From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 210 Cornelius's Great Victory
When Ivy saw that Barty Crouch Sr. was not among the judges sitting in the courtroom, he knew that there would be no problem with the trial of Peter Pettigrew.

Although everyone agreed that Fudge was not a competent Minister of Magic, he was quite adept at political struggles and infighting, as it was an instinct in the bones of politicians. Not to mention that old Barty was just an old dog with a broken back and no heir, so he was not a qualified opponent.

Sweep this former competitor into the dustbin of history, and then take away his only power. As a politician who mainly relies on political donations, he has a lot of "business" from donors to take care of. Before Peter Pettigrew's day of judgment came, Cornelius Fudge had already made a perfect plan.

Dumbledore, the Order of the Phoenix, and the professors of Hogwarts needed justice, while Cornelius Fudge needed power. Both sides got what they wanted from the bodies of Peter and old Barty. It was a real win-win situation.

Moreover, the Minister of Magic can also use this trial as his own political achievement, using propaganda methods such as the Daily Prophet to build momentum for himself and win more support from the British wizarding community. This is not only a win-win situation, but Fudge will win twice.

Thinking of this, Fudge couldn't help but smile.

"Your Honor, I have concluded my speech."

There was nothing new in the testimony, it just described how Ivy discovered that Scabbers was a wizard, and also described what happened when they met Peter Pettigrew in the headmaster's office. These contents had long been written into a document by Dumbledore and sent to the Ministry of Magic along with Pettigrew himself.

Ivy's voice brought Fudge back to reality from his reverie: "Huh? What? Oh! Quite a brilliant speech! The evidence is irrefutable. I think we can convict him directly."

Sitting in the middle of a pile of iron spikes, Peter Pettigrew was pale and covered in sticky sweat. He seemed to have completely lost the ability to control his body.

Fudge's words sparked widespread discussion in the courtroom.

"I didn't know our minister was such a hateful person." Professor McGonagall whispered to Professor Sprout beside her.

"He's not... but overturning Sirius's case is good for him... quite good!" Professor Sprout, who always got some tea-time gossip from his friends, was not surprised by this.

Hearing the buzzing around him, Fudge realized that he was a little anxious. He looked around and saw Amelia Burns, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, sitting next to him, looking at him in surprise. He knew he had to say something else to make up for it.

"Your Honor," said Deputy Chief Judge Nott, who was sitting on the other side, in a low voice, "Listen to what Mr. Black has to say. He is the most important witness today."

"Yes." Fudge nodded subconsciously, then cleared his throat to ease the embarrassment. "Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Doom. Please return to your seat. Sirius Black, as a parole witness, do you have anything to say?"

"Thank you." Sirius's expression was no longer as crazy as before. He regained his calm, but the deep hatred in his eyes had not disappeared. At this point, he had realized that today's trial was just a formality, and Peter Pettigrew would definitely be found guilty.

"Twelve years ago on Halloween, Voldemort..."

Sirius' story was interrupted just as he began.

Amelia Burns said: "Please call him You-Know-Who, Mr. Black."

"...Okay," Sirius nodded gloomily. "On the day the You-Know-Who acted, we were preparing to celebrate Christmas, but suddenly we received a warning from Professor Dumbledore... I felt uneasy, so I left the Order of the Phoenix and went to Peter Pettigrew's residence alone..."

"…I was worried that he had been captured by the enemy, but I also felt that with his ability to escape, he would be able to escape unharmed."

"Sure enough, Peter's house was clean, without even a trace of a fight... I thought at the time that he must have gone to escape for his life."

"So I went to Godric's Hollow again to visit my good friends, James and Lily, and my godson Harry..."

"…There was only a ruin and Hagrid holding little Harry…I asked him to give Harry to me. After all, I am Harry's godfather. But Hagrid refused, saying that Dumbledore had sent him and he would never hand Harry over to anyone until he met Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore is trustworthy, I thought. So I left everything else with Hagrid and set out with just my wand."

"The thing I feared the most happened... Peter betrayed everyone and sold out the Potter family's address... I only had one thought in my mind at the time, to find him and kill him!"

"But I couldn't do it... Peter found me first..."

"He jumped out from behind me on a Muggle-filled street and said a bunch of gibberish and then he attacked me."

"I was completely out of control at the time and had no idea what he was saying. I attacked without even thinking."

"The battle didn't last long. A spell suddenly exploded behind Peter. Pedestrians on the street were unable to dodge. Broken limbs were everywhere, and Peter disappeared."

"…I had no doubts. I thought that I used a magic that I didn't even understand when I was extremely angry. Even if this spell killed so many Muggles, I would not regret it as long as I could kill Peter as well…"

"But it was Peter who cut off his little finger and faked his own death... He lived freely as a rat for twelve years, while I rotted in the darkness of Azkaban..."

"The only thing I regret is that I couldn't really kill you, Peter!" Sirius roared with red eyes.

"He's lying!" Peter shouted clearly for the first time, and was immediately stopped by the Auror beside him.

Prejudice was not uncommon in the trial, and many viewers were infected by Sirius's emotions, frowning and staring at Peter in the iron cage with disgust.

"Very good! Very impressive!" Fudge seemed to want to stand up and applaud, but tried to restrain himself. He said to the clerk below, "Have you written it down?"

After receiving a positive answer, Fudge said with satisfaction: "I think we can start the vote... However, we all know that no procedure should be abandoned, so Peter Pettigrew still needs to confess his guilt. But this mouse who has been hiding his identity for twelve years obviously has no intention of telling the truth... If there is any way..."

