Chapter 45: CHAPTER 45: THE PUNISHMENT OF THE TELLER OF LIES

*

DO YOU EVEN HAVE ANY REMORSE FOR YOUR VICTIMS LOCKHART?

*

In a silent hall, two people, an old man, and a young boy, were walking slowly beside each other, not saying a single word to each other, the atmosphere was awkward, but both of their expressions didn’t look like they feel awkward whatsoever, instead, the young boy looked annoyed, while the old man looked calm and composed.

“Why do you have to drag me to the trial Dumbledore?” asked the boy to the old man, whose name is Dumbledore.

“You’re a victim and a witness Ed, you must come to give a statement to the court.” Answered the old man to the boy, whose name is Ed.

Ed grumbled, “I told you I wanted to keep a low profile, I learned my mistakes back then.”

“It is simply needed to be done Ed, you don’t want Lockhart to roam free again do you?”

“You’re the Chief Warlock, surely you could do something about it.”

“I’m doing it now, giving a witness to the court.”

“Isn’t the evidence enough? The wand showed that Lockhart used an obliviate spell.”

“True, but it could mean anything, a witness would strengthen the case.”

Ed sighed, “So you want me to lie in the court then? that I didn’t tell those fake stories to bait Lockhart?”

“You needn't lie, you can tell the court that I instructed you to bait Lockhart, it’s not far from the truth after all.” Dumbledore answered, still calm and composed.

“You really are a schemer to the bone…” Ed mumbled to himself.

Soon the two entered the courtroom, the teacher and student pair looked around for a moment, before Ed continued to ask.

“Remind me again why it needs to be done in this room? Lockhart isn’t a death eater.” Ed said. They were in the courtroom that sentenced Barty Crouch Jr. to Azkaban, the room that supposedly will judge Harry on the crimes of Illegal use of magic later.

“Lockhart’s case is simply a hard one,” Dumbledore answered, “He was presumed to have erased some memories that didn’t belong to British Wizards, as you know from his ‘books’, so multiple delegations from other ministries will be coming today.”

Ed nodded weakly, “Well, see you in the trial Ed, good luck.” Continued Dumbledore, he then walked to the middle of the room, conversing with the delegations and the ministry officials, Ed however looked for a seat, then he saw Richard and Daphne conversing with each other in one of the seats, Ed sighed in pity that the two of them had been dragged to, and came over to them.

“I assumed that you two will be witnesses too?” E asked, closing in on the two.

Richard and Daphne looked at Ed, and smiled weakly, “Yup, we’ve been here for over an hour…”

Ed raised an eyebrow while sitting beside them, “Why are you here for over an hour then?”

“Professor McGonagall escorted us to here, and she was quite busy, so she simply sent us here earlier.” Richard answered.

Ed hummed, then looked to Dumbledore, “I’ll probably testify first, don’t lie all right, just tell them that I asked you to help me to deal with Lockhart.”

The two nodded, then Ed changed the subject by asking about Flitwick’s private lessons, “How’s the lessons by the way?”

“It was fine, still too early to tell the improvements, but so far so good.” Daphne said casually.

The trio then continued to chat, waiting for the trial to start, the room was slowly filled with people from all over the country, there were some foreigners too, like the delegations from other ministries. Eventually, a middle-aged woman stepped in front of the judge's seat.

“Good afternoon everyone.” Said the woman in a loud voice, “I am Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I will be the one who overseer the trial today, as of the one who will pass the sentence is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.” Then Dumbledore stepped in, sitting on the judge seat, scanning the entire audience. The woman then walked away from the room, sitting with the juries.

“I hereby start the trial of Gilderoy Lockhart.” Said Dumbledore, “Please bring the accused to the courtroom.”

The door then opened, revealing two aurors, dragging a dishevelled looking Lockhart, his hair was messy, his clothes were dirty, and his face no longer showing that arrogant smile he always used.

Lockhart then was put on a chair in the middle of the room, cuffed on the hands and foot.

“Mrs. Bones, please state the accused crimes to the juries.” Said Dumbledore calmly, staring at Lockhart.

Amelia Bones nodded and stood up once more, “Gilderoy Lockhart is accused of Multiple charges of Illegal use of the Obliviate spell, the victim supposedly includes a couple of muggles, a French wizard, a Himalayan wizard, four British wizards and witches, an Italian Squib, and many others.”

The juries instantly murmured loudly as the charges were announced, Lockhart paled and heard it, but just sat in silence.

“Evidence?” asked Dumbledore once more, silencing the murmurs of the juries. 

“The wand of the accused.” Said Amelia Bones, “The last spell that he used is the obliviate spell, the target is Edgart Aldrich in his office, however, the attempt failed however as the victim was able to defend itself with a Shield Charm, leading the accused to his arrest.”

Dumbledore nodded, “The judge call Edgart Aldrich to testify against the accused.”

Ed stood up from the seats, making him the centre of attention in the room, he walked towards the middle of the room, in front of Dumbledore, he stared at Dumbledore for a while, and coughed.

