Chapter 446 The trial is over

Chapter 446 The trial is over
As the trial began, Mr. Runcorn, the prosecutor, opened his mouth and announced the summons of the first witness of the trial - Dumbledore.

Dumbledore strode over calmly, wearing a dark blue robe and with a very peaceful expression on his face. He came to a place parallel to Harry, raised his head, and looked at Fudge through the half-moon glasses on his crooked nose. His long silver beard and hair gleamed in the torchlight.

The Wizengamot members were all whispering to each other. All eyes were on Dumbledore. Some looked annoyed, some looked a little scared, and two elderly witches sitting in the back row actually waved in welcome.

A gleam of light flashed in Schelling's eyes as he memorized the appearance and names of the two witches. Although this seemed to be the plot in the original book, he still did not expect that with his repeated help, Fudge's attacks and smears on Dumbledore still could not completely erase Dumbledore's influence in the political arena.

Facing the calm and composed Dumbledore, Fudge, the presiding judge, seemed a little flustered, which made Shering, who was far behind, secretly shake his head.

The two of them chatted for a while, and then Dumbledore gently declined the inarticulate Fudge's kindness, found a chair for himself, and sat down. His gentle and elegant appearance did not look like the old and confused person described by the Daily Prophet in the past month. The atmosphere on the scene slowly changed -

Dumbledore's attitude made all the Wizengamot members present feel uneasy, because if Dumbledore was not senile or crazy, then did it mean that the news he announced a while ago was very likely to be true?

That person is really back!

This is undoubtedly a cruel reality that many people are unwilling to face.

Compared to Dumbledore who always maintained a polite attitude, Fudge, who was sitting uncomfortably in the judgement seat, acted more like a clueless clown. At this moment, Dumbledore had obviously firmly grasped the initiative of the conversation.

Fudge moved the documents in front of him around, and finally pulled out a piece of parchment from a pile of documents. He took a deep breath and read aloud: "The defendant is charged with the following crimes:
"The defendant, who had previously been warned in writing by the Ministry of Magic for similar charges, knowingly and intentionally, at 9:23 p.m. on 2 August, in a Muggle-inhabited area, in the presence of a Muggle, in full knowledge that his actions were unlawful, cast a Patronus Charm in violation of Section 3 of the Statute for the Reasonable Restraint of Underage Wizards, 1875, and Section 13 of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy."

As Fudge finished reading the charges against Harry, he began to interrogate Harry about his crimes in an aggressive tone, giving Harry almost no chance to refute.

Finally, Amelia, who was always fair, couldn't stand it anymore and interrupted, "You conjured up a fully mature patronus?"

"Yes," said Harry, "because—"

"A physical patronus?"

"A - what?" asked Harry.

"Your Patronus has a clearly defined form? I mean, it's not just vapor or smoke?"

"Yes," said Harry, feeling irritated and a little desperate, "it's a stag. It's always a stag."

Amelia nodded slightly and said, "Regardless of your purpose, I must say that being able to cast a true patronus at the age of fifteen is indeed an amazing achievement."

Fudge tutted his mouth in disdain and said in a loud voice, "That's nothing special. As far as I know, there are at least ten students in Hogwarts who can cast a true Patronus, and one of them is sitting here. He is the youth representative of the Wizengamot, Mr. Shaylin Malfoy."

Everyone in the courtroom was in an uproar.

They all turned their heads and focused their gaze on Xie Ling, their eyes filled with curiosity and awe.

Xie Ling secretly sneered in his heart, but he showed a confident smile on his face and said loudly: "I can testify on behalf of Minister Fudge on this point, because - those students who can cast complete entity Patronus are all my friends."

"Okay," Fudge smiled and nodded to Sherin, then turned around and said in a slightly annoyed tone, "In fact, I think the more amazing the Patronus Charm is, the worse it is, because that kid just wanted to show off his talent and actually did it in front of a Muggle!"

“I did that because of the Dementors!” Harry exclaimed.

There was a sudden silence in the courtroom.

Amelia said incredulously, "Dementors? In Little Whinging?"

Fudge tried to guide the interrogation, accusing Harry of having carefully prepared a lie, but unexpectedly, Dumbledore directly called in a witness - Mrs. Figg, who lived in Little Whinging. She was a Squib, so she was not recorded in the Ministry of Magic's population files. This also caused Fudge to be unprepared for Dumbledore's move.

A gleam of light flashed in Xie Lin's eyes, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and his fingers gently stroked the ring on it. The plot finally came to the moment he had been waiting for.

