In the dark Wizengamot courtroom, Dumbledore had already taken Harry and Ron to the plaintiff's seat.
There were about fifty people in the entire courtroom, most of them wearing purple robes with an exquisite silver "W" embroidered on the left chest.
Few of them paid attention to Peter, the defendant. Instead, they all looked down at Harry who was sitting in the plaintiff's seat below. Some of them were a little more restrained, while others did not hide their curiosity about the boy who survived a disaster.
Harry and Ron rarely saw such a scene, and they both looked a little nervous. They stayed as close to Dumbledore as possible, and occasionally looked back at the chained chair in the middle of the courtroom.
Peter sat on a chair with his hands chained to it, his fat, rough face wrinkled, sobbing timidly.
However, to Sirius's surprise, the resurrected First Class Order of Merlin was not alone.
There was an old lady standing nearby, quietly watching Peter huddled in the chair. Her expression contained some sadness, but more of a determination to throw the jar into the air.
"This is Peter's mother... why is she here?" Sirius walked into the courtroom and frowned when he saw the old woman.
"It's normal for a mother to come and accompany her son when he is about to be tried, right?" Dracula said nonchalantly.
"That's not the case." Sirius shook his head. "Among the four robbers, Peter's mother was the most difficult to deal with, except for the mother who kicked me out of Black's ancestral home... I'm afraid she will cause some trouble."
"It doesn't matter. Since I promised to help you, I won't let anyone else stir up any trouble." Dracula glanced at the old woman and raised his mouth coldly, "I want to see what she can do."
Sirius nodded slightly, straightened his collar a little nervously, walked slowly to the plaintiff's seat, and stood next to Harry.
Then he gently took off the mask on his face.
As the recognized savior of the wizarding world and the boy-who-lived who expelled Voldemort, Harry has always been one of the most watched people in the entire courtroom, and the seats around him naturally attracted more attention.
Sirius's actions immediately attracted the attention of many Wizengamot members.
"Wait, that's, Sirius Black?!" A witch sitting on the jury was looking at Harry, and accidentally caught a glimpse of Sirius' face and exclaimed.
"What? Why is he here?"
"What is he doing here?!"
"… "
The courtroom suddenly became chaotic.
Some people began to whisper loudly to each other; some looked back and forth between Sirius and the door of the courtroom with fearful eyes, as if looking for the best escape route; some timid jurors were even frightened and fell off their seats...
"Sirius..." Harry looked up at Sirius worriedly.
"Don't worry, Harry, your parents' revenge will be soon."
Sirius calmed down amidst the numerous questioning, scrutinizing and fearful gazes. He smiled softly to his godson and looked indifferently at Cornelius Fudge who was at the front of the courtroom.
At important trial ceremonies, the Minister of Magic will serve as the Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot and preside over the entire trial.
Fudge was also startled by Sirius's arrival.
He subconsciously thought that Sirius was here to cause trouble, and almost turned around to ask the Auror for protection.
It was not until he saw Sirius's calm eyes looking at him that Fudge realized that he was standing in the plaintiff's seat, and it was obvious that he did not want to solve the problem with violence.
"Ahem... Be quiet!" Fudge coughed embarrassingly, then shouted angrily, "This is the Wizengamot courtroom! Why are you all making so much noise?"
The courtroom gradually quieted down, but all kinds of worried, wary and fearful looks still swept over Sirius from time to time.
Sirius ignored these looks and just chatted with Harry, asking him how his term was, whether he had won the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor, and whether he had fun with his friends in Hogsmeade...
Dracula also walked to the plaintiff's seat and used Transfiguration to create a luxurious chair for himself. He sat on the chair, crossed his legs, and looked at the scene in the courtroom curiously.
At this moment, he suddenly felt a vicious and hateful gaze shooting towards him from the front of the courtroom.
Dracula turned his head to the front of the courtroom and saw two witches sitting on either side of Fudge.
Sitting on Fudge's left was a broad-built, square-jawed witch with short grey hair. She looked very capable and wore a monocle on her nose. Her serious expression was intimidating.
To Fudge's right sat another witch, who was sitting far back on the bench, her entire face shrouded in shadow - the hateful look came from the shadow.
Dracula raised the corner of his mouth with interest.
The witch might have thought that she would not be seen if she hid in the shadows, but how could Dracula's vision be compared with that of an ordinary wizard? He easily saw the ugly face hidden in the shadows.
Dolores Umbridge, the extremely impressive pink toad.
"I don't know what Fudge likes about Umbridge that he keeps such a person around all day long." Dracula thought with a sense of evil.
Before I knew it, the minute hand of the huge clock on the wall quietly pointed to "6", and the time for the court session quietly arrived.
"Everyone, be quiet!" Fudge shouted. "Time is up. Now, the trial officially begins!"
Peter's body began to tremble noticeably, and Mrs. Pettigrew beside him finally turned her gaze away from her son and looked at Sirius in the plaintiff's seat with a scary look.
Fudge read out step by step: "This trial is jointly presided over by the Minister for Magic Cornelius Oswald Fudge, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Amelia Susan Bones, and the Senior Under-Minister Dolores Jane Umbridge -"
"The plaintiff, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, accuses Peter Pettigrew of colluding with the Death Eaters during the Wizarding War to kill James Potter and several other wizards; after the war, he blew up the streets, killed dozens of Muggles, and faked his own death to escape."
"If the accusation is true, Peter Pettigrew's actions have seriously violated the Regulations Strictly Restricting the Use of Dark Magic, the Criminal Code of the British Wizarding World, and the International Statute of Secrecy. Does the defendant have any objection?"
