BXBX NOVEL Chapter 244 - Trial Of Dolores Umbridge: Part-2
The link is also in the synopsis.
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The moment Sirius asked for Albus Dumbledore to be called, the courtroom buzzed in murmurs — be it the Wizengamot Jury or the audience members, everyone had something to say, and all ears to listen what others had to say. Dumbledore hadn\'t been seen in the Ministry ever since last year, and to see the ex-Chief Warlock step into the courtroom was a momentous moment.
The Usher exited through the door, leaving a sliver of a crack open. Not a single person in the courtroom didn\'t have their eyes anywhere but the door. Half a minute later, the Usher entered back into the courtroom and stood by the door side, holding it open — and then from the outside, entered Albus Dumbledore, walking in with a smile on his face, like he had never left. His twinkling eyes shone in the dim room, taking in everybody that sat in the room.
He silently walked over to the stand, bowed to Owler and the Jury before facing Sirius.
"Please state your name and occupation for the record," asked Sirius.
"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, I serve as the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft." If it was before, then the list would\'ve extended to Supreme Mugwump of International Confederation of Wizards and Chief Warlock of Wizengamot, but today, he was just the headmaster.
"Mr. Dumbledore, can you tell us how did Dolores Umbridge come to be teaching at Hogwarts?"
Dumbledore glanced at Umbridge, seeing the eyes that wished to shoot a green jet of magic that\'d put an end to him. "Dolores took the position at Hogwarts as the Defense Against The Dark Arts because I was unsuccessful in procuring a replacement for Alastor Moody, who vacated the position after the end of the previous term. She was appointed by the Ministry through an Educational Decree issued during the fifties, which stated that if Hogwarts isn\'t able to fill a teaching position, then the Ministry would provide a suitable replacement."
"So, is she?" asked Sirius. "Is Dolores Umbridge a suitable replacement?"
"Objection!" said Spindlewheel, standing up. "Your Worship, that question doesn\'t have anything to do with the current matter in hand. The Prosecution is trying to attack and slander my client\'s character."
"Overruled," said Owler, not even looking up from his table as he wrote his notes, "the charges on the accused are of child endangerment and abuse, which she supposedly performed while in her tenure in Hogwarts. Her ability to guide students is critical in this matter. Headmaster Dumbledore, you may answer that question."
Spindlewheel sat down, his face ugly scrunched up. He had done some digging with his friends who had children in Hogwarts; not a single of their children had anything positive to say about Umbridge, much less sing praises.
"I truly wish I could say otherwise," said Dumbledore sounding sympathetic, "but Dolores isn\'t fit to hold a teaching position."
"Would you mind elaborating?"
"She eliminated the practical portion from Defense Against The Dark Arts, which renders the subject moot as its core aim is to teach students to defend themselves, and learning theory without practical lessons is not the way to approach the subject. Even if somehow, students were able to learn the subject, which I repeat isn\'t possible, Dolores replaced the curriculum with asinine material that is a black spot in the name of education."
"Objection!" Spindlewheel got up once more and spoke to Owler, "Your Worship, the decision to change the curriculum and eliminate the practical portion of the subject was a Ministerial decision, and my client was only following the orders of the Ministry. Mr. Dumbledore is trying to put unjust blame on my client, and because of that reason, I suggest that Mr. Dumbledore be disqualified as a witness."
Spindlewheel was Umbridge\'s barrister, not the Ministry. His aim for this trial was to get Umbridge out of trouble, or at least make it so that she came out relatively unscathed — if he had to bury the Ministry in the process, he would do it.
Fudge\'s bloated face went red in his seat; he could feel the stares on him.
It wasn\'t entirely his decision! Fudge thought. It was Umbridge who had suggested that to him, but he couldn\'t say any of that as it was his signature that went on the orders. He looked up at Umbridge, but she refused to make eye contact with him.
