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Chapter 225: L can't believe this is a defense?

Few of them cared about Peter, the defendant, but instead they all looked down at Harry in the plaintiff's seat, some slightly more restrained, others not hiding their inner curiosity about the boy who had survived the ordeal.

Harry and Ron, who had rarely seen such a scene, both looked a little apprehensive at the moment, moving as close as they could to Dumbledore at their side, their eyes occasionally glancing back at the chained chair in the very center of the courtroom.

Peter was sitting in the chair with his hands chained to it, a big, fat, rough face scrunched together, wincing and balking as he sobbed.

To Sirius' surprise, however, the Merlin Medalist of the First Class, who had risen from the dead, was not alone.

There was an elderly woman standing nearby, quietly looking at Peter's cowering form amongst the chairs with a look of some sadness, but more of a broken determination.

"This is Peter's mother ... Why is she here?" Sirius walked into the judgment room and frowned after seeing the old woman.

"It's normal for a mother to come and be with her son when he's going to be put on trial, isn't it?" Dracula said with concern.

"That's not true." Sirius shook his head, "Out of the four of us who were robbers in the first place, Peter's mother was the hardest to deal with besides the old mom who kicked me out of my Brecker ancestry.... I'm afraid she's going to pull some kind of stunt."

"It doesn't matter, since I promised to help you, I won't let anyone else make any waves." Dracula glanced at the old woman and coldly quirked the corner of his mouth, "I'd like to see what she can get up to."

Sirius nodded softly, straightened his collar slightly nervously, and walked slowly over to the plaintiff's seat and stood next to Harry.

He then gently removed the mask from his face.

Harry, as the recognized savior of the wizarding world as well as the boy who banished Voldemort from the Great Disaster, had always been one of the people who received the most attention in the entire courtroom, and the seat beside him naturally gained more than its fair share of gazes.

Sirius' movements instantly attracted the attention of many of the Wizengamot members.

"Wait, is that, Sirius Black?!" A witch sitting in her jury seat, who had been sizing up Harry, inadvertently caught a glimpse of Sirius' face and exclaimed.

"What? How did he get here?"

"What's he doing here?!"

"..."

The middle of the judgment room became chaotic in an instant.

Some people began to talk to each other loudly; some were looking back and forth between Sirius and the door of the courtroom with scornful eyes, as if looking for the best escape route; some timid jurors were even so scared that they fell out of their seats ...

"Sirius ...," Harry looked up at Sirius with some concern.

"Don't worry Harry, your parents' revenge will soon be avenged."

Sirius recoiled from the many questioning, scrutinizing, and fearful gazes and smiled softly at his godson, looking tantalizingly toward Connelly Fudge, who was located at the very front of the courtroom.

During the important trial ceremony, the Minister of Magic would preside over the entire trial as the Chief Wizard of Wizengamot.

Fudge was also taken aback at Sirius' arrival.

He subconsciously thought that Sirius was here to make trouble, and almost twisted his head to look for Auror to protect him.

It wasn't until he saw the calm eyes Sirius was looking over that Fudge realized he was standing in the plaintiff's seat and clearly didn't want to solve the problem with violence.

"Ahem ... all quiet!" Fudge coughed somewhat facelessly, then shouted in exasperation, "This is the Wizengamot courtroom! What's wrong with all of you making a lot of noise?"

Only then did the courtroom gradually quiet down, but all kinds of worried, scornful and fearful gazes still swept over Sirius' body from time to time.

Sirius ignored these gazes and just chatted with Harry to himself, asking him how the semester was going, if he had gotten the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor, and if he was having fun with his friends in Hogsmeade ...

Dracula also walked over to the plaintiff's seat and casually used used Transfiguration to conjure up a luxurious chair for himself, sitting in it and crossing his legs as he curiously surveyed the sights of the courtroom.

It was at this moment that he suddenly felt a malevolent, jealously guarded gaze insidiously shoot over from the front of the courtroom.

