Chapter 33: Procedural justice?

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

If he had known Dumbledore was coming, he would have brought the real diary, damn it!

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

After all, it was quite difficult to verify the crimes he reported against Lucius through a real diary; when Tom Riddle wrote that diary, he had no idea that a guy named Lucius Malfoy would follow him in the future.

His "fire-roasting revelation" tricks were just to confuse the issue—if a Dark Lord's diary could be viewed just by using "Revelio," it would seem too much like child's play; instead, using fire was a way to break through the wizards' conventional thinking.

And his act of wearing gloves was meant to highlight the danger of the notebook.

After all, if a Dark Lord's possession didn't carry some kind of curse, it would be hard to justify.

But none of that mattered now.

Dumbledore had already verified that there was no Dark Magic on this notebook at all.

"A friend gave it to me; he obtained it from the Malfoy family's cellar," Murphy continued to spin the lie.

"Would you mind revealing the name of this friend?" Dumbledore asked.

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

Dumbledore naturally didn't know what significance the name of a hybrid between Iron Man and Batman held. He pondered for a moment and said, "Based on my understanding of You-Know-Who, it is unlikely he would leave behind such detailed evidence. If it were necessary to leave it behind, it would certainly be protected by heavy enchantments."

"This notebook might not have originated from You-Know-Who himself," Dumbledore said, "but we cannot ignore the information revealed within it. I believe we should reopen the trials for Crabbe, Goyle, Karkaroff, and others."

After the judges conversed for a while, they expressed their support for Dumbledore's judgment.

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

"No, Professor."

"Lucius, even if this notebook does not belong to the Dark Lord, your crime of privately hoarding a large number of Dark Magic items has just been confirmed through Dobby. Regarding this, do you have any rebuttal?"

"I... those... those were inconspicuous things, items passed down from my ancestors; I didn't know their specific uses! And! They have all been destroyed, burned in Fiendfyre! And the guy who started that fire is Murphy Darkholm! Dumbledore, you should be putting him on trial! Not me!"

"It sounds like we should perhaps thank Mr. Murphy for contributing to the safety of wizarding society," Dumbledore teased.

"Thank? He burned my house! Killed my friends! Almost killed me too!" Lucius screamed, losing his composure. "He is violating the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy! Are you even listening to what I'm saying?!"

Dumbledore looked at Murphy: "Lucius has accused you of multiple crimes, including arson, murder, and violating the Secrecy Act. Regarding this, do you have anything to explain, Mr. Murphy?"

"No, Professor. I think this despicable villain Lucius is just making up these lies out of a sinister desire for revenge, as well as some commercial competition considerations, wanting to put me to death!"

Things had reached this point; although it wasn't the best result—not sending Lucius directly inside—it was actually still within Murphy's script.

Reporting Lucius was a ruthless move, but in fact, Murphy didn't necessarily need it to succeed; this move was just a preliminary step to clear his own name later.

"Lucius, you despicable Death Eater! You piece of filth spewing dung! You're the shit soup Merlin shat out after a bad stomach!" Murphy suddenly became indignant. He looked at the judges. "Everyone! You all know in your hearts what kind of person Lucius is! You all know he is a Death Eater! You all know what he did all those years following Voldemort!"

"Everyone! If you let this demon go again today, one day you will feel ashamed of your actions! I sincerely hope that you will not leave a stain on your conscience!"

"Deceiving the public! Making unreasonable trouble! You have no evidence! Your evidence is all fake! Don't listen to his incitement! I am not guilty! I am innocent!" Seeing that things were turning back to putting himself on trial, Lucius also shouted loudly.

"Quiet! Quiet!" Dumbledore had to speak up again, interrupting their mutual insults.

He glanced at Murphy, seemingly wanting to see through his thoughts, while the latter met his gaze without any fear.

Professor, what are you hesitating about?

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

Even if the evidence is fake, so what?

When dealing with enemies, do we still need to talk about procedural justice?!

The gaze seemed extremely long, yet it also seemed to be just an instant. Dumbledore withdrew his gaze and raised his hand, looking at the judges. "I think we can now make a verdict on Lucius's retrial. Those who believe Lucius is innocent, please raise your hands."

Among the fifty-some judges, only a sparse dozen raised their hands.

Lucius's face turned dark. "No, I'm not guilty! I'm not guilty!"

"Those who believe Lucius is a Death Eater, please raise your hands."

Contrary to Lucius's expectations, only a dozen people raised their hands this time as well.

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 them down." Dumbledore looked at Lucius. "The evidence for your Death Eater accusation is insufficient, but the tribunal believes that you have still committed crimes regarding the private hoarding of Dark Magic items. You will be fined five thousand Galleons and sentenced to three months of detention in Azkaban."

"What? No!" Lucius was furious. "You can't do this to me!"

He glared at everyone and finally looked at Murphy. "What about him? Why aren't you putting him on trial? I have evidence!"

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

However, Dumbledore did not answer but looked at Lucius. "What evidence do you have to prove your accusation just now?"

"I have it! I have it!" Lucius said. "My pocket, there is a wand there. It belongs to the attacker; I captured it."

He looked at Murphy. "You must not have expected this, right? Your wand wasn't burned! And it was even obtained by me!"

He said, feeling encouraged. Once the judges found that wand among Lucius's belongings and placed it on the podium, he looked at the judges. "This is the attacker's wand! As long as you use Priori Incantatem on it, you can see what it did to my house!"

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

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 34 =====