Chapter 151 Prelude to Judgment
Hogwarts is still suspended, and Arrianne Lind, who has just returned from St. Mungo's, has been at home for nearly half a month. The Lind family lives in a Muggle community not far from the portal of the Ministry of Magic, and the people here only regard them as ordinary middle-class people.
Today is an ordinary Saturday, but also a big day that shakes the entire wizarding world of Country Y - Della Riddle is going to be publicly tried. Recent rumors say that she is the daughter of a mysterious man who has been stranded outside.
Aryan still doesn't quite believe this. When she first heard the news, she subconsciously thought it was some kind of political tactic. After all, any incident related to the mysterious man would undoubtedly be a big gimmick and a great political achievement.
But whether Ellian believed it or not, the trial was a foregone conclusion. Her father Milos Lind even used his connections to get two seats in the gallery. The other seat was for her mother Carolina, who was in charge of the files. Her mother said she wanted to witness the birth of this amazing legal file with her own eyes.
However, on this morning, Milos first dropped a bombshell on Ellian. He handed Ellian, who was cutting bacon, a draft of an internship transfer plan.
"Is it Aunt Billao who wants to congratulate me in advance?" Aryan was sure that she would be admitted to the Law Enforcement Department. She took the cursive letter with a smile on her face, but her expression suddenly changed when she saw her name on the International Affairs Department.
"I changed your first choice, Alian." Milos confessed his behavior to his daughter. Carolina on the other side looked at him, gently put down the cutlery in her hand, and cooperated with her husband to make a family meeting posture.
"Why, Dad?" Aryan tried her best to control her emotions, but her voice still broke. "We've talked about this before! You said you support me!"
"I also said that decisions must always change with the environment. I believe you have heard the recent rumors-"
"Can you believe the news in the Daily Prophet? You also said that it is just a mouthpiece for those people in the department to play politics!" Aryan interrupted Milos.
Milos looked at Alian, whose eyes were wide open, and smiled faintly. He soothed his daughter's emotions in a gentle voice, "So I chose to show you this today. It's just cursive writing. Although it's a bit troublesome, I still have the ability to change your assignment before I approve it."
"Then why?" The anger and grievance in her heart receded a little, and Aryan frowned in confusion.
"Before you assess the environment, you have to make sure that your approach to understanding it is correct," Milos said, turning to look at his wife. "Sorry, Karolina, I think it would be better to let Alian go today."
Carolina looked at her serious husband with her distinct black and white eyes. She raised her hand to touch her carefully maintained black hair, and with a slightly lowered eyelid, she reluctantly agreed to the plan they had decided on long ago, "Then you have to use the small projection ball to record today, Milos."
"I promise," Milos looked at his charming wife and laughed. He turned his gaze to Alian, "I also promise you that the final decision-making power regarding your future is always in your hands. Alian, do you want to go to court with your father today?"
Ailian looked into her father's deep and serious gray eyes, pursed her lips and nodded.
As soon as he finished breakfast, Milos took Ellian to the Ministry of Magic. Relying on his good popularity, he sat in the gallery with his daughter before the protagonists arrived.
At this time, some people were already sitting inside, both in the jury box and the spectator box. Aryan moved her eyes around and scanned the area, slowly rechecking their names and backgrounds in her mind. Finally, she realized that her dean, with black hair and a black robe, was sitting in the witness box with a dark face.
Aryan frowned and glanced at her father beside her. Considering the unusually depressing atmosphere around them, she didn't ask any relevant questions and just sat up straight with her father.
They waited patiently for a long time before the Wizengamot gathered in the jury box. After waiting for a while longer, the bell for the court door to open rang.
A huge crowd squeezed in, and low noise filled the entire hall. People found their seats and expressed their opinions in their spare time.
In this series of noises, a dramatic and high-pitched voice was particularly noticeable, "Gentlemen of Royea! Please tell us what you think of Della Riddle!"
Aryan looked in the direction of the voice and saw Rita Skeeter's recognizable big curly blonde hair. Although she couldn't see Skeeter's equally recognizable jeweled glasses from her current angle, Aryan caught a glimpse of the shorthand quill pen floating in the air that frightened most people.
Dark and Aidan ignored the shouting of the famous reporter behind them and went straight to the witness stand. Rita Skeeter's deliberate attention-grabbing method of forcing the interviewee to leave the stand was of no use to them. After all, this father and son did not care about other people's opinions at all.
However, this did not prevent the quill from whizzing in the air. Aryan could even imagine a little of the content on the paper. "The two detectives who knew the core of the case had livid faces and tried their best to avoid the reporters' regular questions. Their blue eyes flashed with fiery hatred from time to time. They ran directly into the courtroom, as if they couldn't wait to witness the fate of the defendant today."
Of course, the above were all guesses by Arlian. She just thought that Rita Skeeter would write in the most eye-catching direction, which was not a good thing for Della. Even if she was innocent, she would no longer be innocent if she encountered such a biased article written by a famous reporter.
When everyone was basically seated and just waiting for Judge Mike Veitch to call the defendant, Dumbledore made his final appearance. He was wearing his usual white robe with intricate sun and moon patterns, and slowly walked into the witness stand under the gaze of everyone.
Dumbledore was a member of the Wizengamot and could have been selected to sit on the jury this time, but for reasons of avoiding suspicion, he and old Abbott were bypassed, and old Abbott sat in the spectator seats today.
When the court door was slammed shut and the defendant was about to be let in, Arriane, who had observed today's guests, remembered that she had overlooked Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic who was currently sitting in her ideal position. So she glanced around again and finally found Fudge, who was not very conspicuous in the jury box wearing the same clothes.
Strange.
Before Aryan could figure out why Fudge was so low-key today, Old Mike knocked on the gavel in front of him and said, "Bring over the defendant, Della Doreen Riddle."
Ailian immediately put aside the chaotic thoughts in her mind and, like everyone else, held her breath and looked towards the small door that opened inside the courtroom.