In the very middle of the front row sat Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Fudge was a portly man who often sported a lime-green bowler hat, though today he had dispensed with it; he had dispensed too with the indulgent smile he had once worn when he spoke to Harry. A witch with very short grey hair—but with a face that looked thirtyish—sat on Fudge’s left; she wore a monocle and looked serious. On Fudge’s right was another witch, but she was sitting so far back on the bench that her face was in shadow.