章節 243: Trial of Dolores Umbridge: Part-1
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The courtroom was dimly lit.
There were no windows, merely torches in the brackets, lighting the room in an ominous glow. Empty benches rose along the walls of the room, but ahead were many shadowy figures in the highest benches of all. They had been talking in low voices, but as the heavy door swung open and Dolores Umbridge entered the courtroom with two Aurors flanking her, the room fell into silence.
A callous male voice rang across the courtroom.
"The accused, Dolores Umbridge, has arrived."
"Cornelius!" Umbridge broke forward towards a section of the benches, looking up at the Fudge, who currently had a complicated expression on his face. "You have to stop this, Cornelius. These imbeciles have got it wrong —"
The thick unchained manacles around Umbridge's wrists forcefully drew her hands towards her back, where little clasps locked together to restrain Umbridge's hands together. The escorting Aurors grabbed Umbridge by the shoulders and dragged her into the chair in the middle of the room while Umbridge cried indignantly. Metal chains rose from the feet of the stone chair and wrapped her arms to the armrests.
"The accused will maintain decorum, or she will be found in contempt of the court."
Umbridge, however, didn't seem to be listening. She desperately wanted to speak with Fudge; he hadn't visited at all since she had been arrested. "Cornelius! Please tell them that I did no wrong! I was simply following the Ministry's will —"
"Silence!"
The Aurors took the thunderous shout as orders and muted Umbridge with strong silencing spells. Umbridge continued to shout, but all she could do was move her mouth and emote through her red face.
The fifty people in the courtroom, wearing plum-colored robes with an elaborately worked silver W on the left-hand side of the chest and all staring down their noses at Umbridge, some with very austere expressions, others look of clear disgust, while there were looked on with rosy faces and bemused smiles.
Behind Umbridge, where she couldn't see, sat the audience to the trial, those who were part of the Court of Wizengamot — the Trial of Dolores Umbridge, while wildly popular, wasn't open to the public or media, the Ministry had locked down the trial because of the sensitive nature — only those with certain standing could attend, people like George West.
In the middle of the front row of the Wizengamot benches, behind a podium, sat Lawrence Owler, an old judge, who had long retired from politics but had been called to take the temporary position of Chief Warlock — Fudge, who had occupied the position after Dumbledore, had to vacate because of the accused being someone from his party.
Owler stared down at Umbridge, his brows furled; she had disobeyed his order of maintaining decorum. "Very well," he said. "The accused being silenced — forcefully — let us begin."
"Criminal Hearing of the fifteenth of March," said Owler in a ringing voice, and the Court Scribe sitting bottom row began taking notes at once, "into the offense committed by Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. . . in sabbatical and working as the Defense Against The Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts, along with the Ministerial position of High Inquisitor.
"Today, I, Lawrence Owler, will be the judge presiding over this case. The Prosecution Barrister and Defense Barrister will present their cases along with the evidence to support their claim." He looked at the people sitting by his sides, "Members of the Wizengamot Jury, it's for you to decide if the presented evidence you're going to hear today proves the defendant's guilt. I also inform them that it's their job to consider the evidence and not the law. I'm the judge; I'll be in charge of ensuring that the trial proceeds lawfully and, if needed, will guide you all on the finer points of the court's law." Owler turned to the front and finished, "We may now begin."
In the well of the courtroom, two tables sat on either side and a few paces back from the Umbridge's chair.
From the left rose a man dressed in black barrister robes. "Sirius Black, Auror's Office, from Prosecution."
From the right table rose another man also similarly dressed. "Jones Spindlewheel — Spindlewell & Rubis, for Defense."
Owler nodded and then looked at Umbridge. "Ms. Umbridge, I'm going to read you your charges, and after I do so, you'd be allowed to speak again, but if you again disrespect the court, I'll send you to Azkaban for your offense here even if you're found not-guilty on your charges. If you understand, please nod once."
Umbridge nodded, but her eyes were glaring daggers at Owler.
". . . Very well, the Scribe may note that Ms. Umbridge has given her affirmation," said Owler and then read her the charges. "You're accused of possessing an illegal dark magic item — twenty-nine counts of child endangerment — and twenty-nine counts of child abuse. Please tell the court if you're aware of these charges with a simple yes or no."
The Aurors pulled of the silencing charm, freeing Umbridge to speak with a tone slicing with acid, 'Yes, I'm aware!"
Owler didn't care for the tone and blandly continued, "As this is a Wizengamot Court, the court of the highest order, there's no need to pass it along the upper chain. We will be moving along; I ask the Prosecution to start with the opening statement."