Soon, Mrs. Figg was brought in by Percy. Dumbledore stood up, gave the chair to Mrs. Figg, and conjured another one for himself.

"A Squib, eh?" Fudge said, eyeing Ms. Figg suspiciously after she introduced herself as a Squib. "We'll check. You can tell my assistant Wesley about your parents later. By the way, can Squibs see Dementors?" he added, glancing left and right at the people on the bench.

"Yes, we can see it!" said Mrs. Figg angrily. Fudge looked down upon her again and raised his eyebrows. "Very well," he said coldly, "what is your argument?"

"On the evening of August 2nd, about nine o'clock, I went out to the corner store on Wisteria Lane to buy cat food," Mrs. Figg began rapidly, as if she had memorized everything she was going to say, "and then I heard a commotion coming from the alley between Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Lane. I went to the end of the alley and saw the Dementors running -"

"Run?" said Madam Bones sternly. "Dementors don't run, they glide."

"That's what I meant," said Mrs. Figg quickly, a blush creeping into her withered face, "sliding down the alley and jumping on what looked like two boys."

"What do they look like?" Ms. Bones said, squinting so hard that the rim of her monocle dug into her flesh.

"Oh," said Mrs. Figg, the blush now spreading to her neck, "they're big. Very big, with the cape on."

The courtroom fell into silence for a short while. However, at this moment, a light laugh sounded out of place, which seemed particularly abrupt in this depressing atmosphere.

Everyone's eyes instantly turned to the source of the sound - Xie Ling.

He sat at the delegates' table, his mouth slightly raised in an amused smile. Fudge frowned, Umbridge's mouth twitched, and Dumbledore glanced at Shearing thoughtfully.

"What's so funny, Mr. Malfoy?" Fudge asked unhappily, with a hint of warning in his voice. The current situation seemed to be developing in a direction that was not favorable to him, and he didn't want Shering to create more variables that he couldn't deal with.

Sherin just shrugged his shoulders, looking relaxed: "Nothing, I just thought of a way to easily confirm whether Ms. Figg's testimony is true." As he spoke, he waved his hand and an elegant paper crane appeared, circled lightly in the air, and then slowly landed in front of Fudge's desk.

Fudge opened the paper crane suspiciously, his expression changed slightly, and then he exchanged a few words with Umbridge in a low voice. The latter narrowed her eyes and glanced at Sherin gloomily, but finally nodded imperceptibly.

A few minutes later, a black mist suddenly gathered in the open space in front of the judge's seat, and then two Dementors slowly emerged, and a cold atmosphere suddenly filled the courtroom. Mrs. Figg shrank back in horror, her face as pale as paper.

"Tell me, what is this?" Fudge demanded sternly.

"This... this is a Dementor!" she stammered.

The wizards in the trial seat looked at each other in bewilderment.

"A Dementor?" Amelia said seriously. "One?"

Mrs. Figg was completely panicked at this moment and couldn't utter a word.

"It seems that there is something wrong with Ms. Figg's eyes," Fudge said sarcastically, "or...she can't see the Dementors at all?"

As soon as these words came out, a low murmur suddenly sounded in the courtroom. Amelia frowned, obviously thinking about why Schelling intervened in this matter earlier.

Mrs. Figg opened her mouth and wanted to explain something, but under the oppressive presence of the two Dementors, she could only tremble and was completely unable to refute.

After the witness was sent away, Fudge said arrogantly: "This witness is not very convincing."

"I agree," Amelia suddenly raised her head from her thoughts and said sharply, "The experiment just now is enough to prove that Squibs cannot see Dementors. This overturns the reliability of her testimony, so I think her testimony should not be used."

……

The trial is over.

Although the matter of Harry Potter casting the Patronus Charm in front of Muggles was full of doubts, all the evidence was against him. The only thing in his favor was that Dumbledore stood firmly on Harry's side, and the eloquence, bearing and wisdom displayed by Dumbledore were still the same as before, and there was no sign of senility at all.

In the end, the Wizengamot declared Harry not guilty due to insufficient evidence. However, the fact remained that he had exposed his magic in front of Muggles by casting the Patronus Charm, so they decided to give Harry a stern warning and a fine of 100 Galleons.

Only then did Harry wake up from his daze - he was fine!
In his eyes, a mere warning from the Ministry of Magic and a mere fine of 100 Galleons were no big deal at all!

Dumbledore didn't even look at Fudge, but instead looked at Shering meaningfully before turning around and walking away.