Given Dumbledore's status, his seat was naturally right at the front.
Since Dumbledore had brought two children with him, the MACUSA officials had specially arranged seats for them as well.
As they made their way through the crowd to find their seats, Wade keenly overheard murmurs already beginning about Dumbledore being under surveillance by the American Ministry.
It was clear that Picquery had made all her preparations—if the plan failed, the information about Dumbledore would definitely be leaked immediately.
Of course, Picquery still hoped the plan would succeed.
That way, Grindelwald wouldn't escape justice, and she wouldn't have to offend Dumbledore in the process...
Just as the three of them were seated, more and more people poured into the Grand Court.
Before long, the entire courtroom was filled to capacity.
Yet even with every seat taken, people kept arriving at the entrance, standing at a distance to watch...
Bang!
Suddenly, a loud noise erupted from a doorway at the bottom of the courtroom.
The heavy doors were flung open.
A group of Grand Court officials entered through them.
President Picquery walked at the front.
She would be presiding over this trial as the chief judge.
Today, it could be said that everyone from the judges to the jury were her people.
With the hidden moves she'd made behind the scenes, she refused to believe Grindelwald could clear his name under these circumstances.
President Picquery took her seat in the central position. She swept her gaze across the room, then her eyes settled on Dumbledore in the front row.
Dumbledore met her gaze, his blue eyes calm and steady.
He gave her a small, courteous nod.
Picquery looked away, a flicker of guilt in her expression.
She took a deep breath and gave a small nod to the Auror beside her.
A moment later, the grand doors were opened again.
Then Grindelwald walked in…
The moment he appeared, nearly everyone in the courtroom rose to their feet, craning their necks to get a better look.
Countless flashes lit up at once—reporters who had been lying in wait by the doors began furiously snapping photos.
Surrounded by a ring of Aurors, Grindelwald walked toward the defendant's podium under the barrage of camera flashes and everyone's gaze.
Gone was the disheveled man from the dungeons.
Now, he wore the same well-tailored suit he had surrendered in. The scars on his face were gone.
Even his hair was neatly combed.
If it weren't for the pair of shackles on his wrists, he might have looked like a man attending a gala.
Clearly, whatever methods Congress had used on him weren't suitable for public display.
So before bringing him to court, they had carefully cleaned him up.
Grindelwald wore a calm smile as he strode toward the podium, completely ignoring the wands aimed at him by the surrounding Aurors.
As he stepped onto the defendant's platform, he finally caught sight of Dumbledore in the front row.
Naturally, he also noticed Wade and Tom seated beside Dumbledore.
Their presence took him slightly by surprise.
He paused at the steps, casting Wade a faint, meaningful smile.
Wade winked back at him.
Dumbledore frowned and pulled Wade behind him with a wary hand.
Once Grindelwald ascended the platform, the gathered witches and wizards finally sat down again.
"Gellert Grindelwald, you stand accused of over seventy charges, including murder, kidnapping, intimidation, and the organization of illegal groups…" President Picquery began.
Grindelwald smiled. "Not bad. Fewer than I expected."
"It's not your turn to speak yet!" President Picquery snapped irritably.
Grindelwald only responded with a calm shrug and a smile.
Picquery's unease grew.
Grindelwald was far too composed.
Ever since he was imprisoned, he had remained in this exact state.
No matter how severe the punishment, he never showed the slightest change in expression.
At this moment, the courtroom buzzed with murmurs.
Clearly, Grindelwald's composure had caught others by surprise as well.
"Silence!"
President Picquery took a deep breath. "Now then, beginning with the first murder case…"
One by one, pieces of evidence were brought forth.
It was also the first time Wade had seen what counted as evidence in a wizarding court.
He discovered that in the wizarding world, evidence mostly consisted of memories that could be projected for everyone to see—like a moving image pulled straight from a witness's mind.
Of course, these memories were said to be thoroughly verified to ensure they hadn't been tampered with.
Still, Wade was fairly certain that none of them had been altered much at all.
Because none of those memories contained direct evidence to convict Grindelwald himself.
The perpetrators shown in the memories were all members of Grindelwald's Alliance faction.
Since these couldn't be used as direct evidence against Grindelwald, there was no need to alter them.
Given that, the key to President Picquery's attempt to incriminate Grindelwald likely rested on witness testimony.
Indeed, tampering with memory evidence would leave obvious traces. An experienced wizard could even spot inconsistencies during the projection itself.
But witness testimony—that was much easier to manipulate…
When a person's memories were altered, there would be no outward signs. It would require in-depth examination to uncover.
And if the goal was clearly to frame Grindelwald, how could Picquery possibly allow for a thorough examination?