Dracula looked back to his position at the front of the courtroom and realized that there were two witches sitting on either side of Fudge.

To Fudge's left sat a wide-built, square-jawed witch with gray hair cut short and looking very competent, a pair of monocles perched on the bridge of her nose, and an intimidatingly serious expression on her face.

To Fudge's right sat another witch, placed far back on the bench, her entire face shrouded in shadow - the scornful gaze emanating from among the shadows.

Dracula quirked a corner of his mouth with interest.

The witch might have thought that she wouldn't be seen for who she was if she hid in the shadows, but how could Dracula's vision compare to that of an ordinary wizard? He easily saw the ugly face hiding in the shadows.

Dolores Umbridge, the extremely impressive pink toad.

'I don't know what on earth Fudge sees in Umbridge that he would bring such a cargo around all day.' Dracula thought rather maliciously.

Unconsciously, the minute hand of the huge wall clock on the wall quietly pointed to the "6" position, and the time for the court session quietly arrived.

"Silence!" Fudge shouted, "Time's up. Next, this trial will officially begin!"

There was a rather noticeable tremor in Peter's body, and Mrs. Pediru beside him finally took her eyes off her son and looked at Sirius in the plaintiff's seat with an intimidating look.

Fudge read in order, "This trial is jointly presided over by Connelly Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic, Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Division of Magical Law Enforcement, and Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary-"

"The plaintiff, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, accuses Peter Pettigrew of conspiring and colluding with Death Eaters during the time of the Wizarding War to kill Jaime Potter and several other wizards; and of blowing up the streets after the war, killing dozens of Muggles and faking his own death to get away with it."

"If the charges are true, Peter Pediru's actions constitute a serious violation of the Regulations for the Strict Restriction of the Use of Black Magic, the British Magical Community Criminal Code, and the International Code of Secrecy, among other statutes. Does the defense have any objections?"

Fudge looked up from his own manuscript to Peter and Mrs. Pediru.

"Mr. Minister, I have an objection." Mrs. Pediru gave Sirius a fierce look and said in a hoarse voice.

"Go ahead." Fudge gave her an approving look.

"Mr. Minister, I think everyone here knows that it was not my son who committed those crimes, but Sirius Black, who is standing over there right now!" She exclaimed as she menacingly extended her index finger to point at Sirius.

"I don't understand what makes such a dark wizard and wanted criminal, who has defected to Voldemort, escaped from Azkaban, and has no respect for the Ministry of Magic, stand on the plaintiff's side right now, on the basis of Albus Dumbledore's harboring of him?!"

As soon as she opened her mouth, Madame Perdiloux demonstrated her formidable skill at dissembling and sowing discord, and instead of steadily mounting a defense against Peter's crimes, she instead went on the offensive and launched herself directly at Sirius.

Sirius, whose acute nature could not withstand such a provocation, was about to jump up from his stool on the spot to have a shouting match with Mrs. Pettigrew.

However, before he could act, a strong hand pressed ahead on his shoulder.

Dumbledore shook his head gently at Sirius and stood up first.

"I do not agree with Mrs. Perdrew's testimony." He said in a deep voice, "Her testimony contains no evidence in defense of Mr. Peter Perdiloux, and only attacks our witnesses in an attempt to inflame the conflict and divert attention."

"This practice is a serious violation of the fairness and reasonableness of the trial, and I believe that Mrs. Pediru should be warned for her behavior. If she still can't come up with reasonable evidence that can prove Mr. Pediru's innocence, then the conclusion will already be obvious."

Obviously, the more composed and wise Dumbledore's words were more logical and in line with the trial's procedures than the extremely aggressive Mrs. Perdiru.

"Does the defense have any more evidence to add?" Fudge asked again.

"Of course there is evidence!" Mrs. Pediru exclaimed, "Our Peter is a First Class Merlin Medalist, he is the recognized hero of the magical world who rebelled against Sirius Black, it's impossible for him to do that kind of thing of defecting to the Mysterons!"

