Falsifying history is good business

Chapter 343 Cruelty is not Courage

After interrupting the conversation between Lin You and Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge was like snot stuck to his hand and couldn't get rid of it; he always interrupted and brought up one topic after another, and no matter how boring the topic was, even if there was no response, he would talk to the end and then let out a dry and stiff laugh.

Fortunately, the rest of the journey was not far; the execution procedure was scheduled in the courtroom, and when the group walked into this deep and dark hall, they were surrounded by an indescribable atmosphere of deathly silence.

Cornelius Fudge also shut up unconsciously.

In the center of the courtroom were the seats originally arranged for the defendant, and at this moment there were three Dementors floating in the air.

"As stated in the notice, three Death Eaters will be executed today. Like Peter Pettigrew, they are all the most insane dark wizards who have committed numerous unforgivable crimes." Cornelius Fudge calmed himself down and recovered from the influence of the Dementors. "Bellatrix Lestrange, Antonin Dolohov, and Fenrir Greyback."

During the introduction, the Minister had been nervous, and from time to time he stole a glance at Lord Goff, trying to read some clues from his face. It was obvious that the Ministry of Magic urgently needed the support of the Royal Magical Advisor in dealing with Voldemort and the Death Eaters, so every decision had to take the other party's attitude into consideration.

For Minister Fudge, if Dumbledore managed to win over the Earl, it would be like the sky falling; the news that "Voldemort will continue to come back to life" and that they must always be prepared for "another wizard war" must never be made public.

Cornelius Fudge knew very well that he was not the kind of leader who could lead and win a war - and it just so happened that the people in the wizarding world thought so too; once the people felt the crisis of war, they would definitely choose a tougher minister.

In order to maintain his power, he had to maintain superficial peace in the wizarding world. However, Dumbledore deceived many people, including the Aurors, and not only advocated preparations for war, but also claimed that there was a "darker and more terrible force than Voldemort that was eroding the world."

Wouldn't this ruin Cornelius Fudge's job?
At times like this, the support of His Excellency Earl Goff becomes particularly important.

Under the tense gaze of the Minister of Magic, Lin You spoke slowly, but asked a question that was probably irrelevant to the scene: "Has Peter Pettigrew been executed?"

"Ah?" Fudge stuttered before reacting, "Oh yes, he was executed with the Dementor's Kiss a month ago, and he is probably dead by now."

When the soul is sucked away by the Dementors, only a body remains, like a vegetable. Medically, there may be a miracle and the vegetable may wake up one day, but people who have been kissed by the Dementors will never wake up.

It would be better to say that he is a living dead rather than a vegetative state.

The wizarding world doesn't care about humanitarianism. Even if you become a living dead, you will still be thrown into Azkaban. After a month, even if you don't die, you will only have one breath left.

"In addition to betraying the Potters, another crime that Peter Pettigrew was convicted of was blowing up thirteen Muggles. So this is the standard by which the court sentenced him to 'Dementor's Kiss'?" Lin You was still talking about something completely irrelevant. "The three dark wizards who will be executed today should have more Muggle blood on their hands than Peter."

"Well...ah, how should I put it? The sentencing standard is an issue that requires comprehensive consideration; of course, the more innocent people are killed, the heavier the punishment will be, this is natural." Poor Minister Fudge had no idea what Earl Goff meant by these words, so he could only carefully choose his words and was extremely anxious for a while.

This selfish politician always judges other people's words and deeds with a politician's mindset. He doesn't understand at all that Lin You was just trying to embarrass him on purpose because he was in a bad mood.

Earl Goff actually didn't care at all whether these dark wizards were killed or imprisoned; after asking two incomprehensible questions, he slowly sat down in the gallery without making any further comments.

Cornelius Fudge wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at Dumbledore who was sitting with Lin You. He felt a little worried, but he had to leave. He had to sit in the main judge's seat to preside over today's execution, but he was really worried that Dumbledore would take the opportunity to persuade Lin You.

