That girlish little cough made Eda recall the terror of being ruled by pink. Honestly, right now she really wanted to throw up first as a show of respect.
The witch in the shadows leaned forward, revealing her distinguished appearance.
She was short and fat, with a broad, flabby face. Her neck was nowhere to be seen, and her large mouth drooped downward. Her eyes were very large, round, and slightly protruding. A small black velvet bow was tied to her short, curly hair.
Fortunately, she was not wearing her girlish pink outfit today, so Eda's urge to vomit was reduced by the tiniest bit. She was Dolores Jane Umbridge, a witch who had taught Eda to judge people by their appearance.
"I think I must have misunderstood what you meant, Twist." Umbridge spoke in a high-pitched, shrill voice. "I really am terribly foolish, but I believe that for a brief moment just now, you seemed to be implying that the Ministry of Magic ordered the attack on this boy!"
She really was foolish. What Eda had done was no longer hinting, she had practically stated it outright! Did Umbridge really need Eda to grab Fudge by the collar before she could understand?
Listening to Umbridge's nauseatingly shrill voice, Eda wanted nothing more than to buy this Senior Undersecretary a little pinwheel and let her go whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... With a Senior Undersecretary like this, how could the Ministry of Magic possibly worry about not being wiped out by Voldemort?
Eda did not immediately respond. She genuinely could not. She was afraid that the moment she opened her mouth, she would throw up even tomorrow's dinner.
In front of everyone, Eda gently patted her clothes several times, as if some disgusting filth had gotten on them.
"I was only stating the facts I saw. If that made you come to such a conclusion..." Eda changed her tone. "Then doesn't that prove these attacks were carried out at the Ministry of Magic's behest, including the incident in this case?"
"You're talking nonsense! You're just being unreasonable!" Umbridge suddenly stood up, pointing a short, thick finger at Eda. To be honest, whether she stood up or not, there was not much difference in height.
Eda was, of course, talking nonsense, and it could indeed be considered unreasonable, because neither of those two incidents had much to do with Fudge.
The Dementors entering Hogwarts were the result of the Ministry's people failing in their supervision and neglecting their duties. As for the incident at the World Cup campsite, the Aurors had first failed to identify the people correctly and had been eager to claim credit. Later, Barty Crouch had deliberately distorted the facts and delayed things.
Eda was simply forcibly tying the previous incidents together with the current one, giving people the false impression that the Ministry of Magic had wanted Harry Potter dead all along. She was forcibly pinning the accusation on Fudge.
If the Ministry of Magic, led by Fudge, could make the first move, then Eda had no reason not to make the fifteenth. Fight magic with magic, and shamelessness with shamelessness.
Those with nothing to lose had nothing to fear from those with something to lose. Eda was young, after all. She was not afraid of losing face, nor was she afraid of falling down. If she fell, she could simply dust herself off and get back up. Fudge, however, was different. If the Minister took a fall, he might end up with fractures all over his body, or even die outright.
Umbridge sat back down with a gloomy expression. Her height indeed had not changed much.
Sitting down also meant that Umbridge had calmed down. She let out a bell-like laugh and said while laughing, "Children are children. When they can't produce any clear evidence, all they can do is throw a tantrum. I have a handkerchief here. Would you like one?"
Eda laughed too, producing a laugh like a barbell.
A middle-aged old witch's laughter sounded like silver bells, while the laughter of a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl sounded like a barbell. Was this a distortion of human nature, or a decline of morality...
"Madam Bones mentioned it earlier too. I personally killed three Dark wizards, and I was only in my second year at the time." Eda laughed as she spoke. "May I ask if the Senior Undersecretary was capable of doing something similar in her second year? Let's loosen the conditions a little. How about now? Are you capable of doing something similar now?"
Umbridge was momentarily rendered speechless. She was good at bullying those beneath her and flattering those above her, but she really could not defeat Dark wizards herself. However, Umbridge was not someone who would give up easily. Otherwise, she would never have climbed to such a high position.
"Minister Fudge has governed the wizarding world very well. I have never encountered any Dark wizards," Umbridge said. "Besides, who knows whether those three people were Squibs!"
"Oh, there are no Dark wizards? That's wonderful!" Eda said. "Then please tell me, who were the people parading around at the World Cup campsite? Enthusiastic members of the public from Diagon Alley? Were they simply so excited about Ireland winning that they went out for a walk to burn off some of their excitement? Or does the Ministry of Magic not consider Death Eaters to be Dark wizards?"
The members of the Wizengamot on both sides sucked in a sharp breath. That statement was simply too vicious. It was practically saying that the Ministry of Magic was a stronghold of Dark wizards.
"The Ministry of Magic has Aurors. They will naturally be responsible for apprehending them..."
"Senior Undersecretary!" Eda loudly interrupted Umbridge and continued, "Last year, I defeated an adult dragon during the Triwizard Tournament. Can the Senior Undersecretary do that?"
