The Deep Sea Wizard of Hogwarts - Chapter 164

c164 Courtroom

“Guest of the Ministry of Magic, you need to be checked at the security checkpoint and register your wand. The security checkpoint is at the end of the main hall.”

The loud female voice sounded again, and at the same time, the floor of the telephone booth suddenly trembled.

They slowly sank into the ground. The sidewalk outside the glass window of the telephone booth rose higher and higher, and finally there was darkness above their heads. When he got to the back, Lind could not see anything, and could only hear the monotonous and harsh friction sound of the telephone booth sinking into the ground.

“One, two, three…”

A thin golden light shone on his feet, and then the golden light gradually widened, expanded to his body, and finally shone directly on his face. He had to blink hard to prevent tears from flowing out.

“… Seventy-two, seventy-three.”

Bang!

The elevator touched the ground and stopped.

“The Ministry of Magic hopes you have a good day.” The woman’s voice said.

“About seventy to a hundred meters underground.” Lind secretly calculated and followed Dumbledore out of the elevator.

At this time, they were standing at one end of a long and magnificent hall, with a dark wooden floor that was polished to a brilliant shine.

The peacock blue ceiling was inlaid with glittering golden symbols, which kept moving and changing, like a huge high-altitude bulletin board. The walls on all four sides were inlaid with dark wooden boards with shiny black paint, and many gilded fireplaces were embedded in the wooden boards.

Every few seconds, with a light puff, a wizard suddenly appeared from a fireplace on the left. On the right, there were several people waiting in line in front of each fireplace waiting to leave.

Lind continued to follow Dumbledore forward. Since he came down, Dumbledore had spoken less, but he deliberately walked very slowly so that Lind could watch while walking.

Following him in, he saw a fountain in the middle of the entrance hall. A group of pure gold statues, larger than real people, stood in the circular pool. The tallest one was a noble wizard, holding his wand high and pointing it to the sky. Surrounding him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin and a house elf.

The centaurs, goblins, and house-elves all looked up at the two wizards with infinite admiration. Streams of shining water spurted out from the tops of wizards’ wands, from the arrows of centaurs, from the tips of goblins’ hats, and from the ears of house-elves.

There were ding-dong, ding-dong, gurgling sounds of water, the puffs and snaps of people who were Apparating, and the chaotic footsteps of hundreds of wizards and witches. With the deadly expressions that were unique to the morning on their faces, they strode towards a row of golden doors at the end of the hall.

Lind thought that Dumbledore’s appearance might attract frequent glances from passers-by, but after some observation, he found that no one noticed them.

This was obviously not in line with common sense. Thinking of this, Lind walked towards a newcomer without dodging or avoiding. Just as they were walking, when they were about to collide, the man set his sights on Lind for the first time.

He let out a light “huh”, then moved aside a little and walked past without looking back.

From beginning to end, he never noticed Dumbledore, even though he was standing next to Lind, even though Dumbledore was so conspicuous in this hall, he never set his sights on this old man.

Obviously, there was a mysterious force that made people ignore the two of them to a large extent.

Dumbledore said softly, “Even if we are standing right in front of them now, they only think we are passers-by who appear in the corner of their eyes. Unless we are very close like just now.”

Hearing Dumbledore’s explanation, Lind became more curious about Dumbledore’s strength. You know, Lind has never seen him pick up the wand, chant the spell, or even raise his hand.

It seems that just as he thought about it, such a strange and unknown spell enveloped them, and Lind knew nothing about it.

“Harry must want to learn this trick so that he can face less harassment.”

Dumbledore smiled silently when he heard his words. Harry had the star halo since he was a child, and it was inevitable. All he could do was accept it, not use magic to escape.

After all, you can escape for a while, but not for a lifetime.

When passing the fountain, Harry saw many glittering silver Sickles and copper Knuts at the bottom of the pool, and a small stained sign next to it read: All proceeds from the Magic Brotherhood Fountain are donated to St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Injuries and Maladies.

“This way.” When approaching the golden gate, Dumbledore led him to the left.

There was a table there, and under a sign that read “Security Check”, sat a wizard in a peacock blue robe and a badly shaved beard. He was looking down at the Daily Prophet intently, and Lind didn’t know if they would detect someone who walked in without a security check.