Fudge looked up from his manuscript and looked at Peter and Mrs. Pettigrew.
"Mr. Minister, I have an objection." Mrs. Pettigrew looked at Sirius fiercely and said in a hoarse voice.
"Go ahead." Fudge looked at her approvingly.
"Mr. Minister, I think everyone present knows that the person who committed those crimes was not my son, but Sirius Black who is standing over there!" She suddenly pointed her index finger at Sirius and said loudly.
"I don't understand. How can a dark wizard and wanted criminal who has surrendered to Voldemort, escaped from Azkaban, and has no respect for the Ministry of Magic now stand on the plaintiff's side? Is it just because of Albus Dumbledore's protection?!"
As soon as she opened her mouth, Mrs. Pettigrew showed her great ability to make trouble and stir up trouble. Instead of steadily defending Peter's crimes, she took the offensive as defense and directly attacked Sirius.
Sirius was too impatient to stand such a provocation. He jumped up from his stool on the spot and started to curse at Mrs. Pettigrew.
However, before he could act, a strong hand pressed on his shoulder.
Dumbledore shook his head slightly at Sirius and stood up first.
"I don't agree with Mrs. Petillo's testimony." He said in a deep voice, "Her testimony does not contain any evidence to defend Mr. Peter Petillo. She just attacks our witnesses and tries to intensify the conflict and divert attention."
"This practice seriously violates the fairness and rationality of the trial. I think Mrs. Petillo's behavior should be a warning. If she still can't produce reasonable evidence to prove Mr. Petillo's innocence, then the conclusion is obvious."
Obviously, compared to the extremely aggressive Mrs. Pettigrew, the calmer and wiser Dumbledore's words were more logical and more in line with the trial procedures.
"Does the defendant have any additional evidence?" Fudge asked again.
"Of course there is evidence!" Mrs. Petillo said loudly, "Our Peter is a recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class. He is recognized by the wizarding world as a hero who resisted Sirius Black. It is impossible for him to do something like joining the mysterious man!"
"Besides, Peter has no motivation to join You-Know-Who! On the other hand, Sirius Black, his Black family has produced many Death Eaters, and his cousin and brother are the backbone of the Death Eaters. His joining You-Know-Who is completely in line with expectations..."
"Wait a moment, Mrs. Pettigrew," Dumbledore interrupted, "with all due respect, there is absolutely no evidence in your statement to defend Peter Pettigrew—"
"It turns out that the Order of Merlin, First Class, was just a misunderstanding, and he had every reason to join Voldemort, which was the fear of death! If you still can't come up with reasonable evidence to prove that Mr. Pettigrew is innocent, then why don't we explain the case first?"
Dumbledore gave Mrs. Pettigrew a cold look and continued calmly.
"This is Mr. Ronald Wesley." He pointed at Ron. "Peter Pettigrew cut off one of his fingers after blowing up the entire street, used an illegal Animagus to transform into a rat, and has been a pet of the Wesleys for more than ten years."
"I object!" Mrs. Petillo's eyes lit up, and she shouted excitedly as if she had found a loophole. "What evidence do you have to prove that Peter can use Animagus? He is so weak and not as talented as his friends. How could he learn Animagus?"
"I certainly have a way to transform him into animagus form," Dumbledore said calmly.
"Who knows if you will secretly use human transformation to do something to Peter?" Mrs. Petillo retorted, "The whole wizarding world knows that you are a powerful wizard, and you are the best at Transfiguration. You can definitely disguise Peter as an Animagus!"
"So what do you want to do, Mrs. Pettigrew?" Dumbledore said softly, "You have never produced any substantial evidence to defend Peter from beginning to end. This verbal explanation is invalid."
"But... but there is no Dark Mark on Peter's arm, which fully proves that he is not a Death Eater!" Mrs. Pettigrew argued forcefully.
"It's just that Voldemort didn't have time to carve the Dark Mark on him before the accident happened." Dumbledore said as he asked Sirius to pull up his sleeves. "As you can see, there is no Dark Mark on Sirius' arm. Doesn't this conflict with your previous testimony?"
"you you… "
Just when Mrs. Pettigrew was almost speechless, Fudge suddenly spoke.
"Plaintiffs and defendants, please do not argue in the courtroom and pay attention to the emotions of the jury."
He emphasized the word "emotion".
Dumbledore frowned slightly and gave Fudge a cold look.
Mrs. Petillo got the hint and immediately realized that the final result of the trial would be decided by voting.
She knew what she should do to save Peter's life.
"I... I understand that, given Dumbledore's reputation in the wizarding world, the adults present here would definitely prefer to believe him rather than an old woman like me..."
Mrs. Petillo's unreasonable demeanor suddenly changed. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped the corners of her eyes with extreme sadness.
Mrs. Pettigrew's grief was indeed genuine, and her tears could not stop falling, which was very contagious, and the atmosphere in the entire courtroom became quiet along with her.
"I'm old, I can't speak eloquently, and I can't find any solid evidence..." She cried and choked, "But I really can't lose Peter!"
"You have no idea how sad I was when I received his remains with only one finger left, and how proud I was of him when I learned that the Ministry of Magic posthumously awarded him the Order of Merlin, First Class..."
"A few days ago, I suddenly received a piece of news that told me that Peter was not dead! I was so excited that my dying body seemed to become full of energy, but soon I learned that Peter might be sentenced to death..."
"This up and down mood is killing me, an old woman!"
Mrs. Pettigrew wiped her tears and spoke in a touching tone, and the eyes of many sentimental Wizengamot members gradually softened.
Harry and Ron stared at the scene in amazement, their minds full of question marks.
There is such an operation?
…
…