Pius Thicknesse

Pius Thicknesse was a Ministry of Magic official who, during the Second Wizarding War, became Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement after the murder of Amelia Bones in 1996 by Lord Voldemort. He was described as being a "long-haired wizard" and having "long, black hair and beard (which was) streaked with silver" and also having "a great overhanging forehead (which) shadowed his glinting eyes, putting (Harry) in mind of a crab looking out from beneath a rock".

In 1997, As part of Voldemort's plan to take control of the Ministry itself, Death Eater Yaxley, with difficulty and after great effort, succeeded in placing an Imperius Curse on Thicknesse. Yaxley mentioned it was "a little trickier than (he) expected" and made him very nearly late for an important gathering at Malfoy Manor. Though many of the Death Eaters sitting around Yaxley looked impressed (and Antonin Dolohov actually clapped him on the back as a sign of congradulations), Voldemort merely replied to his report that "It's a start", as Thicknesse was only one man, and Rufus Scrimgeour must be surrounded by agents loyal to Voldemort before he acted, and knew one failed attempt on the Minister's life would set him back a long way.

Thicknesse prooved useful, however, since, as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Thicknesse had regular contact not only with the Minister himself, but also with the Heads of all the other Ministry departments, making it easier to subjugate the others now Voldemort had such a high-ranking official under his control.

Thicknesse proceeded to do just that, remaining undiscovered and using his position to infiltrate the senior ranks of the Ministry, slowly working together to bring Scrimgeour down, and Thicknesse aided Voldemort to trap Harry Potter at 4 Privet Drive, mainly by making it an imprisonable offence to connect the house to the Floo Network, placing a Portkey there or Apparate in or out, doing it all in the name of Harry's protection and to prevent Voldemort getting at him. In reality, it was absolutely pointless, as Harry's mother's left-over charm did that already. All these actions really did was stop Harry from getting out of the house safely. The Trace was also in effect, so if Harry or anyone around him casted a spell to get him out of there, Thicknesse would know about it and so would the Death Eaters. The Order of the Phoenix, as a result, believed Thicknesse had "gone over", which made it a big problem with the plan to move Harry, causing them to abandon the original plan, as they were unable to wait for the Trace to break, as the moment he turned seventeen, all his protection he received from his mother would be lost. In short, Thicknesse thought he had Harry cornered good and proper, to which Harry couldn't help but agree (despite the fact he knew nothing about the man).

As such, the Order was reduced to using the only means of magical transport left to them; Broomsticks, Thestrals and Sirius Black's motorcycle, setting the stage of the Flight from Little Whinging, and murder of Alastor Moody by Voldemort.

Eventually, Thicknesse and the other subverted high-ranking Ministry officials, launched a "smooth and virtually silent" coup alongside the Death Eaters, and the Ministry fell. The Daily Prophet was also taken over, and the official version of Scrimgeour's murder is that he resigned, and Thicknesse replaced him, who the Order, at this point, now knew was under the control of the Imperius Curse. As a result, Thicknesse was nothing more than a puppet, taking care of everyday business from his office on Level One at Ministry Headquarters, while Voldemort, effectively the true Minister, was free to extend his power beyond the Ministry.

Thicknesse, at Voldemort's direction, installed a new regime at the Ministry, making it darker and more liking to the views and beliefs of Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Such efforts included;
 * Having the "Magic is Might" statue erected in the Atrium
 * Appointing several Death Eaters, including Yaxley, Travers and Selwyn to powerful positions in the Ministry (Yaxley being appointed as Thicknesse's replacement as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement).
 * Appointing Severus Snape as Hogwarts Headmaster and Amycus Carrow and Alecto Carrow as Hogwarts Teachers.
 * Declaring Harry as "Undesirable No. 1" and "Wanted for questioning about the death of Albus Dumbledore" with a 10000 Galleon reward on his head.
 * Using falsified recent research done in the Department of Mysteries by the re-instated Augustus Rookwood, which "prooved" that Muggle-born witches and wizards cannot have magical abilities.
 * Forming (as a result of the former) the Muggle-Born Registration Commission to round up, interrogate and persecute Muggle-borns, with Dolores Umbridge as its head.
 * Allowing the formation of the Snatchers organisation when Muggle-borns went on the run.

When Harry, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley infiltrated the Ministry in search of one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, Harry encounted Thicknesse while in the form of Albert Runcorn, whome Thicknesse seemed familiar with. Thicknesse, at the time, was wearing magnificent robes of black and gold at the time (most likely because of his abuse of the power of his position).

Harry witnessed Thicknesse's altered nature while under the Imperius Curse, which showed him having a strong hatred for Muggle-borns, referring to them as Mudbloods, and as such pushed Umbridge to begin "interviews" with the first 20 rounded up Muggle-borns as quickly as possible. He also believed Blood Traitors (such as Arthur Weasley whom he had tracked and all his movements monitored) were even worse. While Harry was searching for the Horcrux in Umbridge's office, Thicknesse arrived momentarily to jot down a note, and almost discovered Harry while he was under the Invisibility Cloak, though failed to notice him.

In 1998, when Xenophilius Lovegood, hoping to get his kidnapped daughter Luna back (as a result of his activities to support Harry and the Anti-Voldemort Movement), sent an owl to the Ministry, informing him of Harry's location at his home. Thicknesse promptly dispatched several Death Eaters, including Travers and Selwyn, by broomsticks to investigate.

During the Battle of Hogwarts, Thicknesse was discovered within the ranks of the Death Eaters, and fought with them against the castle's defenders. Thicknesse was amongst a group of masked and hooded Death Eaters who successfully penetrated Hogwarts, and dueled with Percy Weasley, but was forced to back off from the massive amount of curses being fired by Harry, Hermione and Ron. Thicknesse, however, backed off too fast, however, and his hood slipped, and they all saw Thicknesse's high forehead and streaked hair, recognizing him instantly. Percy then sent a neat jinx straight at Thicknesse, who then dropped his wand and clawed at the front of his robes, apparently in awful discomfort. As he did, Percy mockingly greeted his former boss and bellowed he was resigning. Thicknesse then fell to the ground with tiny spikes erupting all over him, as the jinx was Transfiguration-based. Thicknesse narrowly survived Rookwood's curse, that destroyed a great deal of the castle, before (somehow) retreating along with his comrades at Voldemort's command.

When the battle later recommenced, Thicknesse was floored by Arthur and Percy. After Voldemort's death, the Imperiused up and down the country had finally come back to themselves, including Thicknesse, but by now he was in no condition to lead or serve any longer. As a result, Kingsley Shacklebolt was named Temporary Minister for Magic, and later permanent.