Dumbledore’s spell was still working until the two stood opposite him, and he was still looking at the newspaper in his hand.

Dongdong!

Lind knocked on the table between them. The man perked up when he heard the sound. He looked up and saw a child standing opposite him.

“Hello, are you here for a security check?” Lind pinched the badge pinned on his chest, “This is my first time here.” Dumbledore didn’t say anything, just looked at Lind, like an elder looking at a child doing something for the first time.

The man casually poked his head out and then sat back down, “First time here? Alone?”

“Uh-huh!” Lind said vaguely. Whether he came alone depends on whether he saw Dumbledore.

“Boy, come here.” The wizard said in a listless tone.

Lind approached him, and the wizard raised a long golden rod, as thin and flexible as a car’s antenna. He used it to sweep Harry’s chest and back from top to bottom. Just like a metal detector.

Linde knew about the security check before, so he didn’t bring anything with him except some change and a wand, and he threw his pocket bag directly into the suitcase.

“Magic wand.” The security wizard shouted at Linde, put down the golden thing, and stretched out his hand.

Harry handed over his wand. The wizard dropped it on a strange-looking brass machine that looked like a single-plate scale. The machine began to vibrate slightly.

A narrow strip of parchment spit out quickly from a slit in the bottom. The wizard tore off the paper and read the words on it.

“The shell is made of ash wood, and the core is made of kelpie nerve. It’s twelve and one-third inches long. Is that correct?”

“Yes!” Linde nodded.

“I’ll keep this,” said the wizard, striking the parchment on a small brass nail. “Take this back.” He handed the wand back to Lind.

“Thanks.”

“Go!” The wizard waved his hand, and after saying that, without looking at Linde, he sat down again and opened the newspaper.

Lind took the wand, and then he and Dumbledore followed the crowd into the golden foyer again.

It wasn’t until he walked in that Lind understood how wise Dumbledore’s choice was. If there was a sparse flow of people outside the foyer, then the foyer could be called a sea of ​​people. Some people were holding piles of crumbling parchment in their arms. , some people carrying tattered briefcases were crowded among them.

There are many paper airplanes flying above the constantly moving heads of people. They are not children’s toys, but tools used to convey messages between departments.

At the same time, there is a row of elevators in the foyer, which are blocked by exquisite golden fence doors. Dumbledore asked him to follow closely and then took the lead to squeeze to the side.

Fortunately, Dumbledore was tall, and there was always a small vacuum wherever he passed. Linde followed closely behind him and did not feel the pressure of the crowd.

At this time, the spell on Dumbledore no longer worked. He kept greeting people one after another, attracting many warm looks.

Arriving at the entrance hall, Dumbledore pushed open a door and took Lind in.

After entering, Dumbledore wiped the sweat from his forehead, “That’s why I don’t really like coming here.” He said, “People are always too enthusiastic.”

Linde smiled and said nothing. This is a somewhat dim spiral staircase that can be accessed up and down. Dumbledore wiped his sweat and walked down with Lind.

“Although from the outside, we appear to be on the first floor, we are actually on the eighth floor.” Dumbledore slowly explained to Lind, “Up is the seventh to first floor. Down is the ninth or tenth floor.

The seventh to first floors include the Department of Corresponding Things in the Magical World, large and small, and the ninth floor is the Department of Mysteries, here we are. ”

With that said, they had already gone down one floor along the spiral staircase, and Dumbledore pointed to the door beside them.

This is an old-looking wooden door, with a rusty and discolored iron plate nailed to it that says Department of Mysteries.

This is also the place where Harry first confronts Voldemort in “Order of the Phoenix”, and it is also a place that Lind is particularly interested in.

The Time-Turner, the Prophecy Sphere, the Curtain of Life and Death that caused Sirius’ death, the Brain Chamber, etc. are all here.

Thinking about it, Linde couldn’t help but feel a little jealous, but unfortunately, this was not the level he could reach now.

After that, Dumbledore took him down again, “We are going to the tenth floor – the trial room. It is also the only place that cannot be reached directly by the elevator.”

With that said, they came to the tenth floor. Different from the wooden door on the previous floor, this was a thick black iron door with heavy rust marks on it. There was a window in the center of the door, and the window was made of thick iron bars. The muscles are separated like a prison door, which makes people feel a little scared when they look at it.

