Harry Potter: Ero World-Chapter 154: The Trial of the Century! Part-2

{Courtroom 1, 2nd Floor, Ministry of Magic, London}

{30th Oct 1991} 

{Rigel's POV}

...

"Mr. Black." A sharp voice spoke right after I finished my testimony. I looked at her; she was sitting on one of the seats that were closest to the cage, and upon noticing that plenty of attention was now directed at her, she stood up and walked over beside the cage.

"Sorry for intruding: my name is Kalie Lorelei, and I represent Mr. Pettigrew's interest in this trial. I find it hard to believe that you happened to stumble upon the situation entirely based on your curiosity." Her words were sharp, and I pried my eyes away from her exposed cleavage.

"Well, what are you implying that all of this is a plot that I cooked up, falsely accusing Peter of all these charges when, in fact, he was hiding from... what are you claiming again, that he was hiding from the Dark Lord's followers?" I asked.

Her face didn't twitch as she nodded quite easily, "Of course, may the jury members please pay attention. The core premise of why my client was hiding was because of what happened to his friend group. One of them was killed by their other trusted friend, who happened to be a follower of the Dark Lord. The other was hunted out of the country for being a werewolf. So with his life in danger, Mr. Pettigrew decided to save himself by hiding away."

Her words got plenty of agreement from the dark faction, mainly Lucius and the other who seemed to want to sweep this case under as soon as possible. I looked at Amelia, who shook her head. She didn't want me to go overboard with sarcastic remarks, not wanting to give any chance for Lorelei to weasel her way through this.

"I'm sure that you can spin quite the tale, Ms. Lorelei. But there is plenty of evidence that would prove the story to be true otherwise. Before we divulge the topic, I want to present my next eyewitness against Mr. Pettigrew." Amelia spoke, her words a little colder than before.

"Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." She spoke out loud before turning toward the old wizard, "Professor, you were present in the meeting when Mr. Rigel Black handed over custody of Mr. Pettigrew to you. Is that correct?"

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"That's correct," Albus agreed to the statement. Albus Dumbledore's statement was quite important as his words represented the stance of the light faction.

"And who else was present in this meeting?" Amelia asked. She was building the case step by step, not giving an inch of space for Lorelei to interject.

"Including me, Minister Fudge, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy-nee-Black..." Albus replied, and Rigel watched the scene unfold. Amelia quickly asked questions, which basically reiterated the whole incident from Albus's point of view. It was a clear-cut tale, and I could tell from my senses that not many people would be voting in Pettigrew's favor.

While my senses didn't give me emotional insight per se, as my skill level increased, I could sense how changes in mana were affected by mood. My testimony was intended to set the official records straight and gain sympathy from the neutral faction. Albus's testimony targeted the Light and Neutral faction, and with the Minister's testimony coming up next, the strategy to secure at least 60-70% of the votes will be successful. The crucial part, though, comes a little later.

Lorelei had tried, though not very hard, to get most of the evidence thrown out, as, according to her, the testimony under truth serum was obtained under forced conditions, as it was administered outside the protocols. Still, Amelia dragged Fudge into the mix, who agreed to permit the action, even if that wasn't the protocol, personally claiming to want to get to the bottom of the unjust sentence a member of the Most Ancient and Most Noble house had received.

'Even now, the man is entirely thinking about his career. Even if he won't be reelected, he probably wants a cushy job as head of a department. Probably not wanting to end up like Crouch working under Ludo.'

With the Minister's testimony done and many people now glaring at Pettigrew, Amelia went in for the kill.

"Any questions you would like to ask Ms. Lorelei?" Amelia asked. She was done presenting her case, and the woman responsible for defending Pettigrew had gone silent as it was quite clear by now that there was no way for him to get away without a harsh sentence.

"No, I'm happy with my case." She said even though Pettigrew banged his hands against the cage, a defiant expression was on his face, as he didn't like how everything was being processed.

Amelia finally turned to the auror next to the cage and nodded; he waved his wand, and the runes on the cage glowed, canceling the silencing charms placed on it. All of a sudden, the loud banging of Pettigrew's chains against the bar filled the room, along with his squeaky voice sobbing.

"...I-i didn't want to d-" He stopped when he likely noticed that he could hear himself now. After staring at everyone like a deer caught in a headlight, he babbled, "I-i d-didn't want to do it. I-i was forced to. T-the Dark Lord threatened to kill me if I didn't."

I could feel Amelia's mana twitch at the admission of guilt. That would make her plan to prosecute the rest of the criminals a lot harder, but it's something she could do. I knew she was hoping Lorelei would fight a little harder. If she really tried, she could have dismissed Pettigrew's truth serum testimony and admittance of guilt, but she didn't.

With nothing more to do, Amelia could only move forward with the backup plan. She addressed Pettigrew and asked, "Peter Pettigrew, before the vote takes place and your fate is decided, do you have any final words?"

A strange silence filled the courtroom as everyone leaned forward to listen to Pettigrew's words, "I-i d-didn't want to do it. I-i was forced to. T-the Dark Lord threatened to kill me if I didn't."

...

'Huh'

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AN - The trial will be concluded in the next Chapter!

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