From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 209 Judgment Day

Aberforth Dumbledore, the owner and bartender of the Hog's Head and Dumbledore's brother, did not show up.

One by one, the professors raised flying powder in front of the fireplace, shouted "Ministry of Magic", and dived into the green flames.

After the dizziness ended, Dumbledore began to count the number of people.

"Minerva, very good, I see you, there is a little soot on your hat." Dumbledore kindly dusted the brim of the Deputy Headmistress's wizard hat, while calling the professors who came out of the fireplace one by one.

"Severus, come here."

"Filius, watch out for the steps!"

"Pomona, look under your feet, it seems like some plant seeds have fallen out."

"Remus, Sirius is behind you right? Oh, I see him."

"Finally, it's Ivy. Very good! That's great, none of us made any stupid mistakes." Dumbledore looked very happy and welcomed his colleagues with open arms.

In the busy Ministry of Magic, doing this would undoubtedly attract a lot of attention, not to mention that Dumbledore is a tall old man with a white beard.

The professors, led by Professor McGonagall, silently moved a step to the side.

"Thank God," Snape said expressionlessly, "you finally realized that the professors you recruited are not illiterate."

Dumbledore laughed even more happily: "This is a good joke. Next time I can try to tell it at the Wizarding Council of the Wizengamot."

The British Ministry of Magic has a long entrance hall, which is decorated magnificently.

The hallway floor was dark, no doubt waxed, and so shiny that it reflected people's faces.

Like Hogwarts, the ceiling here was also enchanted. On the peacock blue ceiling were golden magic symbols that were flashing and constantly changing shapes.

The ceiling was dark wood with gilded fireplaces inset into the panels. The Hogwarts professors' jury emerged from one of the fireplaces.

Opposite the professors, another group of wizards were queuing to leave. It seemed that at least the Ministry of Magic could manage the internal traffic order, which was not a complete waste.

In addition to the many fireplaces, another decoration in the foyer is the fountain in the middle.

In the circular pool stood a group of pure gold statues, with a total of five main bodies, a noble wizard, a beautiful witch, and then standing around them, looking at them with infinite reverence. Centaurs, goblins and house-elves.

Classic political structure, not unlike the Muggles that make up the British government. White people occupy the core, and other minorities provide diversity and political correctness to the government.

However, Ivy had never seen any staff other than wizards in the Ministry of Magic. Perhaps compared to Muggle society, wizards were even further away from true civilization and equality.

This group of pure gold statues is the famous Magic Brothers Fountain Statue. In the pool below the statues are many copper Knuts and silver Sickles, but no gold Galleons.

A wooden sign next to it stated that all proceeds from the fountain would be donated to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

The jury of professors, led by Dumbledore, undoubtedly caused a commotion as they walked through the Golden Hall.

Almost all employees of the Ministry of Magic graduated from Hogwarts, and even when they were studying, many of them had only seen so many professors working together at dinners and meals.

Many of them cast curious glances, but as soon as their eyes met a professor's, they would immediately look away, for fear that the professor would ask them questions out of the blue.

"Hopkirk! How have you been lately?" Professor Flitwick asked. The witch being asked looked a little flustered, and hurriedly left with an inappropriate excuse.

"Professor Dumbledore!" A wizard in a peacock blue robe, with an untidy beard and looking like he hadn't slept well, pushed through the crowd and walked towards the professor jury. "The Minister has specifically instructed me to make sure that Sirius Black doesn't have a wand."

Ivy caught a glimpse of the sign on the table behind him—SECURITY CHECK.

"Sirius, please cooperate with the work." Dumbledore said, turning back.

Sirius took a step forward reluctantly: "Everyone knows that they broke my wand a long time ago..."

The wizard held up a long golden rod, which acted like a Muggle metal detector, except that his was for detecting magic.

After scanning Sirius back and forth, the wizard in charge of security looked relieved: "No abnormalities, you can pass."

So the professors went into an elevator, or was it an old-fashioned elevator? The kind with folding metal grilles as doors.

Amid the squeaking noises, Dumbledore tried to lighten the mood by telling a joke about ducks, but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall.

Silence spread among the professors again.

"He...the rat is waiting down there, right?" Sirius' voice sounded dry and hoarse, as if he hadn't swallowed for a long time.

"Promise me, Sirius." Lupin patted his shoulder, "You stay calm. He's going to get a Dementor's kiss."

"If the Ministry of Magic doesn't do it, I'll do it myself." Sirius ignored Lupin's words and licked his dry lips with his tongue.

"Think about Harry..." Lupin urged, "He doesn't even know you're his godfather..."

Snape moved his lips as if to say something, but under Professor McGonagall's gaze, he ultimately remained silent.

The silence continued until the elevator reached the tenth floor. Although it was the tenth floor, it was actually the tenth floor underground. Because the Ministry of Magic was a completely underground building, it was built directly under Whitehall in the UK, sharing a piece of land with its Muggle civil servants above.

The tenth floor is also the lowest space of magic. In addition to the Court of Trial, the destination of the Professor Jury, it is also the location of the Department of Mysteries.

As far as Ivy knew, there were many interesting things here, such as the veil of death, a large number of time converters, various brains that preserved thoughts, and some magical powers that were only available to the Silent Ones.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to visit everything today. Ivy’s destination was the courtroom at the bottom.

Dumbledore, dressed in a low-key yet gorgeous robe, pushed open the door of the courtroom. The buzzing crowd inside seemed to be paused, and all turned their eyes to the jury of Hogwarts professors.

"Dumbledore!" Cornelius Fudge called affectionately, "You've arrived on time! Great!"

