Character Analysis
The Prime Minister is the first character we meet in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in a chapter that J.K. Rowling has attempted to fit into nearly every other book that precedes this one (source). The leader of the Muggle world in Britain, the Prime Minister has his hands full with the countless tragedies that continue to afflict his people. At first dreading his meeting with Cornelius Fudge (recently deposed Minister of Magic), the Prime Minister grows to understand him:
To his great surprise, the Prime Minister felt a fleeting stab of pity for Fudge at this point. It was, however, eclipsed almost immediately by a glow of smugness at the thought that, deficient though he himself might be in the area of materializing out of fireplaces, there had never been a murder in any of the government departments under his charge….Not yet, anyway… (1.68)