Chapter 33: Procedural Justice?

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

Had he known Dumbledore would be involved, he would have brought the real diary! The so-called "Dark Lord's diary" was naturally a forgery by Murphy.

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

His trick of using heat to reveal the writing was only meant to confuse and mislead—if a diary of the Dark Lord could be read simply by saying "reveal yourself," it would seem a bit too trivial. Instead, heating it with fire seemed more like a breakthrough from the wizards' conventional thinking.

His action of wearing gloves was to emphasize the dangerous nature of the diary.

After all, it would be unbelievable if something belonging to the Dark Lord didn't carry some kind of curse.

But none of that mattered now.

Dumbledore had already verified that there was no dark magic on the diary.

"A friend gave it to me; he got it from the Malfoy's cellar," Murphy continued with his lies.

"Can you reveal your friend's name?" Dumbledore asked.

"He calls himself Tony Wayne," Murphy bluffed, "but I guess that's a pseudonym. He doesn't trust the Ministry of Magic and has been secretly fighting crime."

Dumbledore, of course, didn't understand the significance of the name combining Iron Man and Batman. He pondered for a while, saying, "Based on my understanding of such a mysterious person, it's unlikely that he would leave such detailed evidence. If necessary, it would surely be heavily protected."

"This diary may not be from the mysterious person himself," Dumbledore said. "However, the information revealed in it cannot be casually ignored. I believe we should restart the trials of Crabbe, Goyle, Karkaroff, and others."

After a brief discussion, the judges expressed support for Dumbledore's judgment.

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

"No, Professor."

"Lucius, even if this diary does not belong to the Dark Lord, the crime of hoarding a large number of dark magic items has been proven through Dobby. Do you have any defense against this?"

"I… those… those are just trivial things, handed down from my ancestors, I didn't know their specific uses! And! They have been destroyed, burnt in fierce fire! And the one who set the fire, was Murphy Darkholme! Dumbledore, it is him who should be on trial, not me!"

"It sounds like we should thank Mr. Murphy for contributing to the safety of the wizarding community," Dumbledore said jokingly.

"Thank? He burned my house! Killed my friends! Nearly killed me and my family!" Lucius screamed hysterically, "He's violating the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy! Are you not listening to what I'm saying?!"

Dumbledore looked at Murphy: "Lucius has accused you of arson, murder, and violating the Secrecy Law. What do you have to say, Mr. Murphy?"

"Nothing, Professor. I think Lucius, this despicable man, is just making up these lies out of spite and some business competition, trying to frame me!"

The situation was still within Murphy's script. Reporting Lucius was a ruthless move, but Murphy didn't necessarily need it to succeed. This move was just a preparatory step for clearing his own name later.

"Lucius, you despicable Death Eater! Filthy liar! Merlin's diarrheic soup!" Murphy suddenly became indignant, "Everyone knows what kind of person Lucius is! You all know he's a Death Eater! You all know what he did following Voldemort all those years!"

"If you let this devil go today, one day, you will be ashamed of your actions! I sincerely hope you won't leave a stain on your conscience!"

"Spreading rumors! Sheer nonsense! You have no evidence! Your evidence is fake! Don't listen to his instigation! I'm innocent!" Lucius, seeing the situation turning against him, shouted loudly.

"Quiet! Quiet!" Dumbledore had to speak up again to interrupt the quarrel.

He glanced at Murphy, as if trying to see through his thoughts, and Murphy fearlessly met his gaze.

Professor, what are you hesitating for? You know Lucius is a Death Eater, and today is the best and last chance to bring him to justice!

Even if the evidence is false, so what?

Should we speak of procedural justice to our enemies?!

After a long, yet seemingly momentary gaze, Dumbledore withdrew his gaze and raised his hand, looking at the judges, "Those who think Lucius is innocent, please raise your hand."

Among the fifty or so judges, only a dozen raised their hands.

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

"Those who think Lucius is a Death Eater, please raise your hand."

Contrary to Lucius's expectation, only a dozen people raised their hands again.

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

This time, over twenty hands were raised.

"Put your hands down." Dumbledore looked at Lucius, "The evidence for your accusation as a Death Eater is insufficient, but the tribunal believes that you have committed crimes in hoarding dark magic items. You will be fined five thousand Galleons and sentenced to three months in Azkaban."

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

He glared at everyone, finally looking at Murphy, "What about him? Why don't you put him on trial? I have evidence!"

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

However, Dumbledore did not answer, but looked at Lucius, "Do you have any evidence for your accusations just now?"

"I do! I do!" Lucius said, "In my pocket, there is a wand, it belongs to the attacker, I confiscated it."

He looked at Murphy, "You never thought, did you? Your wand wasn't burned! And I got it!"

He said this with excitement, and as the judge brought the wand from Lucius's belongings to the podium, he looked at the judges, "This is the attacker's wand! Just use the Prior Incantato spell, and you will see what it did to my house!"

"And I have a witness, to prove that this wand, belongs to Murphy Darkholme!"