Owler tapped his digits on his table, thinking about Spindlewheel\'s appeal. After thinkings for a few moments, he told his decision, "Albus Dumbledore\'s statement about the accused\'s teaching abilities is not going to be included in this trial, but the court isn\'t going to disqualify him as a witness. The Prosecution may continue with Albus Dumbledore."
Sirius pinched his lips together for a brief moment. He wanted the responsibility of education degradation in Hogwarts and had thought that Spindlewheel would let it pass, thinking that he might have some contact with Fudge, but it seemed that Spindlewheel was firmly on Umbridge\'s side.
\'No matter,\' thought Sirius, it might be a small bump in the short-term, but in the future, they could nail Fudge because of the blame now falling upon him.
"Headmaster Dumbledore, did Dolores Umbridge ever come to talk to you about protesting the change in curriculum?" asked Sirius.
"No, she didn\'t."
Sirius glanced at the Jury but didn\'t expand on it. Sometimes, it was better to let things sit and let people make up things in their minds.
"As the Headmaster, what can you tell us about Dolores Umbridge\'s influence at Hogwarts in her position as the High Inquisitor?"
Dumbledore paused in thought before answering, "Dolores, in her position as High Inquisitor, issued more than sixty Educational Decrees over the span of months, and using those, she had created an environment in which it was problematic to defy her. If a student wanted to complain about a Professor, they needed to go to Dolores, meaning that if some had to register a complaint against the Professor of DADA to the High Inquisitor, they wouldn\'t because they are the same person. Every single Educational Decree ever issued restricted students in one way or another; not one did give students more freedom or benefit from what they had before Dolores stepped into Hogwarts.
I would also like to say that if it wasn\'t Dolores fault for ruining DADA, then it was one hundred percent her fault that I got multiple requests from my students about dropping Muggle Studies as one of their subjects because Dolores restricted Professor Lily Potter from teaching anything outside of Ministery approved material, and I would like to point out that she accused Professor Potter — a muggleborn — of teaching make-belief things about our muggle counterparts.
She also blatantly disrespected Professor Filius Flitwick — a half-goblin — when she banned books by half-breeds. Professor Filius Flitwick is a master of charms and has published many academic books which enhanced the value of the Hogwarts library — and by introducing that Decree, she made him feel not welcome in what has been his home for decades."
Dumbledore\'s voice had turned passionate when he had started to talk about his Professors. Sirius, who listened to Dumbledore speak, smiled — if there had been any damage to Dumbledore\'s credibility because of his previous statement being thrown out, then he now surely had recovered it.
"Thank you, Headmaster Dumbledore," said Sirius and turned to Spindlewheel. "Defense can cross-examine the witness."
Spindlewheel stood up from his chair and spoke with his eyes on some papers laid on his table. "Mr. Dumbledore, I don\'t have much to ask you, but I do want to talk to you about a particular incident," he raised his head to look at Dumbledore, "would you please tell the Jury about the incident in which you assaulted Ms. Umbridge by transfiguring her into a sock?"
A silence zoned down into the courtroom as everyone looked between Dumbledore and Umbridge. Dumbledore had turned Umbridge into a sock? They didn\'t know about this, which boggled everyone\'s mind because it was Umbridge, and the woman would have chewed him to the bone by now. But here they sat, listening to this for the first time.
"What would you like me to tell about it?" asked Dumbledore, his speech unhurried and stance open.
"Why did you turn Ms. Umbridge, along the two Aurors who were accompanying the Minister, into socks?"
Fudge closed his eyes, cursing his past self who thought it would be advantageous to be a part of Wizengamot Jury today. Now he had to sit here under the eyes of his peers, without being able to leave. After today, one thing was for sure: people would look at him, the Minister, differently.
Amelia, on the other hand, was already looking forward to going back to her office and ordering the two Aurors who had been assigned to the Fudge, and asking them why she wasn\'t informed about this, then further ask them if they would be liked to be booted from the Auror Corps.
"The Minister threatened to have me arrested because I asked him to leave. He ordered his Aurors to arrest me, and I felt threatened because of my wand not being near me," said Dumbledore with a lack of urgency.
