Eddie was granted permission to speak.
Under everyone's gaze, he stared at Algy, who looked as if he were filled with guilt and remorse.
"Whether you were under the Imperius Curse or not, whether you were controlled or did those things of your own free will, you know better than anyone else."
Eddie's voice was cold, and his gaze towards Algy was like a sharp knife, ready to slice the flesh from his body at any moment.
"I don't know how you made that decision. Frick Burns, the youngest member of my team, had been an Auror for less than half a year. He hated evil, was friendly, and the person he admired most was your great-grandmother, Wilhelmina Taft, who served as Minister for Magic."
"Because he knew you were her descendant, he held you in high esteem, believing that you, with your noble background and pure-blood heritage, were the true representative of pure-blood Wizards in the Wizarding World."
"Then, he died. The cause of his death was the betrayal of the senior he thought was trustworthy—you betrayed everyone!"
He didn't use a Sonorus Charm, but his voice was louder than both Minchum's and Crouch's.
Sherlock could hear that Eddie was venting his emotions.
He was the one most concerned about the outcome of this trial.
Being falsely accused as a traitor was secondary; what made Eddie extremely angry was that the four Aurors under him, who had worked wholeheartedly for the Ministry of Magic, were going to die without justice, while the real killer could escape punishment by using the excuse of the Imperius Curse.
Algy wept with his face in his hands.
"I'm sorry to him. I was controlled. I'm guilty... I won't deny my guilt..."
Eddie's gaze towards him was filled with extreme contempt.
"You have no right to say you're sorry to him. If you want to make it up to them, the only way to compensate is to deliver yourself to the mouth of a Dementor!"
"I request the use of Veritaserum on him, Mr Minister," Eddie said coldly.
However, before Minchum could speak, a red-robed Wizard shook his head.
"Barbaric behaviour! Veritaserum should be abolished! This potion is as evil as the Unforgivable Curses; it's a disregard for Wizarding human rights!"
Many red-robed Wizards in the stands agreed, shaking their heads to reject the proposal to use Veritaserum.
They were not, of course, doing it for the "human rights" they spoke of.
If it were truly about human rights, Azkaban should have been the first to be shut down. Yet every year, many high-ranking Ministry of Magic officials still proposed increasing the number of Dementors and tightening the management of criminal Wizards.
The reason for resisting Veritaserum was simply the fear that one day, that bottle of potion would be poured into their own mouths.
It wasn't that everyone sitting here was a Death Eater mole, but rather that among the prestigious, wealthy Wizard families and high-ranking politicians in the Wizarding World, few had clean hands.
Veritaserum could be used, but not abused.
This was a consensus among almost all politicians in the Ministry of Magic.
And in Algy's case, it hadn't yet crossed the bottom line for these Wizards to use Veritaserum. Unless all his crimes were established and important information needed to be extracted from him, these Wizengamot Wizards would not budge.
Faced with such an established rule, even Minchum, who was incredibly tough in fighting Death Eaters, remained silent at this moment.
He had become the Minister for Magic through the rules of the Ministry of Magic, so he had to abide by them himself.
Eddie's face showed an expression of extreme disappointment.
At this point, he already knew the outcome of today's trial in advance.
Algy wouldn't die, and there wasn't even a possibility of him being sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban.
The final result was indeed so.
After all the questioning ended, the Wizengamot held a vote.
Everyone agreed that Algy was guilty, but they differed on what punishment should be imposed.
Ultimately, the punishment with the most votes was adopted: ten years in Azkaban.
A serious punishment, not a light one, but definitely not matching the things Algy had done.
Few people could endure the torture of Dementors in Azkaban for ten years, but Sherlock inadvertently saw a flash of relief in Algy's eyes.
He definitely had other plans; he didn't even want to accept the punishment of Azkaban imprisonment.
At the end of the trial, Minchum read the sentencing resolution for Algy. Eddie sat in his seat, his face appearing calm, but no one knew what he was thinking.
When the trial ended and everyone was leaving, Sherlock sighed and walked over to Eddie.
"Want me to go for a drink with you? I know a bar on the street above the Ministry of Magic with a decent environment."
Eddie sat quietly in his chair, still motionless. Hearing Sherlock's words, it took a long time before he came to his senses and shook his head slightly.
