— This is all very interesting, Mr. Dumbledore, and certainly for the greater good, — Mr. Klein said with undisguised sarcasm, nodding a few times and frowning. — But let's leave the campaigning for a while and get back to the matter at hand. Besides, we all know how the High Enchanter made similar speeches to reduce the "excessive" spending on the British Aurorate, which caused the crime rate on the islands to rise significantly. Another decree forbade old and ancient pureblood wizarding families from taking in underage wizards, both Muggleborn and half-blood, who had lost their parents, causing many young wizards to grow up in Muggle orphanages. Dear Court, I am afraid that since this kind of speech has been made again, we may get another restriction, or a law banning a branch of magic, so I ask you to take the word from Albus Dumbledore, or remove him from the courtroom altogether.
— What do you think you're doing? I object! — Dumbledore's lawyer shouted, but Mr. Klein completely ignored her. And the Headmaster himself just made an offended face, correcting for his "sainthood," so the old man looked at our lawyer condescendingly, — What can you expect from young people?
— Furthermore, I would ask the court to consider the fact that Mr. Dumbledore, who holds the official papers of guardianship over Harry James Potter, has the right to dispose of the Potter family's vote in the Wizengamot, as well as the Black family's vote, since Sirius Black, the last member of the Black family, is the young man's magical godfather. I think Mr. Dumbledore simply doesn't want to lose the political influence he's had for the last thirteen years, ever since James Potter died and Sirius Black went to Azkaban without much of a trial.
It seems to me that Mr. Klein would be better off not returning to Britain after such words, i.e., going home with a port-key as soon as the meeting is over. There are simply some things that should not be said aloud, and this subject is, one might say, "taboo" in Britain. A lot of people are aware of the current state of affairs, and those who don't know don't need to know. They don't talk about it because the principle of "I don't talk about your business and you don't talk about mine" works, but when someone from outside interferes in someone else's sandbox, all the "children" don't like it and the offender is "punished" by the whole gang together.
No, I'm not against what Mr. Klein said, I mean, I would have said something similar myself, but a little later, when I would have gained strength and power, then I could have fought with those bisons. But now I would be crushed by the whole world, and if the local forces were not enough, which is doubtful, they would spare no gold for mercenaries from the mainland.
Judging by the facial expressions, if not all of them, then many in the hall realized it, so most of them looked interested... well, those who do not "play in the sandbox," but the "players" frowned, pursed their lips, burned the German with angry looks, but remained silent. Yes, the lawyer must run away, even the authority of the clan and the guild will not help.
— Well, the court takes Mr. Dumbledore's interest into consideration and bans him from speaking until the end of this session. If the ban is broken, he will be removed from the room. — The old man just shook his head tiredly and disapprovingly, but he didn't bother. — As for the in-between issue, the participation of two minors in a deadly competition in which only adult wizards are allowed to participate, we believe that the request of Mr. Potter's lawyer and Mr. Hoshino is fair.
The Ministries of Magic themselves set these rules and approved them by joint resolution, setting an unexpected precedent: only adults may participate, but if minors participate, society and governments must recognize them as adults. It's a two-way street. Therefore, the decision of the court is as follows: The minors Mr. Harry James Potter and Mr. Sora Hoshino are recognized as fully competent as of the date of this decision, and all age restrictions, including Oversight Charms, must be removed from them.
In addition, Albus Dumbledore is to turn over to Mr. Potter everything he has held on behalf of Mr. Harry James Potter up to this point. The decision has been made and is not subject to revision. I ask the clerk to record this with a special notation, noting that the precedent and decision in this case have been entered into the archives. — The judge paused for a moment, received an answer from the clerk, who had worked some strange magic, and then continued. — Now we should get back to other cases.....
Then they started talking about more "important" things again. Some strange people were called as witnesses who "responsibly" said something, but no matter how strange it was, none of them swore even Muggle oaths, let alone magical oaths. Even an idiot could see that what was going on was a farce, but everyone was fine with it, well, maybe except for the one everyone was literally against, a grey-bearded elder.
It didn't last too long, thanks to the spirits, and ended with a long speech from the prosecutor, who said that Dumbledore was still respected, that he was an honorable citizen of his homeland, and so on and so forth, but that he was old, and it was time to make way for young, promising wizards who would breathe new life into society. The Chief Justice spoke next, repeating the words of the Prosecutor, and it ended with Albus Dumbledore being removed from the chair of the Wizengamot, but the Headmaster remained, and the ICW itself would decide on the ICW.
Everything else that Potter had been questioned about earlier, about Albus's various mistakes and misdeeds, was safely forgotten, having been dealt with by the direct demands of our lawyer. It was also decided to look into some old cases, including Sirius Black's. Harry and I were each handed an official-looking parchment scroll with a series of seals on it, stating that we had been declared legally competent and no longer subject to various restrictions, including Oversight Charms. I laughed at this statement, since I'd never been restricted by them, and in fact, I'd been able to apparate whenever and wherever I wanted before I got my license, and no one had ever tried to nail me for it.
Also, as funny as it sounds, no one at the British Ministry of Magic still knows where my house is in London or how to get to my lands in Scotland.
Our lawyer, by the way, also realized that it was dangerous for him to stay here, so as soon as we left the conference room, he used the Portkey. Potter didn't understand anything, so he just looked around confused and then started asking questions, but we had already managed to get away from the main crowd and the stream, thus depriving a lot of journalists of the opportunity to mock us.
By the way, while we were walking and I was trying to explain to the guy, without going into details, what was going on, I was thinking about the technology of Mr. Klein's portal, because in the Ministry you can't use any other kind of magical movement except for transport chimneys, everything else is blocked. So the question was, what kind of portal key was it that could easily penetrate the Ministry's shields?