". . . You didn\'t have your wand? But you transfigured three people into a sock — two of them were Aurors."
"Yes, I did, with wandless magic," said Dumbledore as if natural.
"And despite that, you felt threatened?" Spindlewheel asked, his tone uncertain.
"Why yes. Any wizard would feel vulnerable without their wand. I\'m no different. Now that I look at it, I feel that my actions were hasty. If I had talked through it, no magic would\'ve come into use."
"So you agree that it was your fault?"
"Partially, yes."
"Rest of the fault lies in the hand of the Minister, Cornelius Fudge, who threatened you."
"Yes."
"And Ms. Umbridge, who was a bystander and hadn\'t threatened you, was a victim of your magic."
"Yes, that seems to be the case."
"But in reality, you attacked her because she threatened your position as the Headmaster."
"No, that wasn\'t my intention."
"But, you didn\'t apologize to her afterward when you realized your fault."
"No, I didn\'t. . ."
Spindlewheel turned to the Owler and the Jury, "The Defense has nothing more to ask of Albus Dumbledore."
Sirius stared at Spindlewheel, his lips pressed into a white line. He was good, Sirius thought. In one line of questioning, despite Dumbledore\'s calm external, Spindlewheel had successfully dented Dumbledore\'s credibility as a character witness. But it was fine, looking at the bigger picture outside of the courtroom, they — The Light Faction — could nail Fudge for implementing the now-in-question Educational Decrees.
Sirius got up from his chair and spoke to Owler, "Your Worship, the next witness is who we — Prosecution and Defense — have deemed to be the student representative of the twenty-nine affected students."
Spindlewheel nodded, "The Defense confirms the Prosecution\'s statement."
"I would like to call Quinn West to the stand," said Sirius.
When the Jury and the audience heard about the student representative, some thought it would be a random student, while others remembered that it\'d be Harry Potter from the projected footage, but they didn\'t expect to hear the name "West" come out of the barrister\'s mouth.
The Usher led Dumbledore out, and when he returned, he came back with a teenager dressed in a dark grey three-piece suit. It wasn\'t anything particular, but no one doubted that this was a West — maybe it was the way he dressed, or how he walked, or perhaps it was just the way he looked around the courtroom like it wasn\'t a stage too big for him.
Quinn calmly took the stand, bowed to the Jury, then to Owler, and nodded to Sirius and Spindlewheel before matching eyes with Umbridge, to whom he sent a small smile — not one of mockery, but a straightforward one with no reflective intention than smiling.
After Quinn was sworn in and asked to state his name for the record, Owler was the one to address Quinn.
"Mr. Quinn West, on behalf of the court, I\'d like to thank you for stepping forward as the representative of the students affected," said Owler with a comforting smile.
Quinn wordlessly bowed with a smile. If it was putting away Umbridge, he would rise from his grave if needed.
Sirius stood up and began the Prosecutors\' side of questioning. "Mr. West, you\'re one of the twenty-nine students who were assigned detention with Dolores Umbridge, correct?"
"Yes," said Quinn, "to my knowledge, I\'m number twenty-nine."
The projector was fired up again, and the holographic footage showed Quinn sitting across from Umbridge, writing with the blood quill in hand.
"If you\'d tell to the Jury what did Dolores Umbridge made you write? What did she make you cut into your hand line after line, for hours at length, and for many days."
Quinn turned to the Jury and spoke in a clear voice: "I must obey Professor Umbridge."
Many members of the Jury gasped. All of them immediately looked at Umbridge, who looked ahead as before, but this time around, her eyes were focused, and chin raised high. It was clear what she thought of the matter.
"Mr. West, please tell the Jury why did Dolores Umbridge assign you the detention under her?"
"I refused to open a locked door for her."
Sirius turned to the Jury. "Mr. West is an exemplary student who\'s always top of his class, a Prefect for his house, respected by his peers and well-liked by his Professors. This makes him a model student, but that\'s not all — Mr. West here started a club with the aim to help Hogwarts students. He calls it AID — which is the abbreviation of Aid In Distress. He has been helping students through AID since his second year, much before he was awarded the position of the Prefect, which tells us much about Mr. West.