Dumbledore slowly pushed open the creaking door and whispered something in his mouth.

“here we go!”

After that, the two of them stepped into this layer, and Lind’s expression became colder, his eyes lowered, as if nothing interested him.

The tenth floor is very similar to the underground classroom of Hogwarts, with rough stone walls and torches stuck on brackets. There are many different rooms, but there is no light in them. There is only a slight whimpering sound. It sounds like wind, but it doesn’t feel like it.

Dumbledore said nothing and led him straight down the corridor. After turning right once, Lind saw a gloomy big black door with an iron lock at the end of the corridor. The door leading up the stairs is missing the window. It must be very depressing inside. There is also a “Ten” on the door

Courtroom 10.

Linde took out his pocket watch and took a look. It was eight forty-two, nearly twenty minutes before the court session.

Following the dull sound of footsteps, within a moment, they arrived in front of the big iron gate.

Dumbledore paused, as if giving Lind time to prepare.

After a while, Dumbledore stretched out his hand to unscrew the iron handle and led Lind inside.

The overwhelming sense of oppression made Lind pause for a moment. He looked carefully and saw that he and Dumbledore were standing on the bottom floor of a small dark room. There were gradually rising chairs around the dark room.

The walls around were made of black stone, and the light from the torches was dim and gloomy. On both sides were rows of empty benches that gradually rose, and in front of him, there were three highest benches, which seemed to be where the judge sat.

In the center of the dark room, there was a chair with iron chains on the armrests. They would not directly tie up the person under trial, but would immediately suppress and restrain the person under trial when he wanted to make an extreme move.

At the moment when Lind and Dumbledore stepped in, many condescending eyes came from the chairs around them. Among these eyes, there were joy, anger, fear, and admiration…

Dumbledore nodded to those who maintained a friendly attitude one by one, and some even stood up and bowed to him. Lind unconsciously stepped aside. He didn’t want to be bowed to by others for no reason.

Afterwards, Dumbledore took Lind to a chair on the side and sat down.

After sitting down, Lind had time to observe those people carefully.

Most of these people were older, and there were also many old men like Dumbledore. Among the people sitting now, he estimated that the youngest should be over 40 years old.

They all wore purple robes with an exquisite silver “w” embroidered on the left chest. This means that they are all members of the Wizengamot.

When Lind observed them, they all looked down at him, some with stern expressions, some did not hide their inner curiosity, and some yawned out of boredom.

Some of them came here to see if they could help or to watch the fun because the case today was related to Dumbledore.

As time went by, a large number of people began to come in slowly, but Lind had not seen anyone familiar. Until one person came into his sight.

She was bloated and short, with an old-fashioned short curly hair style, and her cheeks were obviously sagging, making her look like a toad. She was wearing an ill-fitting and tight pink work suit, and the top button of her shirt was so tight that Lind doubted whether she could breathe normally.

The first person Lind thought of when he saw her was Dolores Umbridge, a disgusting politician.

Behind him, followed Fudge, the current Minister of Magic, a guy who did nothing.

All he thought about was how to maintain his current position. Since he took office, various rules have been added or deleted, which makes people feel that he is very busy and working hard for the development of the wizarding world.

However, these rules are all insignificant things. They are of no benefit to the development of the Ministry of Magic, but they may make the minority feel more comfortable.

After Fudge, followed another witch with a wide figure and a square chin, with short gray hair, wearing a pair of monocles, and a serious face.

Lind had learned about her in the newspaper, the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement-Amelia Susan Bones.

She is the aunt of Susan Bones in Hogwarts.

The appearance of the three of them quieted the slightly noisy darkroom, and everyone’s eyes were focused on the three of them.

As they sat down on the three highest chairs in front of the door, the time came to 8:59.

Fudge spoke slowly,

“The defendant – Gilderoy Lockhart hasn’t come yet?!”

At the same time, the iron door was opened again, and Lockhart walked in. Two black-robed men stood behind him to take the responsibility of “escorting”.

It seems that everything was planned. Yes, Lockhart was locked up, so how could there be a saying of “Why hasn’t he come yet?”