“What do you want to know?” he said lazily, earning a scowl from some of the juries.

Amelia Bones ignored the attitude and told Ed to tell his story.

“Can you tell us the events that lead to the arrest of the accused?”

Ed nodded, he turned around to see the scared Lockhart and explained, “At school, I was appointed his Assistant of Defence against the Dark Arts Professor…”

“May I ask, why are you appointed?” interrupted a woman, her face looks like a toad, and she wears pink clothes underneath the Wizengamot robe.

‘Umbridge…’ Ed thought, and he casually said, “I was told by Dumbledore to expose this liar over here, so he appointed me as his assistant.”

The Juries then broke into loud murmurs, surprised that the Chief Warlock himself was involved in the incident.

“Is it True Dumbledore?” Amelia Bones coolly asked, “Are you involved in the matter?”

“I am.” Answered Dumbledore shortly, “But please, let the boy continue to hear his explanation.”

Amelia Bones nodded and let Ed continue.

“So, I entered his room, he gave me a task to grade students, mind you, the schoolwork isn't even related to DADA, the questions were about Lockhart’s books.” Ed continued to explain, he heard some scowls from the juries and audience because of Lockhart’s narcissistic ways.

“Then he started to question me about my time in France while I was studying with Nicolas Flamel… he specifically said stories, so I baited him with stories that I made up on the spot, which made him quite interested.” Continued Ed. “But that day he didn’t make a move yet, as I told him that the stories weren’t finished yet, so I got out and searched for my friends, Richard Neil and Daphne Greengrass.”

Ed heard Daphne’s father snort at the mention of the two, most likely didn’t like that her daughter’s name is said after a muggle born. Ed however ignored the man, and continued his explanation, how he planned the arrest, how he told the two to hide outside, how Lockhart attacked him from the back, and how he successfully defended it.

The room turned silent for a moment, then a man suddenly spoke up, a bit hostile at Ed, “Are you sure you’re not lying boy? How can a small kid like you can defend yourself like that.”

However, Ed just ignored the man and continued to stare at Lockhart, making the man irritated.

“I assure you that Mr. Aldrich is quite formidable Mr. Nott, he is Flamel’s Apprentice after all.”

The man, or rather, Nott just snorted and didn’t say anything. Then Dumbledore turned to Ed again, “Is there anything more that you would like to say?”

Ed shook his head, “No Dumbledore.”

You are reading story Ordeal of the Hopebringer: A Harry Potter Fanfiction at novel35.com

Dumbledore nodded his head, “Then you can take a seat again.”

Ed then went back to the seat, after that, the trial went by smoothly, Lockhart never fought back at all, too scared to do anything, Daphne’s and Richard’s testament went smooth as well, and then finally, the trial quickly passed and it’s time to vote for the verdict.

“Very well, all in favour of dropping the charges of the accused?” announced Mrs. Bones, and no one raised their hands, making Lockhart paled even more as he already knew what awaits him.

“All in favour of enforcing all the charges?” said Mrs. Bones again, and everybody raised their hands, making Lockhart cry silently in the middle of the room.

Dumbledore then slammed the table three times with a small hammer and said, “As judge I hereby declare that Gilderoy Lockhart will be sentenced to life in Azkaban for his crimes against multiple individuals.”

Dumbledore then stood up, looking at Lockhart, who is pissing in his trousers right about now, “Do you even have any remorse for you victims Lockhart? Even now you’re still thinking about yourself…”

The room quickly dispersed, and the trio were sent back to the school, resuming their daily activities.

The next day, Ed was sitting on the floor of the Aldrich Library, seemingly searching for something. Ever since the trial, he went into hiding, as the girls were quite furious at Ed for exposing Lockhart, which was weird, because he just imprisoned a liar, yet everyone hates him, well, only the girls hate him, while the boys made him a hero. He was now going through the books in the sections, reading it one by one, and then he suddenly found something, a spell that was mentioned in the last book by Professor McGonagall.

Ed narrowed his eyes, reading the description intently, and he quickly called Gilligan to ask some questions about it.

“Gilligan!” called Ed, which the owl appeared in front of him, “Do you know how this spell, ‘Piertotum Locomotor’? How does it work exactly?”

Gilligan stared at Ed for a little while, scanning his expression before answering. “A charm used to bring life to those artefacts that had, previously, been inanimate and unmoving.”

“What does it mean, ‘artefacts’ I mean?”

“Inanimate objects.”

Ed thought for a while, “So, let’s say if I make some ice statues and enchant them with the charm, would it work?”

“It will…” Answered Gilligan while narrowing his eyes, “Where are you going with this?”

“I think I just discovered my first resort on the trial Gilligan.” Ed exclaimed, running towards the training room. He entered the room, seemingly excited about something, then Gilligan appeared in the corner of the room, looking at Ed with curiosity.

“Let’s see…” Ed pulled out his wand, he pointed at the ground, waving his wand as if he was building something, then slowly but surely, a knight statue or some kind was made, it had a sword in front of it, and it looked sturdy as well, unlike most ice.

