Imperius Curse. Scrimgeour was captured and brutally tortured by Voldemort for information on Harry's whereabouts, but Scrimgeour, having "put up quite a fight" in his final moments, refused to talk. The official line to Scrimgeour's murder was that he resigned, and Thicknesse was appointed as a puppet Minister.

Harry, Ron and Hermione came to respect Scrimgeour after learning of his sacrifice.

Physical Appearance
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. With time, the stresses of the failing conflict reached him, and when last seen he appeared badly-shaven, scraggy and grim.

Personality
Scrimgeour was, according to Dumbledore, a "man of action", having fought against Dark Wizards throughout his career as an Auror and climbed ambitiously through the Ministry. He gave an impression of shrewd toughness and was more decisive and forceful than his predecessor, Cornelius Fudge. Scrimgeour did not underestimate Voldemort and cared a great deal about the Ministry’s reputation, though at the expense of justice; he even ordered the arrest of innocent people to give the impression that the Ministry was doing something, not unlike Barty Crouch Sr. He tried unsuccessfully various times to convince Harry to work for the Ministry as a mascot to improve morale: once during the Christmas holidays, another after Dumbledore’s funeral. In the end, however, Scrimgeour proved his conviction and bravery when he refused, under torture, to tell Voldemort where Harry was hiding.

Etymology

 * Rufus is a Latin name meaning "red". It was a Roman cognomen as well as the nickname of King William II of England, who had the reputation for being an effective soldier but a ruthless and unpopular ruler. Scrimgeour is a Scottish surname that is believed to probably mean "skirmish", from the French escrimeur, meaning "swordsman".

Behind the scenes

 * 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 uncle 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
 * On July 6, 2009, Bill Nighy confirmed that he will indeed be playing Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film)

Notes and references
Rufus Scrimgeour Руфус Скримджер