But, this year, AID faced jeopardy when Dolores Umbridge threatened to close the beloved club right at the start of the year — and she did it by threatening Mr. West through an Educational Decree which didn\'t have the authority to close down AID — she tried to abuse her authority—"
"Objection!" spoke Spindlewheel. "Your Worship, the Prosecution is speculating Ms. Umbridge\'s intention and in doing so are slandering her!"
"Sustained," said Owler, "Prosecution will refrain from making such comments."
"Mr apologies, your honor," said Sirius unperturbed, "but I speak the truth because Dolores Umbridge tried to shut AID down again, and this time she brought forth an Educational Decree just so she could bar the doors of AID from ever helping another student again." He turned to Quinn and asked, "Mr. West, can you tell everyone what Dolores Umbridge said to you when she came into the office?"
"Professor Umbridge," said Quinn, "came into my office with Argus Filch, the caretaker, while I was talking with my friend Luna Lovegood. She handed me an Educational Decree which stated all extra-curricular activities are now subject to review by the High Inquisitor," he looked at Umbridge, "when I asked her about AID\'s review, and in reply, I got the answer that AID was already reviewed and had failed; as such, it was being closed immediately."
"Thank you, Mr. West," said Sirius and turned to Jury to continue for Quinn. "The Auror Office took statements of Hogwarts Professors, and not once had Dolores Umbridge talked with them about AID. We asked Dolores Umbridge herself who did she consult on the matter — her answer was a simple: No one. She took the decision on her own, without ever consulting anyone, which means that she had private motive to shut down AID."
"Objection!" said Spindlewheel. "Your Worship, the Prosecution is spouting rubbish!"
"On the contrary, Your Worship," Sirius turned to Quinn. "Mr. West, can you tell me what happened after the first time she tried to shut down AID."
"She gave me detention for disobeying her."
"And what did you do?"
"I thought it was unjust and went to my Head of House, Professor Filius Flitwick, to have it annulled."
"What were the results?"
"He annulled it right on the spot."
"There you have it, members of the Jury. Dolores Umbridge clearly felt humiliated because her power trip was halted and decided to take revenge by turning her malicious eyes towards Mr. Quinn West and AID."
Umbridge gritted her teeth in her chair. She wanted to shout and scream, but she knew that if she said anything, she would be found in contempt, and the nobody-Owler would punish her — he had the ability to dismiss the Jury and take matters into his own hands if she wasn\'t cooperating.
Sirius once again turned to Quinn. It was time to drive this witness\' image in the eyes of the Jury to the top floor of the Ministry.
"Members of the Jury, if you may recall, when we question Madam Amelia Bones, she said that she received the reels from a student of Hogwarts. You\'d be delighted to know that it was Mr. Quinn West who bravely decided to step forward against injustice and take action by revealing to us the true and vile nature of Dolores Umbridge."
As Sirius had expected, everyone in the court except a few like Owler, Sirius, Spindlewheel, Umbridge and Amelia, and a few others who already knew of the fact started to look at Quinn in an even positive right. On the other hand, Umbridge wanted nothing more than to slit Quinn\'s throat and watch his blood drain.
"That\'d be all from the Prosecution\'s side," said Sirius and sat back down.
Spindlewheel stood up, it was his chance, and it was his last chance. There were no significant witnesses after this, only some minor character witnesses which he had prepared to paint his client in a slightly good light. Spindlewheel was no fool; he knew when he had seen the tapes that he wasn\'t going to win this one.
"Mr. West," he said, it was time to put in whatever dents he could put in to reduce the sentence, "please tell us when did all of this started?"
Quinn stared at the lawyer and spoke the prepared scenario, the one based on truth and mixed with just a dash of falsity. "It all started when I noticed Harry Potter acting strange, holding his hand, and taking glances at Professor Umbridge while in the great hall. I knew something was wrong, so I asked him as a friend, and he told me what had happened.