Watching the minister's anxious steps as he left, Lin You complained to Dumbledore in a low voice: "Why did you choose such a person as the minister? Although the wizard population is sparse, it is not impossible to find a better candidate than Cornelius Fudge among 20,000 people, right?"

"Fudge is definitely not the best, but he is the most harmless - harmless to anyone. That's why everyone chose him." Dumbledore's tone was inexplicably emotional.

Lin You sneered: "Harmless to everyone? Does this 'everyone' also include enemies? Oh no, it should be said that he is more harmless when facing enemies."

"Alas, power changes everyone. Fudge has also been changed by the position of minister." Dumbledore sighed.

"No, please don't get me wrong. Although I hate Fudge, I am happy to have him in the position of Minister." Lin You said with a smile, "From my point of view, I also like a 'harmless' Minister of Magic. Believe me, I am more happy to see such a Minister than Voldemort."

Muggles and wizards, and the Forrester family and the Ministry of Magic are certainly not enemies, but they definitely cannot be called friends; so why would they be unhappy to see a "harmless" Minister of Magic?
Dumbledore didn't want to continue this annoying topic, so he took the initiative to bring up another matter: "What I am most worried about now is the escaped Barty Crouch Jr. He is now Voldemort's only helper, and he is a very scheming person. In my opinion, Barty Jr.'s threat is much greater than that of Bellatrix, Antonin and others."

"My opinion is similar to yours, Professor." Lin You nodded slightly, "I have a hunch that Voldemort's next resurrection may be very soon; you'd better search for the Horcrux faster."

"Do you have any definite news?" Dumbledore frowned; this was obviously not good news.

“No, it’s just… Voldemort is such a useful chess piece, how could those behind the scenes bear to not use him?” The most important reason why Voldemort was chosen as a chess piece was that he was the core villain in the Harry Potter story, and he himself had extreme thoughts and was in a difficult situation. His state of mind gave others many loopholes that could be exploited.

In addition, Voldemort is a hidden character in the story and has been out of the readers' sight for a long time; there are many time gaps in his experience, which is also an advantage that can be used.

Patrick Morgan's choice to wire Voldemort must have been based on so many favorable conditions; those people or gods who want to create the "unknown" will definitely make full use of this chess piece.

As he spoke, Cornelius Fudge banged the gavel at the presiding judge's seat, and the whole audience fell silent; then the first prisoner was brought in.

Werewolf Fenrir Greyback. When he was first brought in, this cruelest werewolf in history was unruly, cursing and sneering at the people in the main bench and the audience. When the Aurors fixed him in the dock and listened to the Minister of Magic reading the verdict, he also sneered, constantly interrupted the speech, and even showed his alienated sharp teeth several times to intimidate.

Unfortunately, no one present today would be scared by him, and most people didn't even show any emotional fluctuations; the only ones who looked excited were Remus Lupin and Sirius Black who were brought in by Dumbledore - the two of them were sitting in the gallery on the other side opposite Lin You.

Cornelius Fudge read the sentence expressionlessly, and Fenrir's repeated provocations and insults failed to interrupt his reading. When the last word was read, the gavel fell, and a Dementor, guided by an Auror, approached Fenrir.

Until this moment, the unruly werewolf finally began to get scared. As the Dementors approached, a cold and dead atmosphere enveloped the entire dock; Fenrir's breathing became rapid, and the air exhaled from his mouth and nose became more and more white mist. His chest rose and fell violently, making people feel that this person would soon be unable to even breathe.

The dry and dilapidated shadow was reflected in Fenrir's pupils. When the shadow completely occupied his sight, the cruel werewolf completely lost the strength to stand and fell in the dock.

The Dementor lifted his cloak, revealing a face with only a "mouth", and slowly moved towards Fenrir's mouth and nose. The surrounding coldness suddenly reached a peak, sobering people up from the intense emotions of watching the execution.

Dumbledore and Lin You, the old and the young, were the only ones at the scene who were not affected and even had the energy to sigh and complain.

"He seemed so unruly and rebellious just now, but it turns out he's not that brave!"

