"Silence!" Seeing that the conversation was getting out of hand, the presiding judge knocked on the table again, warning Ivan and Madam Peter to refrain from saying anything unrelated to the trial.
However, many of the committee members ignored him, and there was a lot of private discussion, and no matter how the presiding judge knocked on the table, it did not help…
There was nothing the presiding judge could do. After all, he could not let the Aurors throw out all the members of the Council… and the trial would not continue.
"Mrs. Peter, do you have any other questions? If not, I'll have the next witness present!" The presiding judge only spoke with emphasis, to drown out the noise.
"Yes! Of course!" Although she felt that Ivan was very troublesome, Madam Peter had no intention of admitting defeat.
"All of us knew it was Black who betrayed Harry Potter's parents, not my child, Pettigrew!"
"Mrs. Peter! I must interrupt, as I have explained to you before, Sirius and Pettigrew have secretly swapped identities as Secret-Keepers!" Dumbledore interrupted in a low voice.
"Who can prove it!" Mrs. Peter persisted.
"You said that only Harry Potter's father, James Potter, Black, and my children, Pettigrew, knew about the Switching of the Secret-Keepers! The problem is that Mr Potter is dead, and my children have lost their memories, so it's up to you to say what you want. It's not fair!"
"It's not a matter of fairness, Mrs. Peter! The law is all about evidence! Isn't it clear enough that we found the Dark Mark on Pettigrew, but not on Sirius?" Dumbledore replied calmly.
As Dumbledore spoke, an Auror stepped forward and pulled open Peter Pettigrew's sleeve, revealing the Dark Mark.
Most of the committee members at the table had read about the Dark Mark, so they knew about it beforehand. However, they still felt uneasy when they saw it with their own eyes.
Ivan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the trial was almost over, as the Dark Mark was the most damning evidence of Pettigrew's guilt!
However, to his surprise, Mrs Peter did not seem to have any intention of giving up. Even when faced with such evidence, her expression did not change.
"Enough! Why would a real spy have a Dark Mark on him!
And my child has lost his memory, he knows nothing… who knows what this Dark Mark is! Perhaps someone forged a Dark Mark and wiped his memory!"
"I heard it wasn't the Aurors who caught my son, but you, didn't it?" Mrs. Peter asked, glaring at them with hatred.
"Please stop being unreasonable, Mrs. Peter!" Dumbledore said helplessly, then paused before continuing.
"After a Ministry investigation, it was determined that Peter Pettigrew's memory was wiped by a Death Eater who was on the run, and that if I were to tamper with him, I would do so before I handed him over to the Ministry!"
"The other thing you're wrong about is that no one can forge a Dark Mark! Because it's Voldemort's own magic, and it's full of his magic, and it's very recognisable! And I don't think anyone would dare to do it, since… he's still around!"
Dumbledore's casual remark caused the room to fall silent.
All the wizards present, including the presiding judge, felt a chill in their hearts when they heard Dumbledore's news that the undulating earth spirits still existed.
There were always rumours in the wizarding world that You-Know-Who did not actually die that night, but merely lost his power. Many people speculated that You-Know-Who was hiding in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to plot and return one day!
However, the Ministry of Magic has been denying this rumour for years, insisting that You-Know-Who has been thoroughly defeated, and that all Death Eaters have been imprisoned in Azkaban, and that he will never return!
"Sir Dumbledore, please do not make such jokes in court!" the presiding judge said dryly, his expression sour.
"We all know it's not a joke, I'm just stating the facts!" Dumbledore replied flatly.
Ivan silently watched the fearful expressions on everyone's faces, suddenly amused.
How dare these men, so fearful of the powerless Lord Voldemort, shout against Dumbledore's words…
It made sense, though. A normal person would have dared to argue with a police officer armed with a gun, but an armed mob would have scattered in terror.
It was nothing more than the former abiding by the rules and not attacking lightly, while the latter had no qualms about killing anyone he saw!
Mrs Peter also had no scruples. She was very old and only had one child, Peter. Now that she had lost him, she would not give up on him if there was even the slightest hope!
Even Voldemort's resurrection could not reverse her will.
Thus, she loudly declared that Pettigrew was most likely under the influence of the Imperius Curse, and was forced to become a Death Eater, or perhaps just pretending to join the ranks of the Death Eaters in order to get information, but was actually an undercover agent.
"I know him all too well. He's too much of a coward and too kind to be a traitor… He's forgotten everything, and you're not going to let him go… Please, he's just a child!" Mrs Peter sobbed as she hugged Pettigrew.
Dumbledore, unmoved by Mrs Peter's cries, retorted,
"Don't change the subject, Mrs. Peter! Even amnesia does not offset one's mistakes.
If you feel that your child is innocent, then please show proof that Peter infiltrated the Death Eaters to get information, or he would be a complete Death Eater!"
Dumbledore's words thoroughly infuriated Mrs Peter, and her expression became horrified.
"I spoke to some Aurors, and they told me that a professional wizard had identified my child as having been hit with multiple Memory Charms in a short period of time."
"Perhaps my son learned something, and you forcibly tampered with his brain, turning him over to the Aurors, and then decided it wasn't safe enough, so you infiltrated the observatory and erased his memory!"
At this point, Madam Peter turned to the presiding judge on the stage and spoke through gritted teeth.
"Your Honor, I demand to inspect their wands! Use the Flashback Charm!"
(PS: Today's plot is more difficult to write. I'm afraid I won't be able to finish the third chapter.