Harry Potter and the Hall of Justice

Chapter 8 The Ceremony


Dumbledore straightaway walked over to the desk and took the black judicial robe in hand. He opened it and walked around to position it across Webster’s broad shoulders, hooking the clasp of the garment for him. The old professor stepped back a few paces and smiled. “You look grand! Absolutely judicial!” He then laughed out at his little quip.

The old professor never felt better. He was very pleased Webster had accepted the offer so soon. “Actually, he is a very fine and handsome man,” he thought to himself. “Big, yes, and mighty broad of shoulder, he is. The robe gives him a certain air, I would say. Yes! Certainly a man you wouldn’t want to cross. I believe old Fudge will see that right off.”

“Shall we?” the professor asked, motioning once again with a sweep of his hand.

“Yeah! Let’s light this rocket!” Webster said with enthusiasm.

The two men walked out of the judge’s chamber and onto the dais and were surprised to see the courtroom, as immense as it was, filled with a crowd so large there were no more seats available for a large number of attendees. The huge doors at the back of the courtroom had been left open and more people could be seen deep into the alcove.

Cornelius Fudge, who had been standing on the dais speaking with an under-minister, jumped around when he heard the crowds’ reaction. Fudge, a smallish man, turned around and found he was looking straight into the waist of a giant of a man. Webster, in his black judicial robe, standing in front of the white marble walls of the courtroom, did look like a giant from any distance. Fudge stuck out a limp hand, shaking and wet with perspiration. Dan Webster smiled and shook it.

The crowd exploded in applause and all rose to their feet. Fudge began flapping his hands to quiet them but the applause continued, unabated. “Please, please! Quiet, quiet!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Webster smiled and nodded thankfully to the applauding audience, vocalizing his thanks repeatedly but it was like adding fuel to an already raging fire.

Webster noticed Professor McGonagall and Hermione Granger standing near one of the front tables. Both were clapping loudly and smiling grandly at the appreciative welcome their new acquaintance was receiving.

“Quiet, quiet!” the minister continue to scream. Finally, the crowd became quiet enough for Fudge to be heard. “Quiet, quiet! I’ll have you know some of us have very busy schedules and cannot be here all day. We are away from Ministry business and must not tarry,” he screamed out.

Professor Dumbledore turned and winked at Webster who remembered what he had told him earlier about Fudge: the minister would make quick work out of the ceremony and just as quickly leave. From even what little Webster had seen of the man, he would be inclined to give him a quick goodbye.

“Quiet, quiet! Take your seats!” Fudge commanded. “We are gathered here today to administer the oath of office to our next Lord Chief Justice. It is…” The crowd again rose to their feet and again drowned out the Minister of Magic.

The little man continued screaming but to no effect. Webster noticed his head was turning as red as a beet and saw Fudge finally reach for the gavel lying on the bench with which he began pounding a large wooden block. The gavel made a resounding echo through the large courtroom, and Fudge was instantly pleased he had found something louder than the crowd. The pounding finally quieted them, and they again took their seats.

“I will not tolerate another outburst,” he screamed, waving the gavel threateningly at the crowd of wizards and witches. “We are here on very serious business. After the ceremony, everyone can stay and act like children as long as they wish, but for now, I will not stand for one more disruption,” he added in a voice so loud it echoed through the large room with lasting reverberation.

With that, Cornelius Fudge turned and faced Daniel Webster. His fat, little head was tilted back as far as it would go without arching his back and thus, he began, “Raise your right hand, Mr. Webster.” Fudge looked up at him with beady, bloodshot eyes filled with anger, and Webster clearly noted the disgust on the minister’s face. “Daniel Milton Webster, do you swear before this honorable court and before the wizards and witches gathered here as witnesses that you will well and faithfully execute the duties of the office in which you are about to enter, that you will fairly and honorably perform said duties to promote the life, liberty, safety and happiness of these same witnesses and the wizards and witches of this world and, with the same fairness of mind, pass judgments and decrees only in the furtherance of justice?”

