Part 2 of my Comment
And Scrimgeour, oh Gods, Scrimgeour. He is one of my favorite characters of the series, and he was phenomenal in this, from the description of him pacing the floor to the conversation he and Dawlish have in bed. You can see his flaws here so clearly; his devil-may-care bravery; his arrogance, that he could keep info Dumbledore shared from Voldemort's spies. And his utter focus on the Ministry to the exclusion of everything else; makes for a rather bleak, cold life; it's funny because it terrified Dawlish that Crouch found something more important than the Ministry, but we as the reader are left wishing Scrimgeour could have found something similar.
I adored the line about byzantine tactics and marshalling facts like soldiers because this is so close to how I see him. And despite his flaws, you see that he has a point, that there really is only so much the Ministry can do unless Dumbledore helps, and that there are two perceptions of every encounter; just as Harry thought Scrimgeour was arrogant, it's not surprising he thought the same. And he's trying so bloody hard to defeat this nebulous enemy against terrible odds, doing the best he knows how, and I admire that immensely.
And the end.. bleak and harsh and absolutely perfect. Oh John, you lost so very much.
I can't wait for reveals so I can fangirl you madly and devour your masterlist, mystery author!