Dumbledore walked up to him and shook his hand. Then Fudge shouted to the people in the courtroom, "The Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot Wizarding Council has arrived. Distinguished wizards and witches, please take your seats. The trial is about to begin! Oh, and respected professors of Hogwarts, your seats are over there."

Looking in the direction of Fudge's finger, there was an empty seat in the corner of the sunken circular hall, and at the very front there was a small triangular sign - Hogwarts Professors' Jury.

The professors sat down on the high benches one by one, only Sirius did not find his seat.

A wizard next to him pointed him in the direction. There was a sign on the wall of a small compartment at the bottom - Special Parole Witness.

So Sirius sat down in the cramped cubicle, with an Auror standing beside him.

Opposite him was a chair with many chains, and above it even hung a cage full of iron spikes, as if the Animagus form of the wizard to be tried next was not a mouse, but a lion.

Two Aurors walked out from a door on the side of the courtroom, sandwiched between them was Peter Pettigrew, who was almost boneless and was carried in by the two Aurors beside him. Although Peter was short, he was fed with excellent food by the Weasley family and weighed far more than his height. The two tall Aurors did not seem to have an easy time.

What was more troublesome was stuffing the boneless mouse into the iron chair. The chained chair was easy, as it could be tied up by wrapping it twice less. But the cage on top of Peter's head was not easy to deal with. Peter's fat body could not be stuffed in safely, and as a magical device that could automatically react to the magic power of the bound person, it was not easy to adjust.

At first, the two Aurors tried their best to prevent Peter from being pricked by the iron spikes in the cage, but as time passed, their actions became gradually more rough.

Peter, whose soul seemed to be lost, burst into tears because of the iron thorn piercing his fat flesh. Sirius, who was sitting opposite him, showed a sadistic smile and even ground his teeth slightly, as if he hoped that it was not the iron thorn but his own teeth that pierced the rotten flesh.

The bell of the courtroom rang, and two Aurors finally stuffed the bloody Peter into the cage. The jury and the audience stayed in their seats without making a sound.

Only then did Ivy have time to observe the wizards sitting in the judges' seats. There were three of them in total, including Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge in the middle, and another man and a woman.

Fudge also happened to begin introducing the people involved in this trial: "… the presiding judge, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Oswald Fudge; the deputy presiding judge, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Susan Burns; the deputy presiding judge, the Director of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Albert William Nott."

This is an interesting phenomenon. As the Director of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Nott should have nothing to do with this trial, but he sat upright in the position of Deputy Chief Judge.

Barty Crouch, the director of the Department of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation and a member of the Wizengamot Wizard Council who was in charge of Sirius' trial twelve years ago, sat below the chief judge with a gloomy face. Twelve years ago, he was the one who won the honor of the Order of Merlin, First Class, for Peter Pettigrew and personally delivered the medal to Peter Pettigrew's mother.

There was a strong suspicion that the trial was a political show, because he himself was vying for the position of Minister of Magic at the time, and it could be said that he was almost the only candidate.

It was not until shortly afterwards that his son Bartie Crouch Jr., together with Bellatrix Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, and Rodolphus Lestrange, brutally tortured Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom with the Cruciatus Curse for a long time until the two fell into complete insanity.

From then on, old Barty's political career was completely ruined, even though he sent his own son to Azkaban himself.

Now, old Barty's already half-dead political career is about to face another serious crisis. The recipient of the Order of Merlin, First Class, awarded by him was unexpectedly discovered to have been hiding in the wizarding world in the form of a rat Animagus, and was even accused of being the Death Eater who actually betrayed the Potters.

"Peter Pettigrew!" Fudge asked, "You are accused of being the real Death Eater who informed You-Know-Who and was responsible for the deaths of the Potters. Of course, you are also accused of killing many Muggles. Do you admit it?"

Peter's little eyes darted around and he said, as expected, "I... I deny..."

"How dare you!" Sirius, who was sitting opposite him, was the first to roar. Everyone in the courtroom was surprised at the high pitch and volume of his voice.

"That Blake..." someone said, "How could he not go crazy after staying in that kind of hellhole for twelve years?"

The people in the courtroom then realized that the skinny man sitting in the "parole witness stand" was actually a prisoner who had been living with Dementors day and night in Azkaban for twelve years.

"Quiet!" Director Nott slammed the gavel hard to stop the discussion in the hall. "Mr. Black, if no one asks you questions, you can't say anything. Do you understand? The court will treat this case fairly."

Sirius was still breathing heavily and didn't seem to hear Nott at all.

However, the deputy chief judge did not care. He turned to Peter Pettigrew and said, "You deny it? Very good, we already know it. Next, let the witnesses provide evidence and testimony."

The trembling Pettigrew finally realized that the current situation was very unfavorable to him, and screamed, "But... I haven't started yet..."

"Bang!" There was another sound of hitting the gavel.

Fudge, who was previously intimidated by Sirius' roar, took over the conversation: "It is not your turn to speak yet, Peter Pettigrew."

Pettigrew looked like he wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by the wand of the Auror standing next to him.

"Okay, Chief Nott, let me continue." Fudge loosened the tie around his neck and nodded to Nott, who smiled in return, showing a calm attitude.

"Please ask the witness to come over here!" Fudge looked at the documents in front of him and read out a name, "Mr. Ivy Doom?"

Ivy stood up from the row of Hogwarts professors on the jury, slightly adjusted the Slytherin relic robe he was wearing, and walked steadily to the witness stand amid the exclamations of the crowd.

(End of this chapter)