“Then… Piertotum Locomotor.” Ed chanted, his wand pointing at the statue, and a moment later, the statue suddenly moved, grabbing the sword in front of it, and once he saw Ed, he saluted Ed in the most robotic way.

“Aha!” Ed shouted in excitement, “I think I just discovered a new spell combination Gilligan!”

Gilligan shook his head, “If you’re thinking of building an army with it, it might work, but there’s too much weakness in it.”

“What are the weaknesses?” Ed questioned curiously, determined to fix it.

“Firstly, you need to make a lot of statues in one go if you want a quick army, so you need to create a spell for that, or rather I will need to create the spell.”

Ed nodded, “Then I trust you could make it for me Gilligan…”

Gilligan sighed, “Then second, it will be slow creating a vast army like that, so you need to be preparing beforehand to be able to use it efficiently, otherwise the unmoving statues would just be a target practice.”

“I’ll work on that, but it is a minimal weakness if you have some preparations…”

“And lastly, it takes an incredible amount of magic to be able to use the spell combination, not only do you need to make the statues, but you also need to enchant it as well.”

“I have a lot of magic, I’ve been practising… in time it will develop, so it’s quite fine.”

Gilligan sighed once again, “I warned you Ed, this spell-chain is quite demanding.”

Ed nodded, “It’s better than to be sucked by a black hole.”

“You can do it Ed, you just need more training to blink fast, just like you always did.”

“I know…” Ed said, “But I don’t quite believe in myself right now Gilligan, I need a little more assurance, besides, the night training not only trains me on speed-blinking, but increases my magic capacity as well…”

Gilligan shook his head in surrender, “Very well Ed, I will try to make something for you, but do not slack off on training the blinking.”

Ed nodded, “Thank you Gilligan.” Said Ed, then the owl disappeared, leaving Ed alone in the training room. He then tried more, making different statues, he made an elephant statue, tiger statue, a mounted knight statue, and many more. He used the charm on it and all of it worked, although some of it was quite slow moving because of its size. And after a couple of hours of trying, he finally stopped as he was tired.

He got out of the room and walked towards the living room, planning on resting there, but his plans were suddenly interrupted as a bushy haired girl was reading a book in the living room, acting innocent.

“Hermione, you have to stop this…” Ed said, making the girl’s attention turn to him.

“Stop what?”

“Entering the suitcase without me even knowing.”

“I’m not allowed to enter without permission?” she asked, she has a complicated expression as Ed said what he said.

The boy shook his head, “No, just announce your existence, like shouting ‘I’m going to the library!’ or, ‘I’m sitting in the living room!’.”

“Oh.” Hermione answered, “Okay, I’ll do that next time.”

Ed nodded then sat beside Hermione, “What are you doing here by the way?”

Hermione shrugged, “Doing homework, it’s comfortable here.”

Ed raised his eyebrow, “There’s homework? How come I didn’t know?”

“You were at the trial at the time, it was transfiguration.” Hermione said, showing her homework.

Ed hummed and retrieved his bag to do the homework also, he pulled out his parchment and quill and started. The two just sat there in silence, occasionally Hermione would ask Ed about the homework, but that’s it, and thirty minutes went by. Ed then places his finished homework aside, which surprises Hermione.

“That was fast.” She commented while looking at Ed’s homework, Ed saw this and hid it from her, “Hermione Granger copying homework? This must be the end of the world.” Ed teased, earning a playful smack from her.

“Say…” Ed asked, diverting the topic, “Do the girls upstairs still mad at me? I mean, I did the right thing… exposing Lockhart…” 

Hermione shook her head, “They’re only shocked that Lockhart was a liar back then, and didn’t believe it, so they hated you, but now that the information on the case has been distributed, they probably won’t hate you anymore.”

Ed nodded weakly, “What about you then?”

Hermione frowned, “What about me?”

“You have a crush on Lockhart right? Are you mad at me?” Ed teased the girl.

Hermione’s cheeks suddenly became cherry red, and tried to deny Ed’s words, “I-I do not!” she stammered.

Ed chuckled and just ruffled Hermione’s hair, making her more embarrassed. Before Hermione could hit Ed however, Ed had already left to take shower, leaving Hermione alone in the living room.

“Prat…” she murmured to herself, her face was red, showing an annoyed expression, yes she was smiling, as if happy about something.

You can find story with these keywords: Ordeal of the Hopebringer: A Harry Potter Fanfiction, Read Ordeal of the Hopebringer: A Harry Potter Fanfiction, Ordeal of the Hopebringer: A Harry Potter Fanfiction novel, Ordeal of the Hopebringer: A Harry Potter Fanfiction book, Ordeal of the Hopebringer: A Harry Potter Fanfiction story, Ordeal of the Hopebringer: A Harry Potter Fanfiction full, Ordeal of the Hopebringer: A Harry Potter Fanfiction Latest Chapter