Sirius Black stood up and began, "Your Worship and the members of Jury, as the charges indicate, we the Prosecution from the Auror's Office have arrested Dolores Umbridge because of her heinous crimes that you must know about from the indictment of the charges provided to you. Dolores Umbridge, on the thirteenth of March, was arrested from the Hogwarts' great hall because the Aurors Office had found out that she had been torturing the dear and bright young children, abusing her power as both a Professor and the High Inquisitor — she, who's supposed to ensure that our children are safe was instead harming them."
The Jury murmured as they peered down below at Umbridge, who looked like she wanted to bite someone's head off.
"To get a clearer picture of what happened on the day of the arrest, I'd like to call upon our first witness to the stand," said Sirius and turned to the usher. "If you'd call in Head of DMLE, Madam Amelia Susan Bones."
After a moment, Amelia Bones, a stern woman wearing a monocle and a suit, came into the courtroom and took the stand.
"Madam Bones," started Sirius, after Amelia took the oath of truth, "if you'd describe on how the Aurors Office came to arrest Dolores Umbridge and press charges against her."
"On the morning of the thirteenth, I received a package that contained dozens of film reels and a letter drawing my attention to what was on the film reels. According to the letter, Dolores Umbridge had been torturing students in the name of detention, and that many students had fallen prey to her malicious activities, and that she needed to be stopped."
"I see; what did you do after reading this letter?"
"I called upon Head Auror Scrimgeour, Captain Auror Robard, and you — Senior Auror Black into my office because of the graveness of the situation."
"What did you and your team do after?"
"We watched the reels using a projector in a conference room."
"What did the reels show?"
"The reels confirmed the letter's contents," Amelia raised her hand to touch her monocle. "The reels showed Dolores Umbridge handing the children in detention a quill and telling them to write lines. When the children wrote using the quill, the upper part of their hands was cut open, and the quill used the children's blood as ink." Amelia looked at Umbridge, "She made those pitful children write for hours, cutting their hands for hours, drawing their blood for hours, and they didn't have any means to refuse, leaving them scared and scarred."
Sirius turned to the Owler and said, "Your Worship, the Prosecution would like to play the mentioned reels for the Jury."
"Permission granted."
A projector was set up and loaded with the first reel in the series provided to the Aurors Office. The projector projected the footage, not on a screen but in the air, as a hologram.
The Jury and the audience gasped when the reel showed Harry Potter writing with a quill as it cut open his hand and drew blood. Everyone watched with wide-eyed horror at Umbridge's gleeful smile, and she spoke to Harry, which was all audible because the footage was recorded on a sound-film that not only stored video but also audio.
"Member of the Jury, as you can see, this is the reason why the Auror Office decided to Prosecute Ms. Umbridge," said Sirius, pleased with himself for choosing Harry's detention footage. "She did this to twenty-eight other children, who went through the same torture, and every child did it not for a day but for a week, some even going as far to write with the pen for two weeks."
He turned to Amelia and smiled, "Thank you, Madam Bones. I'm done with my questioning, but please remain stated, my friend from the Defense would like to ask you some questions."
Spindlewheel stood up from his chair and faced Amelia. "Madam Bones, may I ask you to tell the Jury how you got these tapes?"
"I was sent them by a Hogwarts student named Susan Bones."
"Susan Bones is your niece, correct?"
"Yes, she's my niece."
"How did she procure these reels?" Spindlewheel asked and then turned to the Jury, "We have already received permission from Ms. Susan Bones that her aunt Amelia Bones is to state her account. We have a written statement to match it. My friend, Sirius Black doesn't have any complaints about this."
Sirius got up and nodded, "I confirm that the Prosecution doesn't have any objections to this."
"Susan received these tapes from another student and, seeing that I'm the Head of DMLE, was asked by him to deliver them to me," said Amelia as a proxy.
"Do your niece always send you crucial evidence for cases?"
Sirus immediately stood up. "Objection! Your Worship, this line of questioning isn't relevant to the case," he said heatedly.
Owler nodded, "Sustained. Mr. Spindlewheel, please keep the line of questioning to the point and relevant to this case."
"My apologies, Your Worship," said Spindlewheel and turned back to Amelia. "Madam Bones, when did you decide to go arrest Ms. Umbridge? You and your team go out crusading to Hogwarts the second you saw the reels, didn't you?"
"False," said Amelia, plainly, "before any action from the Aurors Office, the reels were sent to be analyzed to verify their authenticity and that they weren't some fabrication to falsely accuse Ms. Umbridge of a crime she might not have committed."
"And what did the forensic analyst say about the tapes?"
Amelia shook her head, "That's not my place to say and would be hearsay to give the forensic analyst's account. I can, however, tell you the results of the report submitted to me."
Spindlewheel narrowed his eyes while Amelia looked up at him, confidence shining behind her monocle. She wasn't going to fall into his trap. A witness was only allowed to present their side of the account, and saying others' accounts was hearsay and, if done repeatedly, could be a blow to the witness' credibility as it became unclear if they were telling their or someone else's account.