Dumbledore said in a low voice: "People like Fenrir will never have true courage; on the contrary, their cruelty is just to cover up their weakness, cowardice and meanness."

"That's right." Lin You nodded. "It is said that this werewolf likes to bite children the most, and also hurt those who have no resistance. He only dares to find those who are weaker than himself and have no ability to protect themselves and resist."

As he spoke, Fenrir had already turned into a living dead without soul or consciousness.

The next one was Antonin Dolohov; his performance was not much better than that of the werewolf Fenrir. His fear of death even made him break free from the restraints of the "Imprisonment Spell" at one point, scaring the Aurors who were maintaining order, and they hurriedly re-cast the spell on him.

Of the three people to be executed, Bellatrix was the calmest. However, her performance was not so much due to courage and loyalty, but rather to her almost crazy worship and "belief".

Until the moment of her death, Bellatrix was still praising Voldemort and proclaiming her loyalty and love for the Dark Lord; but that was not true "faith" and sacrifice, but just crazy hysteria.

The hardcore Death Eaters are all a bunch of lunatics, but the thinking of the "mad witch" cannot be measured by normal people's standards; even her brother Sirius expressed contempt for this.

In the silence after the execution, Lin You clearly heard a whisper from the audience opposite: "What kind of madman would fall in love with something like Voldemort?"

The execution was over, and the three Death Eaters were sent out of the court; Azkaban would be their only destination for the few remaining days they had.

After fulfilling his trial duties, Cornelius Fudge almost trotted to Lin You; he blinked his eyes, looked at the headmaster of Hogwarts and then at Earl Goff, and stayed there for a long time without finding a start to the conversation, not knowing what to say.

I can't just ask you if you're satisfied or not, can I? The Minister of Magic can give up his dignity, but the Ministry of Magic still has to!
Fortunately, Lin You took the initiative to speak up and save the minister.

"I am curious to ask, Mr. Minister; what sentence was Mr. Lucius Malfoy sentenced to? From what I understand, the Death Eaters were found and arrested from his family's manor."

"Ah... well... the trial of Mr. Malfoy is still going on; well, Mr. Malfoy claims that he was under the Imperius Curse, and that the Death Eaters held his family hostage to threaten him, so..." Minister Fudge scratched his head, feeling that his head would soon become bald.

"Mr. Malfoy was hit by the Imperius Curse, and it happened again more than ten years later?" Lin You's smile seemed unfathomable. "Is Mr. Malfoy too careless to make the same mistake again so easily?"

More than ten years ago, when Voldemort fell for the first time, Lucius Malfoy's excuse for getting away with it was the "Immortal Curse"; unexpectedly, more than ten years later, the prescription and the medicine remained the same, not even the soup.

"Everyone knows that Malfoy is lying..." someone interrupted, and his voice was so loud that almost everyone in the courtroom heard it; but after seeing the figure of the Minister and recognizing the identities of the people gathered here, everyone tacitly pretended not to hear it.

Only Minister Fudge explained awkwardly: "For matters like this, there must be evidence, Mr. Black."

Yes, the one who just spoke was Sirius Black who came over from the other side of the gallery. This young master who was in his thirties but still hadn't changed his nature was shouting and nonchalantly transmitting his voice to everyone's ears: "What evidence? Isn't the Death Eater mark on Malfoy's hand the best evidence? People who are controlled by the Imperius Curse instead of being loyal to Voldemort will not be awarded the Dark Mark. Everyone understands this."

"No, no, no, a mere mark cannot be taken as conclusive evidence."

"Someone doesn't want to use it as evidence, right? It's like a street liar pretending to be blind and not seeing it."

Faced with Sirius's aggressiveness, Cornelius Fudge broke out in sweat; he looked around, trying to find someone who could help him out, but he saw that all his subordinates were silent, and some even turned away their eyes intentionally or unintentionally.

As for Lin You and Dumbledore, they just stood by and watched with their arms folded.

Earl Goff didn't even try to hide his smile as he watched the fun.

(End of this chapter)