Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 31 Chief Wizard

"This, this is impossible! I didn't write it! I didn't write it!" Lucius continued to shout in protest.

Murphy shrugged and faced the crowd on the judge's bench. "Everyone has read the two letters and should have a basic understanding of what to expect."

The wizards on the trial bench whispered among themselves, engaging in a noisy discussion.

No one stopped them, and Murphy let them talk.

If possible, Murphy hoped they could directly use this one piece of "evidence" to determine Lucius's guilt.

Although this evidence was actually fabricated by him.

The second debt collection letter did exist; Murphy had seen it years ago, but had long since lost it. What he just showed was actually a forgery, just like the first one, made entirely by a skilled Muggle document forger.

Anyway, Lucius's handwriting is easy to find, and for those document forgers, imitating handwriting and aging paper are just basic operations.

However, these technologies are extremely rare in a world with incredibly convenient magic.

Murphy was betting that wizards didn't have document authentication experts.

However, he may have been too confident.

"Murphy," a gentle voice suddenly rang out, "where did you find these two letters?"

Murphy immediately tensed up, because the person who asked the question was none other than Dumbledore, whom he least wanted to face.

"Uh, in my family's old house."

"Um, exactly where in the house?"

Murphy frowned. "On the second floor, in an old box."

Dumbledore nodded again. "Is there a river near your hometown?"

Ok?

What the hell is this problem?

What does this have to do with letters?

Murphy was completely bewildered. What did the headmaster mean? Did he have some kind of magic that could determine the authenticity of this letter?

But what does it have to do with whether there is a river or not?

Murphy had no idea what the correct answer to the question should be, so he could only answer truthfully: "No, Professor."

Dumbledore nodded, as if he had received an answer, and then said, "Based on just a few words in this letter, it may be difficult for us to determine the writer's true intentions. If we convict the person based solely on this letter, I think he would certainly object."

"Murphy, you just said you have two pieces of evidence. What's the other one? Rufus told me you also accused Lucius of engaging in dangerous behavior. Is your second piece of evidence related to that?"

Murphy swallowed.

He suddenly regretted it. If he had known, he wouldn't have made such a big deal out of it. Reporting Lucius for some other bad thing would have been enough to achieve his goal.

He had no idea that there was such a thing as a purge act, nor did he know that his report would attract Dumbledore's attention.

Otherwise, he would have at least made the evidence look more convincing!

However, once the arrow is released, there is no turning back; there is no room for retreat at this moment.

"Yes, Professor."

After Murphy finished speaking, he looked at Lucius and said, "Lucius, a friend of mine told me that you have a lot of dark magic items hidden in your house. They are all in your cellar, neatly arranged on those shelves, and safely protected by glass domes."

"He also told me that among these dark magic items, one was completely different from the others."

As Murphy spoke, he slowly and deliberately put a glove on his right hand.

"Because it was given to you by the Dark Lord."

He used his right hand to pull a black-covered notebook from his pocket.

"Lucius, do you know what this thing is?"

Hearing Murphy's description, Lucius was already terrified. When he actually took out the notebook, he felt as if all his strength had been drained away, and he almost collapsed.

How could that be?

How could he know so much about the situation in the cellar?

How did he get his hands on that diary?

Shouldn't it have been burned along with the other things?

Could it be... that he broke into my house that day not for those Muggles, but for it?

Was his initial intention to kill himself?

Lucius was filled with fear.

The Dark Lord's diary is imbued with powerful dark magic. It's undoubtedly a dark magic item, and once it's proven to belong to the Dark Lord, his identity as a Death Eater will be virtually confirmed.

"No! I don't know it! That's not mine!"

However, as soon as he said that, Lucius saw the smile on Murphy's face.

"Oh?" The boy smiled, as if he had been waiting for him to say that.

"You're lying," the boy asserted definitively.

Then he turned to the dock and said, "I request that the witness be called, Dobby, the house-elf."

"Clang!" Lucius could no longer hold on and collapsed into the iron cage, completely unaware that his back was being slashed by the spikes.

The house-elves were carried in by two Aurors, each holding one of their arms.

"Dobby, I command you! Stop..." Lucius suddenly roared hoarsely, but before he could finish his command, Dumbledore made a closing gesture with his right hand, making a slight horizontal motion, and Lucius's mouth automatically closed, as if a zipper had been pulled up.

"Silence, Lucius. Here it is not your servant, but a witness. You must not interfere with the witness's testimony."

"Thank you, Professor." Murphy gave Dumbledore a slight bow.

That silencing magic spell was really cool.

"Dobby," Murphy said, looking at the house-elf, "Don't be nervous. We're just going to ask you a few questions. Just answer them truthfully."

"Dobby...Dobby..." Dobby looked at Lucius in the cage, then glanced at the wizards on the judgment platform, and suddenly rushed towards the platform, crashing headfirst into it.

Murphy was startled and quickly reached out to block, but the little elf's big head bumped his hand, causing it to hit the stage. He felt like two of his hand bones were about to be broken.

He yanked Dobby up, grabbed the man's tattered pillowcase, and lifted him into the air. "Are you fucking crazy?!"

"Dobby is bad, bad Dobby... Waaah..."

The house-elf suddenly started crying.

He had clearly realized that these people wanted him to do something detrimental to his master.

Murphy was furious and slapped him across the face. "Shut up and stop crying!"

He glared at Dobby menacingly. "I'll fucking tell you again, I'm asking you questions, and you answer truthfully. If you dare lie, your master, and your master's entire family, will be in Azkaban! Do you hear me?! Do you understand?!"

"Waaah, hit me all you want, beat Dobby to death! Dobby shouldn't do anything to betray its master! Dobby is a bad house-elf, Dobby should just die..."

"..."

Gan.

Murphy was speechless. This thing was probably really scared out of its wits and wouldn't be intimidated at all.

He put Dobby down and looked helplessly at Dumbledore.

Principal, please help me?

(End of this chapter)