Then and there, I decided that this couldn\'t be allowed to continue; as such, I came with the idea of recording Professor Umbridge\'s detention to prove that she was doing something illegal."
Spindlewheel nodded and turned to the projector, which was still projecting but had halted on a still image. "Members of the Jury, if you\'d notice the position of the footage, you\'d notice that it\'s pointing down, meaning that the camera was somewhere up above, near the ceiling," he turned to Quinn. "Mr. West, please tell us how you recorded the reels you submitted."
"I planted a small camera in Professor Umbridge\'s room, near the ceiling, which recorded all the footage I submitted."
"To be clear, you secretly recorded Ms. Umbridge."
"Yes, I did."
"You realize that what you did was highly illegal."
"I\'m well aware of the illegality of secretly recording someone."
"And despite that, you still did it."
"Yes."
"Why didn\'t you go to any of your Professors with this? What guided you to take matters into your own hands?"
"Through the use of Educational Decrees, Professor Umbridge had made it so that it\'d difficult to move against her," said Quinn; he wasn\'t present in the courtroom, and as such went on to repeat what Dumbledore had said about Educational Decrees, just this time, he talked about Educational Decrees restricting teachers instead of students.
"I wasn\'t confident if the Professors would be helpful in this case. And even I did reach out to them or the Aurors Office, they\'d have their hands tied because of the lack of evidence that Professor Umbridge did the crimes. If one would see the footage at length, they\'d notice that Professor Umbridge never went as far enough to leave permanent marks on our hands. She\'d stop just before the blood quill would leave a mark."
"So you didn\'t trust your Professors or the Aurors to their jobs? Or any adult that they would be able to help you?" asked Spindlewheel, attempting to paint a picture of a child playing vigilante.
"I trust my Professors, the illustrious Aurors," said Quinn with a confident smile, "but this is a court of law, and without evidence, every adult here has their hands tied. I simply did what a good citizen would do, even if it meant doing something illegal."
"I see. . . Ms. Umbridge asked Mr. West to open a door in his office, which he refused to do so. Mr. West, please tell everyone why did you refuse to do so?"
Quinn glanced at Umbridge for a second before coming back. "I was angry at AID being closed. She had tried to close it before and had failed, but this time she succeeded."
"What\'s behind that door, Mr. West?"
"Personal things."
"So, it\'s fine if you install a camera inside her office, but it\'s not good if she asks you to show her what\'s behind a door because it\'s personal stuff. Can you see the double standards here, Mr. West?"
"Yes, I can see it," said Quinn. Spindlewheel narrowed his eyes at the lack of fluster or panic that he tried to incite. "But unlike her, I don\'t torture people in my office. My office is named AID; I provide help, a complete opposite to what she did to all of us."
Spindlewheel immediately moved on to the next question, not willing to let the Jury ponder on Quinn\'s words; his attempts to make the kid panic and crack under pressure were for naught.
"Mr. West, in the dozen or so quills that were found in Ms. Umbridge\'s office, we couldn\'t find a match for your blood even though you were the last person to use those quills? Why is that?"
Quinn shrugged, "I wouldn\'t know."
He, of course, knew. Quinn had known that there were many blood quills, but because he didn\'t want to leave his blood behind in Umbridge\'s hands, he cleaned the blood quills before leaving. As for the blood-written parchments, Umbridge burned those in her fireplace. Even the blood sample he had given to the Aurors had been stealthily swapped with a sample extensively treated so that it couldn\'t be used against him.
"I see. . ." said Spindlewheel, not continuing that line of questioning. It was better to let the suspense remain and let the Jury think suspiciously of Quinn. "You waited for months as your friends and classmates continued to serve these detentions. It was only when it was your turn that you decided to turn the reels to the Auror department. Why is that, Mr. West? It seems you only care about yourselves." asked Spindlewheel.
Quinn lightly shook his head, "Me serving detention had nothing to do with the timing of me sending tapes. Actually, I was going to complete my detention before sending them in, but then I saw something, and it changed my mind."