Umbridge's face changed like someone had knocked over a painter's palette, turning a different color every moment. Umbridge had tried to use her age to suppress Eda, only to have Eda throw it right back at her, leaving her unable to save her reputation.
The entire courtroom fell silent. To defeat an adult dragon, and to do so better than Eda had, was something very few people would dare boast they could accomplish.
"Why isn't the Senior Undersecretary saying anything?" Eda pressed her advantage. "Can't you do it? It's fine if you can't. After all, people are different from one another. Some people are born prodigies, while others can only be toads in a muddy pond."
This was not the first time Eda had called Umbridge a toad. Just like last time, Umbridge lost her composure.
The Senior Undersecretary stood up again and shouted loudly, "Twist! You filthy, half-blood..."
"There's no need to shout so loudly. I'm not as old as you, so I'm neither deaf nor losing my eyesight yet," Eda said, picking her ear with her little finger as she spoke, showing absolutely no manners.
Eda continued, "Also, next time you insult someone, Senior Undersecretary, you'd better not drag yourself into it. As far as I know, you're a half-blood witch too. Your father isn't..."
"Shut up! Shut up!" Umbridge became completely hysterical in that instant. She absolutely would not allow anyone to mention her family background. Absolutely not!
Umbridge trembled all over with rage. She wished she could tear Eda apart with her bare hands, and she had even taken her wand into her grip.
As for Eda, she did not move at all. She simply stood there and looked at Umbridge. Eda wanted to see whether Dolores Jane Umbridge had the courage to actually attack her.
Eda waited excitedly for Umbridge to raise her wand. But just as the Senior Undersecretary was about to lift it, Fudge once again struck the little wooden gavel in his hand, several times in a row.
The loud banging echoed throughout the entire courtroom, and quite a few people covered their ears.
"Enough!" Fudge shouted furiously. "All of you, shut up!"
Fudge's roar brought the enraged Umbridge back to her senses. She hurriedly put away her wand.
"Minister... Minister, it's not like that... I'm a pure-blood, not a half-blood! I'm a Selwyn... My father is a member of the Wizengamot..." Umbridge babbled incoherently in explanation.
Eda gave a disdainful "Tsk." She would not even acknowledge her own ancestors or parents. Umbridge, what the hell was she even supposed to be?
"Shut up!" Fudge snarled.
Umbridge immediately fell silent and shrank back onto the bench. Her shoulders trembled continuously, and Umbridge actually began sobbing as though she had suffered some enormous injustice.
"Today, we are here to hear the case of Harry Potter violating the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery," Fudge said gravely, looking toward Eda and Harry. "The defendant's witness is to stop bringing up matters unrelated to this case."
It was clearly Fudge who had brought up matters unrelated to the case first. Once he saw that things were not going his way, however, it somehow became Eda's fault, as though she were the one who had committed the offense. Fudge was really quite skilled at double standards.
Eda cleared her throat and said, "On that night, the defendant, Harry Potter, was attacked by Dementors. In order to protect his own safety, he cast magic outside school, in front of a Muggle. According to Article Seven of the Decree, under special circumstances, underage wizards may use magic in front of Muggles. I don't think there is any circumstance more special than having one's life threatened."
"Based on all of the above, the defendant, Harry Potter, is innocent, and all charges are invalid," Eda said with utmost seriousness.
"I know these laws better than you do, Twist!" Fudge glared at Eda, furious and humiliated. "Dementors would never appear in Little Whinging, absolutely never! Everything Harry Potter said was completely fabricated!"
Eda was almost laughing from anger at those words. Fudge really intended to carry his shamelessness all the way to the end. Was this really a case of having no shame meaning being invincible?
Eda walked in circles beside the gradually rising benches on both sides, making sure that everyone sitting there could clearly see her face and her expression.
She said, "The truth is right there, yet someone chooses to turn a blind eye. I don't know what has covered that person's eyes. All I feel is a chill in my heart. Everyone here can think about who was sitting in that courtroom the last time Courtroom Ten was used, and what the charge was. Then look at who is sitting there now, and what accusations they are facing."
Several wizards sitting above shifted uneasily in their seats. Fudge's face turned the purplish-red color of a pig's liver. Umbridge stared fixedly at Eda, as though she wanted to swallow her whole.
Eda returned to the center and brought her hands together in front of her chest, fingertips touching. She said nothing more.
The members of the Wizengamot on both sides began whispering among themselves again, discussing the final verdict in the case.
For Harry, what felt like an entire century passed before the unsettling whispers finally ceased.
"Those in favor of finding the charges proven, raise your hands," Madam Bones said in a loud voice.
Fudge raised his hand first. Another six or seven people raised theirs as well, which was not a large number. Fudge looked left and right, desperately suppressing his anger. His throat bobbed as though something were stuck in it.
"Those in favor of finding the charges unproven, raise your hands," Madam Bones continued.
After saying that, Madam Bones raised her own hand. Then one hand after another went up, and there were quite a few of them... more than half!
"Very good, very good... The charges are not proven." Fudge announced the verdict helplessly, his voice sounding strangely strained.
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