“I swear it!” Webster loudly proclaimed. He then lowered his hand as Fudge backed away from him and turned to his under-minister who opened a large wooden box. Within it was a small gold box lying in a cutout square on a raised platform. A pair of gold tongs was positioned in a cutout behind the golden box and Fudge took these in hand. He then undid a clasp and raised the top of the golden box, picking up the ring inside it with the tongs. Carefully, he lifted the ring clear of the box and stopped long enough to raise it above the level of the bench so the crowd could see it. The stone in the ring and another like stone in the tongs were of a dull gray color and looked, upon closer inspection, to be made of lead.

Minister Fudge then carried the ring over to Webster and motioned him to hold out a hand so he could drop the ring into it. Webster reached out and took the ring being suspended from the tongs. Fudge then backed up a few steps and held onto the tongs in such a way that the stone set in it was above his hand.

Webster looked over to Dumbledore who nodded his head. He then took the ring in his right hand, spread the fingers of his left hand and pushed the ring down the ring finger. Instantly, a flash of brilliant, bluish-white light exploded from both the ring and the tongs and blazed with such force wizards and witches quickly covered their eyes. The crowd emitted loud “Ooh’s” and “Aah’s” and was abuzz with loud whisperings. Slowly the brilliance subsided and Webster, although not conscious of it, held his hand out in front of him as if presenting it to the courtroom.

Dumbledore’s face lit up with a big grin that turned to joyful laugh, filling the room. The crowd joined in and again broke into loud, roaring applause.

Webster leaned over to Dumbledore and spoke loudly directly into his ear, “What happened?”

Dumbledore moved his head to the side of Webster’s ear and shouted, “A very, very wonderful sign. I will explain later.” And he then resumed his laughter and clapping.

Webster turned and noticed Professor McGonagall was wiping tears from her eyes. Hermione Granger, smiling grandly, was staring directly into Webster’s eyes, nodding her head as if she had just made up her mind about something.

Slowly the crowd began to quiet down and most of the wizards and witches had retaken their seats. Fudge again reached for the gavel and pounded it several times to bring order back into the room.

“Wizards and witches, professors, ministers and guests,” Minister Fudge screamed out. “It is my great honor to present to you our new Lord Chief Justice, His Lordship Daniel Milton Webster.”

The courtroom erupted once again, everyone present jumped to their feet, screaming and clapping for their new Lord Chief Justice. Fudge reached across and congratulated His Lordship, leaned over to Dumbledore and screamed something in his ear, then returned to the wooden box where he replaced the wooden tongs. His under-minister closed the lid, picked up the wooden box and the two began making their way out of the courtroom.

Dumbledore then motioned Webster over to the bench and told him he should say something. Webster approached the bench and motioned the crowd to silence. They responded immediately to his call for quiet.

“Thank you all, very much, for your warm welcome. I was told we would have four or five magic-folks here with us today. I believe we easily exceeded that number.”

Quickly the crowd gave him another round of applause but just as quickly quieted themselves.

Webster smiled proudly and nodded his head in thanks. “I must say I am very deeply honored so many of you came. Thank you all, very much,” he said. The room again filled with applause but sensing their new Lordship had something else to say they quickly calmed down and again took their seats.

“Professor Dumbledore told me this would be a good time to make a few announcements. I apologize for rushing into this but it must be done. I’m sure you all understand. First, sometime within the next three weeks we will begin scheduling cases, both civil and criminal, to be heard. As they are scheduled and placed on the docket, they will be publicly posted. Any person who currently has a case pending before the court and wishes to withdraw the matter, without prejudice, will have only two weeks to do so. Second, I will immediately begin accepting applications for Executive Assistant. Any qualified person wishing to apply should do so, in writing, beginning today. I will begin interviewing applicants this afternoon. Once a selection is made, no further applications will be accepted, however, there are numerous other vacancies within the court that must also be timely filled. The announcements for those positions will be sent to the Ministry and to each school for distribution,” Webster paused again. He slowly scanned the roomful of eager faces, reading much from their expressions.

“Again, I thank you all for coming. I hope, over time, I will be able to personally thank each one of you for your support today. Thank you and good day,” with that Webster turned and walked back into his chamber. Behind him the crowd once again broke into loud applause.

Dumbledore followed him into the room and watched His Lordship remove the large black robe and place it once again on top of the desk.