"Forget it, I'm fine. Anyway, didn't we anticipate this result? A ten-year sentence isn't short; at least it looks better than three years."
He breathed a long sigh of relief, as if planning to stop thinking about it.
"Go back, help me look after Amy. When the Ministry of Magic pays us in a couple of days, I'll buy you a drink. There's still work to do at the Auror Office, so I'll be going now."
Eddie stood up, waved his hand with his back to Sherlock, and headed towards the exit of the courtroom.
Sherlock watched his back, frowning with a thoughtful expression.
He stood there thinking for a moment, then also walked out of the courtroom and returned to the Department of Mysteries.
Instead of going to his office immediately, Sherlock first went to Madam Selwyn, who had just returned.
"Are you not very satisfied with the trial results just now?"
Before Sherlock could speak, Madam Selwyn seemed to already know his purpose.
"A traitor whose guilt was established, caught on the spot, whose words and actions appeared very natural and perfectly matched his character, yet his punishment was reduced just because of the excuse of the Imperius Curse."
She shook her head.
"It sounds like those Wizengamot Wizards at the trial were all a bunch of fools. But this is the unspoken rule within the Ministry of Magic. Algy's great-grandmother and grandfather both served as Minister for Magic, so he is extremely familiar with these rules and knows how to use them to his advantage."
"When you work in the Ministry of Magic in the future, even in a place like the Department of Mysteries where you rarely deal with others, you should try to understand these rules."
Sherlock listened to Madam Selwyn finish and showed a look of being instructed, then asked as if casually.
"Now that Algy's guilt has been established, when will he be taken to Azkaban for imprisonment?"
Madam Selwyn didn't catch any other meaning in Sherlock's words, assuming he was just asking out of curiosity about the process.
"Before being locked in Azkaban, he can probably spend his last relaxing night tonight. Azkaban is not a place where a normal person can survive, so even if they are just being sent to imprisonment, the prisoner's reasonable requests are met as much as possible before being sent away. But they are not allowed to leave the Ministry of Magic's premises."
Sherlock blinked.
"So before being sent away, he'll still be held in the detention room of the Auror Office?"
"Generally, criminals are kept there before being transferred. Tonight, he might choose a song he likes and spend his time with a table full of food. He'll be sent away before dawn tomorrow morning."
Madam Selwyn finally felt suspicious; she looked up at Sherlock.
"So why are you asking about this?"
Sherlock said with a smile.
"Like you said, I need to learn more about the hidden rules in the Ministry of Magic."
"There's nothing good to learn from these, John. I hope you never have to use these rules in your life. Also, have you decided which area to start your work on? I can't let you keep stalling; others in the Department have their own work to do, and you can't just stay idle."
Hearing her urging, Sherlock had no intention of stalling further.
"The field of time, then. I'm quite interested in that."
"The field of time is fine. I'll organise a copy of the previous research materials for you tomorrow. I'll explain the specific operations to you later."
She seemed busy with other things, so Sherlock didn't disturb her further and left Madam Selwyn's office.
He leaned against the wall of the black hall, staring at the pitch-black ceiling for a moment, then finally shook his head and muttered to himself.
"Rules... I'm afraid someone doesn't want to follow them..."
Sherlock returned to his office, had lunch with Amy, and spent the afternoon studying that book, Secrets of the Dark Arts, until night fell and he saw that Amy was asleep. He then quietly walked out of the Department of Mysteries alone.
Before coming out, Sherlock first used the Disillusionment Charm on himself.
This invisibility spell wasn't as effective as an Invisibility Cloak, but under the cover of night, it could basically achieve complete invisibility.
He entered the lift alone and went to the second floor, where the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was located.
On this corridor, he also encountered two Aurors on night duty; they didn't notice the invisible Sherlock.
He didn't stop until he reached the Auror Office.
It was already midnight, and the office lights had long been turned off. Except for the Aurors on night duty, even those working overtime rarely stayed this late.
But Sherlock still waited quietly. After about half an hour, he suddenly felt a gust of wind brush past him.
The Ministry of Magic was sealed underground; there shouldn't have been any wind blowing here.
Sherlock, not surprised at all, whispered towards the direction the wind had come from.
"What a coincidence. You like coming out for a walk in the middle of the night too?"