Chapter 233

But Harry's good mood wasn't to last too long.

Mulciber, who had been watching as Lisa was being escorted in, had another blow to deliver, "Your Honor. I propose a motion for a vote on Veritaserum. Reasonable doubt has more than been established, and we wouldn't want her mental state affecting her truthfulness would we?"

And whether it was because she wasn't Harry or for some other reason, the Judge did not hesitate this time, "Very well then. We will put it to a vote."

Harry's heart felt swollen against his ribcage. If they gave Lisa Veritaserum and it didn't work, people would no doubt start distrusting her, just like Dumbledore had distrusted him when he had learned about his shields. That would no doubt be damaging.

"Those in favor of using Veritaserum,"

A clear majority voted yes, and Harry's stomach plummeted.

"Call for the Court Administerer and the Court Legilimencer both," the judge said, sending an aide running through a side door to call for the two people that Harry definitely did not want Lisa to encounter today.

It was another full minute before the aide returned with two hooded figures, one of whom stood by the sidelines and the other moved closer to Lisa. There was a tiny glass vial of truth potion in his hand.

He pried open her mouth and dropped three drops of it into her mouth, before kneeling down and starting to continuously peer at her face.

Seconds turned into minutes as the whispers ringing across the hall grew, and eventually, even the judge lost his patience.

"What is going on?" he asked, irritated.

"It is not working," was the simple monotone reply as the man stood up, "Her Occlumency is too strong."

And the distrustful whispers started growing rapidly along with Harry's sense of unrest. It was just like Dumbledore said. You couldn't fake being under Veritaserum under court. And Lisa wasn't even trying.

"Order! Order!" the judge said, smacking his gavel to silence the room, "Court Legilimencer, can you confirm this?"

The other hooded man walked over to the middle of the room before he too dropped down onto a knee before Lisa. He looked her in the eye for a second, presumably trying Legilimency to enter her mind. Harry knew before he did that he would be unsuccessful.

"I can confirm," the Court Legilimencer said flatly a second later, "She has some of the strongest shields I have ever encountered."

Angry and suspicious mutters spread across the entire Wizengamot.

Harry was starting to worry, but one look at Dumbledore fixed that. The man had a plan, and it became even more obvious when he started to speak.

"It is clear that this effect on her mind is due to the trauma of the possession. She has blank memories, has shown multiple instances of knowing more than anyone her age does and has mental trauma. The fact that it was a possession is even bolstered by Mr. Potter's testimony of a disappearing man-"

Dumbledore was winning people over, and Mulciber knew it, which was why he loudly interrupted him, "Possessed was she? She was possessed for what was the better part of the year and absolutely no one noticed? She did not show any changes in behavior? Should we be prosecuting the venerable Headmaster and Miss Turpin's mother for criminal negligence then? "

He took a breath and barrelled on," That girl is a Parseltongue who is using Occlumency stronger than most of us in the room can. Her finding a potions recipe feels unrealistic to you? And what trauma are you talking about? In all my years at the ministry, I have never heard of anyone learning Occlumency from a spirit that possessed them. You keep piling on theory after theory connecting dots there aren't even there, yet the only evidence you have is the word of a child that is no doubt traumatized by the events of the Chamber and thus cannot be trusted to be fully accurate. This has to be utter nonsense coming from an incompetent teacher who has clearly gone senile."

The whole hall erupted in a massive din, with the families that supported Dumbledore shouting obscenities at Mulciber, and the families allied with Mulciber shouting back to defend him. Sounds of slamming desks with hands and hoarse screams echoed in Harry's ears as he admired Mulciber's tactic with a sick feeling.

The man had, in the guise of losing his temper, singlehandedly drowned out anything that Dumbledore had to say.

BOOM!

The sudden sound of the explosion almost ripped Harry's eardrum apart. The whole hall suddenly fell silent.

Dumbledore lowered his wand, before pointedly looking at the judge.

"Ah. Yes," the Judge said, regaining his bearings before he instructed, "It is clear that spirits are running high now. We will be dispersing for today and will be reconvening tomorrow for further on this case. Court dispersed!"

And with that final gavel, it ended.

The trial wrapped up in the next few minutes, and a few minutes after that, Harry, Nicholas, and Dumbledore were sitting in Dumbledore's office. Harry was silently sitting as the two adults discussed how the trial had gone and what to do next.

"You miscalculated Albus," Nicholas gravely said.

"I know," Dumbledore replied, "Something was wrong there. The motion for Veritaserum should not have been nearly as unanimous. The votes are being influenced, and the prosecutor is no doubt being coached to take Miss Turpin down as brutally as possible. Someone is meddling to make sure that Lisa Turpin does not survive this."

Nicholas hummed in agreement, "Either way, our defense is frail. Right now, the only things we have going for us is the sheer unbelievability of a 12-year-old doing all that magic and Harry's testimony. Your possession argument was holding well before Mulciber interrupted you, but it will not be enough."

"I know," Dumbledore said with a tired sigh, "This entire generation has been coached to fear Parseltongue after Lord Voldemort, and that fear hadn't gotten the time to settle in today's court. It will have tomorrow, and people will be much less sympathetic towards Miss Turpin. We need to bolster our possession defense."

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