A dark shadow stood up in the direction of the Hogwarts professor jury.

"Mr. Minister," Snape said, "I think I can be of some help."

"Oh?" Fudge raised his eyebrows in interest.

"Yesterday, the sixth-year students in the advanced potion class were learning how to mix truth serum, and I put a bottle of a less successful student work in my pocket. Although it looks very crude, I am sure it can play a role as a truth serum. If the Inquisition is interested..."

Snape took out an exquisite little bottle from his pocket. It was hard to believe that it was the student's work he mentioned.

"Great!" Fudge laughed. He just needed Peter Pettigrew to say "yes". He didn't care whether the bottle of truth serum was the student's work or not. "I believe your student must have learned the true teachings of the potion master."

So an Auror next to Peter left his position and walked towards Snape.

Peter, who saw this, screamed in fear and tried to turn into a mouse and escape from the cage, but the cage above his head was prepared for this.

Although he managed to grow black and slightly bald mouse hair, he was unable to reduce his size. He looked more like a real mouse. Peter struggled hard, even though the sharp thorns in the iron cage made his body bleed, and he did not stop trying.

His nose soon turned into a pointed pink nose of a mouse, with two thick whiskers, and large yellow teeth protruded from his mouth, even cutting his own lips.

No matter how hard Peter Pettigrew tried, he could not really break free of the Ministry's restrictions. Although he was becoming more and more like a mouse, his size did not change at all.

"This is disgusting..." Fudge showed a disgusted expression, "Is there any need to continue the trial?"

"Alas... Peter." Dumbledore, who had not spoken a word during the trial, finally spoke, "Save the last bit of dignity for yourself. I will help you get permanent imprisonment."

"Really?" Peter asked with a rat-like rustling in his voice.

"I promise," Dumbledore replied simply.

After hearing Dumbledore's answer, he stopped trying to turn himself into a mouse and gradually returned to his human form.

When the Auror came to him holding Snape's small bottle of medicine, he had a lot of mental struggle, and finally opened his mouth and obediently swallowed all the potion.

"Cough, cough!" Peter coughed violently and stretched his neck to try to relieve the discomfort in his throat. If his hands were not tied, he would definitely be scratching his throat at this time.

Sirius' heart skipped a beat and he stared at Peter expectantly.

Peter Pettigrew also noticed his gaze, and immediately looked at Snape who was smiling in horror.

In the midst of boundless fear, he felt his breathing gradually becoming smoother...

Peter let out a long breath, and Sirius immediately turned to look at Snape, who was smirking at him in the jury.

"Are you Peter Pettigrew?" asked Fudge.

"Yes," Peter replied.

"It seems that the truth serum has worked," Fudge was satisfied. "Then let me ask briefly, do you admit that you disclosed the address of the Potters to the You-Know-Who and caused their death?"

"I admit it." Peter Pettigrew said with difficulty.

"Great!" Fudge was very excited. "Now let's move on to the voting phase! Please raise your hands if you think the prisoner Peter Pettigrew is guilty of the charges!"

Almost no one thought carefully, and a forest of arms stood up in the courtroom.

"Unanimous vote! The charges are established!" Fudge said impatiently, "Then I propose that Sirius Black be acquitted and that Peter Pettigrew be sentenced to a Dementor's Kiss for all his crimes!"

"I object." Dumbledore's voice was very clear. Peter Pettigrew's eyes lit up with hope.

"Then let's vote once again on Peter's punishment!"

As arms were raised one by one, the light in Peter Pettigrew's eyes dimmed, and his only remaining hope rested on Dumbledore.

Fudge smiled smugly at Dumbledore, "I'm afraid the authority of the Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot does not extend here, Albus."

Dumbledore just shook his head and said nothing, but Fudge took this as a retreat and also as his own victory.

So he waved his hand suddenly, and the two Aurors who couldn't wait any longer immediately dragged Peter and the chair away.

The only sounds in the huge courtroom were Peter's screams and wails.

Sirius stood on the "parole witness stand" with his eyes closed, enjoying the last movement of Peter left in this world.

After the last bit of Peter's voice in the courtroom died away, Fudge opened his arms and was about to lead everyone in cheering.

A gloomy-looking man stood up.

Everyone looked over and saw it was old Barty Crouch.

All I heard was him saying, "Mr. Minister, I am formally submitting my verbal resignation to you because I am old and increasingly unable to do my job, so I want to go home and retire. Please grant me permission."

As an old pure-blood noble, Barty Crouch knew that in a political struggle, a dignified exit was often more useful than a desperate struggle. If Fudge did something stupid during his subsequent term, he might still have a chance...

There was an uproar in the courtroom.

Fudge was so proud of himself that all he had left to achieve his goal was a news report full of praise. Or maybe even one report wouldn't be enough. He would have to make it the front page headline, and it would take up an entire page!

But now he still had to pretend to say: "Oh, this is really bad news. You are a hard-working member of the Ministry of Magic. Without your guidance, I really don't know how to carry out the next work. ... Do you have any successor worthy of recommendation?"

"I can't control that much anymore, Mr. Minister." Old Crouch replied lightly, "It's up to you to decide."

After saying this, he bowed slightly and quickly left the courtroom, leaving behind a group of wizards who had not yet reacted.

Dumbledore was the second to stand up. He did not regard this verdict as a victory.

As the headmaster of Hogwarts, his actions often represented the will of the entire school, so the professors on the jury stood up one after another and followed him out of the courtroom.

"Lord Doom!"

Just as Ivy's heels left the tiles at the door of the courtroom, someone called out to him.

(End of this chapter)