"In addition, Peter has no motive to defect to the Mysterons at all! On the contrary, Sirius Black, their Black family has produced a lot of Death Eaters, his cousin and his own brother are the backbone of Death Eaters, his defection to the Mystic is completely in line with the expectations ..."

"Just a moment, Mrs. Pettigrew." Dumbledore interrupted with a raised hand, "With all due respect, there is absolutely no evidence in the words you are stating in defense of Peter Pediru-"

"It has been proven that the Order of Merlin, First Class was simply a misunderstanding and that he had every motive for defecting to Voldemort, which was the fear of death! If you still can't come up with reasonable evidence to prove Mr. Pediru's innocence, then why don't we start by stating the eucalyptus case."

Dumbledore gave Mrs. Pediru an icy look and continued calmly.

"This is Mr. Ronald Weasley." He pointed to Ron, "Peter Pediru cut off one of his fingers after blowing up an entire street, turned into a rat with an illegal Animagus, and has been a pet in the Weasley household for over ten years."

"I object!" Mrs. Pediroux's eyes lit up and she exclaimed excitedly as if she had caught a loophole, "What proof do you have that Peter would use Animagus? How could he possibly learn to use the Animagus when he is so weak and not so gifted as his friends?"

"I naturally have a way of transforming him into Animagus form." Dumbledore said calmly.

"Who can tell if you'll secretly do something to Peter with human morphing?" Lady Pediru retorted, "The entire wizarding world knows that you are a powerful arch wizard and the best at shapeshifting, you could totally fake Peter into an Animagus!"

"So how would you like to do that, Mrs. Pettigrew?" Dumbledore said softly, "You haven't produced any substantial evidence in Peter's defense from start to finish, and such verbal statements are invalid."

"But ... but Peter doesn't have the Black Devil mark on his arm, which completely proves that he's not a Death Eater!" Mrs. Pediroux argued forcefully.

"That's only because something happened before Voldemort had a chance to carve the Dark Mark on him." Dumbledore said as he had Sirius pull up his sleeve as well, "As you can see, Sirius does not have the Dark Mark on his arm either. Doesn't this conflict with your previous testimony?"

"You ... you ..."

Just when Mrs. Pediru was almost rendered speechless, Fudge suddenly snapped.

"Both plaintiffs and defendants, please don't take care of an argument in the courtroom, and take care of the jury's emotions."

He emphasized the word 'emotions'.

Dumbledore frowned slightly and gave Fudge a cold look.

Mrs. Pettigrew took the hint and immediately realized that the final outcome of the trial would be decided by a vote.

She knew what she should do to save Peter's life.

"I ... understand that, according to Dumbledore's reputation in the wizarding world, the adults present are surely inclined to believe him over a bad old woman like me ..."

Mrs. Pediru's haphazard appearance suddenly changed as she pulled out a handkerchief from her coat pocket and wiped the corners of her eyes with extreme sadness.

Mrs. Pediru's sadness was indeed genuine, the tears could not be stopped from falling down, and it was so infectious that the entire atmosphere of the trial room quieted down with her.

"I'm old, I don't have much of an eloquent tongue, and I can't find any tangible evidence ..." she choked out as she wept, "but I really can't afford to lose Peter! "

"You have no idea how sad I was when I received his bones with only one finger left, and how proud I was of him when I learned that the Ministry of Magic had posthumously awarded him the Order of Merlin, First Class ..."

"A few days ago, I suddenly got a message telling me that Peter wasn't dead! I was so excited that my body seemed to be energized, but immediately I learned that Peter might be sentenced to death ..."

"This up and down mood is killing me as an old woman!"

Mrs. Pediru wiped tears from her eyes and spoke in a touching tone, and the eyes of many of the emotional Wizengamot members gradually softened.

Harry and Ron watched the scene dumbfounded, their heads filled with question marks.

There was actually this kind of operation?