His face turned grave, and his shoulders slumped sadly, "I mentioned my friend Luna Lovegood being there when Professor Umbridge came to shut down AID. I sent Luna out so that she won\'t have to see it shut down; she is as much a part of AID as I am. But it turned out that she told everyone what was happening because when Professor Umbridge and I exited the office to go her office for detention, the entire school was waiting for us in the way."
Quinn looked at the Jury directly, "I saw my friends, classmates, juniors, seniors, and even the Professor — and all of them were looking at us with sadness and sorrow — there I realized they weren\'t sad for me getting detention, Professor Umbridge gave that to the best of us.
They were sad that AID had shut.
At that moment, it hit me that — ah, I was successful, that I had created something that really helped people, and now that it was gone, they had come to see if it was true, and seeing me walking with Professor Umbridge told them that it was indeed true and that she had taken away the one thing that she had failed to take away before.
In the instant I saw those faces, I realized that I couldn\'t wait any longer, that I had to send the reels out before Professor Umbridge broke Hogwarts morale, and that\'s why you only see me one time in the tapes."
And that sealed it. Spindlewheel knew it, Sirius knew it, hell, even Owler knew it. That little speech had done its job in turning the Jury\'s support firmly away from Umbridge and into the Prosecution\'s lap.
"That\'d be all from Defense," Spindlewheel sighed. He knew it was over, but his job wasn\'t done.
Moving forward, Spindlewheel brought forth his character witnesses, but they didn\'t do much work as Quinn\'s passionate speech had rendered them moot, not to mention Sirius went the extra mile and tried to discredit every character witness that was called on.
After that, when all the witnesses and evidence had been presented, both sides presented their closing statements and rested their cases.
"Now, the members of the Jury would cast their vote," said Owler, looking to both his sides. "Those in favor of clearing the accused of all charges?" he asked in his booming voice. There were hands in the air, many of them. . . but much less than half.
"And those in favor of conviction?" Owler looked at the overwhelming majority of the hands going up. "Very well. . . Dolores Umbridge, by the Law of Wizengamot, you have been found GUILTY on all your charges and will be facing just punishment!"
But Umbridge didn\'t hear any of that. Her entire being was busy staring at Fudge, who refused to meet her eyes.
Why? She wondered. Why did her beloved Cornelius, who she had supported all along, had raised his hand when the judge asked for those in favor of conviction?
"Cornelius, why?!" she screeched in agony. "I only did as you asked me to! You asked me to make Dumbledore and Potter brats\' lives miserable, and I did so! So why do you betray me now?! CORNELIUS!! ANSWER ME!!!" She lunged forward, but the chains kept her bound to the chair, yet the madwoman tried to spring forward, again and again, looking like her world had collapsed.
Fudge, who had just betrayed his closest confidant by raising his hand in favor of conviction so that he could look like a just leader, tucked his chin down in shame, not daring to look at anyone. He hastily got up and out of the courtroom as fast as his legs could make him walk.
Quinn watched all of this while standing on a side with a smile on his face.
The Trial of Umbridge had come to an end.
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Quinn West - MC - Prime witness. Secured victory for Prosecution with rousing mini-speech.
Jones Spindlewheel - Defense - Skilled lawyer, but his client was doomed.
Sirius Black - Prosecutor - Well, that was easy enough.
Lawrence Owler - Judge - Came for one case, now back to enjoying his retirement.
Albus Dumbledore - Headmasters - Actions have consequences.
Dolores Umbridge - Guilty - Mental breakdown.
Cornelius Fudge - Minister - Betrayer.
Wizengamot Jury - Wizengamot seat holders - Dark, Light, Grey — all factions and their members. You can imagine who was sitting there — Potter, Greengrass, Malfoy. . . I didn\'t mention them bcos I didn\'t want to stretch this.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Umbridge is Guilty. Her actual punishment (which Owler decides) will be mentioned in the aftermath in the next chapter. The next chapter will be reactions of sorts
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The link is in the synopsis!