"I see," said Spindlewheel, "then what did you do after —"
Owler cut off Spindlewheel and spoke to Amelia, "For the better understanding of the Jury, would you please state the results of the forensic report."
"Yes, Your Worship," said Amelia and then turned to the Jury she'd be otherwise a part of, "the result proved conclusively that the footage recorded on the reels was one hundred percent authentic without any signs of magical alterations or fabrication."
"Thank you," said Owler, jotting down his personal notes, "please continue."
Spindlewheel silently sighed; he didn't want the Jury to directly hear that the tapes were genuine articles. But there was no use of dwelling on such things; he had to move along.
"Madam Bones, it surprises me that you personally went out to arrest Ms. Umbridge. I didn't know that Head of DMLE had started to take part in arrests," he asked.
"The case was serious enough that I decided to go along for this particular one, said Amelia, but her voice softened as she continued, "I also wanted to make sure that my niece was alright. . . she hadn't written if she had been part of those detentions, and I couldn't watch hours worth of footage. . . the aunt part of me couldn't sit still, I had to see my daughter." (yes, she said daughter)
Spindlewheel narrowed eyes, glanced at Jury, and spotted some nods and approving whispers. He looked back at Amelia, and there was a smile in her eyes. Damn it!
"Thank you, Madam Bones," he said, "that'd be all from my side as well." She needed to go before the Jury began to tilt towards the Prosecution.
Amelia got up, bowed to Owler and the Jury before leaving.
Sirius got up from his chair, poker-faced, but inside, he was doing backflips. "Your Worship, next we'd like to call upon Captain Auror Gawain Robards to the stand to tell his account of the arrest."
Captain Auror Gawain Robards, a stern, square-jawed man with a gait of confidence and discipline, took the stand, bowing to Owler and Jury, sworn to say the truth, before turning to Sirius.
"Captain, would you please tell us about your investigation of Ms. Umbridge's office at Hogwarts?"
"Yes, we went to the scene of the tapes right after we detained Dolores Umbridge; we were primarily looking for the quill seen in the footage. After some searching, we not only found the quill but also many more, all used, bloodstains still present."
Another round of gasps and chattering fired up in the courtroom as all looked Umbridge, who had fixed her sight straight ahead, looking into the distance.
"What did you do with them?" asked Sirius, after Owler silenced the rowdy crowd.
"We bagged-tagged them—"
Robards was cut-off by Owler, "Captain Robards, please don't use we in your testimony, give only your own account, and please refrain from using jargons."
Robards nodded with a set jaw. It had been a while since he had to speak in court; his days as the lead-Auror on cases were past him; these days, he mostly did supervising duties.
"Captain, who do you mean by when you say we?" asked Sirius; it was an excellent Prosecutors job to ease the witnesses' time in the court.
"That would be myself, you — Senior Auror Black, and Junior Aurors Shinkers and Reed — us four went into Dolores Umbridge's office to secure evidence for later analysis."
"I see, as the lead-Auror on this case, you're aware of the blood reports on the quills you found?"
"Yes, I do."
"Mind telling what these reports stated."
"After we saw the footage and identified the students, my team took blood samples from all of them and sent them to the lab to be compared. The result was that the lab found a match for all thirteen bloodstains we were able to retrieve from the twenty-nine blood samples we collected."
"Excellent work, Captain. Now I have one last question, would you please tell us how these quills work?"
"Of course. These quills work on the same principle as contract-signing quills, which for clarification, take a small amount of blood from the user to use as ink before healing the small pin wound made to extract blood. Dolores Umbridge's blood quills, as we have come to call them, require a student to write for hours, so it keeps on sucking blood, and it's charmed to cause deep cuts in the shape of the words that the students wrote."
By now, none of the Jury members were looking at Umbridge with pleased eyes — not even those with the Dark faction. If she had laid her hands on the Boy-Who-Lived, she would've not hesitated to lay them on their own children.
Spindlewheel got up, feeling a bit worried about the direction of the trial.
"Captain Robards, did you find anything else in Ms. Umbridge's office other than these quills?"
"We discovered a suspicious amount of ash in the office's fireplace. When we analyzed them, we found that they were from parchment. We think they're from the parchments that the students wrote on."
"But you have no proof to confirm that claim."
". . . No, we don't."
Spindlewheel turned to Owler and said, "That'll be all from our side, Your Worship."
Sirius Black rose again and spoke, "For the next witness, the Prosecution would like to call to the stand, Albus Dumbledore."
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Quinn West - MC - Not here, but definitely in the next chapter.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - You guys were right; it would take another chapter. Also, I suck at righting court scenes. Do you guys have any recommendation fics that do court cases well? I don't remember reading any. I sort of just "roughly" emulating the real deal, fingers crossed.
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