As the final memory projection ended, President Picquery fixed her gaze on Grindelwald and asked, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"I'm very sorry, President Picquery. My apologies to all present. Too many of my overzealous followers have misinterpreted my beliefs and ideals, leading to excessive behavior… sigh.. That is indeed my fault. If I can clear myself of these baseless accusations, I promise I'll better regulate my thoughts and message—for example… publishing a book or something."
As Grindelwald said this, his gaze swept briefly across Wade.
Wade also displayed a perfectly timed look of confusion, as if Grindelwald's idea had genuinely surprised him.
Tom, sitting beside him, curled his lip. He was already used to Wade slipping into character at the drop of a hat.
"Publish a book?" President Picquery's eyes widened.
Given the lack of direct evidence, it was expected that Grindelwald wouldn't confess.
But now he was talking about publishing a book? About regulating his own ideology?
President Picquery's sense of alarm instantly shot to its peak.
There was absolutely no way she could allow him to walk free.
At the same time, the wizards present began murmuring again at Grindelwald's words.
At first glance, the idea of Grindelwald publishing a book didn't seem like much. But to those with foresight, the intent behind the move was all too obvious.
There wasn't a fool in the courtroom today—everyone could see exactly what he was aiming for.
More importantly, the key point was—if Grindelwald had already thought this far ahead, didn't that mean he was truly confident he could walk free today?
"Order!" President Picquery struck her gavel again.
Once the courtroom quieted down, she fixed her gaze on Grindelwald. "So, you deny these crimes have anything to do with you?"
"President Picquery, as the head of MACUSA, you must be an outstanding and remarkable witch. Surely, there are many who would be willing to follow you. If some of those people accidentally broke the law, should we not punish them, but punish you instead?" Grindelwald smiled.
"Record that—Grindelwald refuses to plead guilty," President Picquery said coldly.
Grindelwald didn't argue. He simply smiled at her.
"If you have any definitive evidence that can prove my crimes, please do present it as soon as possible."
"Oh, I most certainly do!" President Picquery lifted her head and looked toward the courtroom entrance. "Call the witness!"
All eyes turned once more toward the doors.
Everyone knew that whether or not Grindelwald would be convicted hinged on these witnesses.
Originally, people had thought this trial might drag on for quite some time, but now it seemed…
Grindelwald's confession had been so meticulously orchestrated that all incriminating evidence had already been quietly wiped away.
It had all happened so silently.
By the time people realized what he was doing, it was already too late.
Who could've guessed that a criminal who had just suffered a crushing defeat and was supposedly recuperating would choose to turn himself in?
And when it came to Grindelwald's crimes, everyone had simply assumed the evidence was everywhere—readily available.
Because of that, no one had thought to deliberately protect it.
The result was that almost all usable evidence had been quietly destroyed. What remained now was pitifully little…
Just then, the doors opened once again.
A string of people filed in.
The entire courtroom erupted in murmurs of surprise once more.
Everyone had assumed that finding even one or two witnesses would be impressive enough.
But now… there were this many?
With so many witnesses willing to testify to Grindelwald's guilt—how could he possibly hope to walk away unscathed now?
Even taking the worst-case scenario—say all these witnesses were fake—Grindelwald's hopes of being exonerated today would still be crushed.
Earlier, with no evidence in sight, everyone had been anxious and frustrated.
But now, all of a sudden, so many witnesses had appeared—and not just any witnesses, but direct ones.
Everyone began to suspect the same thing…
This many people? It was blatantly obvious—he was being framed.
All eyes turned back to Grindelwald.
Everyone wanted to see how he would react in the face of what was essentially the American Magical Congress's high-handed "frame job."
But to everyone's surprise, Grindelwald still looked completely calm, showing not the slightest hint of panic.
"For the sake of fairness, all witnesses will take Veritaserum before testifying," President Picquery announced.
The Aurors immediately began distributing Veritaserum to the witnesses.
As everyone busied themselves, President Picquery descended from her seat and casually made her way toward Grindelwald.
She whispered, "Did you really think I didn't notice that traitor Abernathy? You must believe… Abernathy already tampered with all their memories, don't you? Heh~ Then you clearly don't know—every move Abernathy made was under our watch! We've already restored the witnesses' memories. So today, you're finished."
Grindelwald smiled. "Ah~ Is that so? So Abernathy was discovered… what a pity."
"What do you mean?" Not seeing any trace of panic on Grindelwald's face, President Picquery suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Oh, nothing… I just wanted to say, I'm quite looking forward to your so-called evidence. As for Abernathy… may he live a long life." Grindelwald smiled gracefully.
President Picquery stared hard at Grindelwald, when suddenly she remembered something.
Just as they had moved to seize that traitor, Abernathy had abruptly vanished...
That was not a good sign!
__
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