Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 33 Procedural Justice?

Seeing Dumbledore's actions, Murphy knew that he had seen through his tricks once again.

If I had known Dumbledore was coming, I would have brought the real diary!

This so-called "Dark Lord's Diary" was naturally a forgery by Murphy.

After all, it would be quite difficult to verify the accusations against Lucius through a real notebook. When Tom Riddle wrote that diary, he had no idea that a guy named Lucius Malfoy would follow him in the future.

His tricks of "revealing through fire" were merely to confuse the public—if the contents of a Dark Lord's notebook could be viewed simply by "revealing," it would seem too childish. Using fire to reveal the contents was a more unconventional approach for wizards.

His wearing of gloves further emphasizes the danger posed by the laptop.

After all, it wouldn't make sense if something belonging to the Dark Lord didn't have a curse on it.

But none of that matters now.

Dumbledore has verified that there is no dark magic in this notebook at all.

"A friend gave it to me; he got it from the Malfoys' cellar," Murphy continued, keeping up the lie.

"Would you mind revealing this friend's name?" Dumbledore asked.

"He calls himself Tony Wayne," Murphy mused, "but I suspect it's a fake name. He doesn't trust the Ministry of Magic and has been secretly fighting crime."

Dumbledore, of course, had no idea what the name Iron Man/Batman hybrid meant. After thinking for a while, he said, "Based on my understanding of Mysterio, it's unlikely he would leave behind such detailed evidence. If he did, he would certainly have placed it under heavy protection."

"This notebook may not have been written by the Mysterious Man himself," Dumbledore said, "but we cannot simply ignore the information it reveals. I believe we should reopen the trials of Crabbe, Goyle, Karkaroff, and others."

After speaking for a while, the judges unanimously expressed their support for Dumbledore's judgment.

"Mr. Murphy, do you have any other evidence to add?" Dumbledore asked.

"That's all, Professor."

"Lucius, even if this notebook doesn't belong to the Dark Lord, your crime of possessing a large number of dark magic items has already been confirmed by Dobby. Do you have any rebuttal to that?"

"I...those were just insignificant things, heirlooms, and I didn't know their purpose! And! They were all destroyed, burned in the Fiendfyre! And the one who set the fire was Murphy Darkholme! Dumbledore, you should be judging him, not me!"

"It sounds like we should thank Mr. Murphy for his contribution to the safety of the wizarding community," Dumbledore joked.

"Thanks? He burned down my house! Killed my friend! Almost killed me!" Lucius screamed incoherently. "He's violating the Wizarding Secrecy Act! Are you even hearing what I'm saying?!"

Dumbledore looked at Murphy: "Lucius has accused you of multiple crimes, including arson, murder, and breach of the Statute of Secrecy. Do you have anything to say about that, Mr. Murphy?"

"Without the professor, I think that despicable Lucius only fabricated these lies out of a sinister desire for revenge and some business competition, wanting to kill me!"

Although things have come to this point, it's not the best outcome—Lucius wasn't sent directly to jail—but it's still all within Murphy's script.

While reporting Lucius was a ruthless move, Murphy didn't actually intend for it to succeed. This move was merely a preliminary step to exonerate himself later.

"Lucius, you despicable Death Eater! You filthy scum! You're Merlin's shit!" Murphy suddenly became indignant. He looked at the people in the judge's dock. "Gentlemen! You all know in your hearts who Lucius really is! You all know he's a Death Eater! You all know what he did with Voldemort all those years!"

"Gentlemen! If you let this demon go again today, one day you will be ashamed of your actions! I sincerely hope that none of you will have a stain on your conscience!"

"Spreading rumors! Making trouble! You have no evidence! Your evidence is all fake! Don't listen to his incitement! I am innocent! I am innocent!" Lucius shouted as he saw the situation turning against him again.

"Quiet! Quiet!" Dumbledore had to speak up again, interrupting the two men's insults.

He glanced at Murphy, as if trying to see through his thoughts, while the latter met his gaze without fear.

Professor, what are you hesitating about?

You know perfectly well that Lucius is a Death Eater, and today is the best and last chance to bring him to justice!

So what if the evidence is fake?

Should we still adhere to procedural justice when dealing with enemies?!

The gaze seemed both incredibly long and fleeting, before Dumbledore withdrew his eyes. He raised his hand and looked toward the judge's bench. "I think we can now deliver our verdict on Lucius's retrial. Those who believe Lucius is innocent, please raise your hands."

Of the more than fifty judges, only a dozen or so raised their hands.

Lucius's face darkened. "No, I'm innocent! I'm innocent!"

"Raise your hand if you think Lucius is a Death Eater."

To Lucius's surprise, only a dozen or so people raised their hands this time.

Dumbledore looked around and asked again, "Those who believe Lucius is guilty but not a Death Eater, please raise your hands."

This time, more than twenty hands were raised.

"Please put it down." Dumbledore looked at Lucius. "The evidence against you for the Death Eater charges is insufficient, but the court finds that you have still committed crimes, including possession of Dark Magic items. You will be fined five thousand Galleons and sentenced to three months of imprisonment in Azkaban."

"What? No!" Lucius roared, "You can't do this to me!"

He glared at everyone, finally turning to Murphy. "Where is he? Why aren't you judging him? I have evidence!"

At this moment, Murphy completely ignored his roar and looked at Dumbledore, "You haven't expressed your opinion yet, Professor."

However, Dumbledore did not answer, but looked at Lucius and asked, "What evidence do you have to support your accusation?"

"I have it! I have it!" Lucius exclaimed. "It's in my pocket. There's a wand there. It belonged to the attacker, and I seized it."

He looked at Murphy. "You probably didn't expect this, did you? Your wand wasn't burned! And I even got my hands on it!"

He spoke with renewed enthusiasm, and as the judge retrieved the wand from Lucius's belongings and placed it on the platform, he looked at the judge's bench. "This is the attacker's wand! By using the Flashback Charm on it, we can see what it did to my house!"

"And I have witnesses who can prove that this wand belongs to Murphy Darkholm!"

(End of this chapter)