“Very well done, very well done,” the old professor began. “You just announced to the whole world that you are all business and ready to get down to it. But, Your Lordship, what impressed me the most was your ring. I realize you do not know the significance of what happened when you placed the ring on your finger. The bright flash and the blue-white fire of the ring are very significant. Everyone in the courtroom instantly knew you would be a very, very powerful justice. Never, to my knowledge, has the ring displayed such power. The dark lords will be making like a bunch of rats, scurrying around trying to find a hole to crawl into. It was a grand, grand moment. It will be one of my finest memories,” Dumbledore said, looking up into Webster’s face. “And how do you feel?”

“I’m fine but a little tingly,” Webster said, “if that is the right word.”

“Tingly is a good word, if one is tingly in the right places,” the old professor laughed, feeling much better than his years. “I must say, I don’t know if it is a lingering effect of that iced tea of yours or if it has been such a grand day, but this old man is feeling pretty spunky himself. I wonder if there is a spot of that tea left? Want to go see?”

“Yeah, let’s do that. I could stand to wet my whistle again,” Webster said, beaming.

He lifted the ring to look at it closely for the first time. The professor moved in close to examine it, too. The stone of the ring had turned midnight black and what appeared to be white-hot bolts of lightning could be seen flashing under it’s surface. As one peered into the stone, it had great depth, almost as if one was staring into deepest space, an endless vacuum. The bolts of electricity where thin and erratic and, Webster thought to himself, it was almost like ionized gases swirled around at random as the lightning danced hypnotically from indiscriminate points deep within the stone.

“What do you make of that professor?” Webster asked.

“I have no idea,” he said in a flat, honest manner. “I have never heard of or seen this effect before. However, the ring is different with each justice. If I remember correctly, when the ring was worn by a number of justices’ centuries ago, themselves having been judges in the non-magical world, the ring stayed the color of lead. The stone simply never changed. And, as it turned out, they were totally ineffectual justices. One actually resigned the office before ever deciding a single case. When my father wore the ring, it was the color of a bright ruby.”

Webster dropped his hand to his side and stepped in front of the old professor. “Albus, there was something I was meaning to ask of you earlier but felt it only proper to wait until after the ceremony,” Daniel Webster said, looking again into the eyes of the old wizard.

“Of course, Your Lordship, and what were you meaning to ask?” Dumbledore inquired, arching his eyebrows and looking into the hazel-green eyes of the new Chief Justice.

“I sensed your urgency and desperation when you spoke to me of the evil lords and their associates. It was very obvious you were guiding me to this moment of decision. In all my years associated with and trained by the best interviewers and interrogators of the non-magical world, I have never encountered anyone with your degree of persuasive abilities,” Webster said, clearly seeing in the old wizard’s face what he was saying was coming as no shock to him. “I just now felt the same desperation from those hundreds of magic folk who came to the ceremony today. Their eyes were reaching out to me for hope. They were giving me their trust. So, therefore, I will not now hesitate to issue my first decree as the new Chief Justice.”

“Yes, Your Lordship?” Dumbledore said, riveted on the justice’s face.

“Albus Dumbledore, I charge you with the full oversight and control of the High Court’s Department of Special Investigations. This is to include the responsibility of assembling, training and assigning the witches and wizards of your choosing to whatever tasks you deem necessary to counter any and every threat to the magical and non-magical world from any individual or group of individuals using dark magic. You will plan and execute, at your discretion, any operational scheme you deem necessary to accomplish this mandate. You have the authority of this high office to use whatever force you deem necessary, up to and including the use of deadly force, and will do so without remorse and without hesitation,” Webster issued his order to the old headmaster as if it were one complete sentence. “Now, do we need this decree written up and signed to be official?”

“Yes, it must be so, Your Lordship,” Dumbledore breathlessly said. The old professor had not imagined the man would have made such a decree as quickly as he did. Dumbledore had already prepared himself for days and maybe even weeks of gentle persuasion to accomplish just the reopening of the department. This mandate was everything the old wizard could have ever dreamed of and more. Dumbledore was almost too weak to stand. He cleared his throat and pointed to the justice’s desk, wanting to say something but unable to clear his head or find the words he needed.

Webster followed the old man’s hand as he pointed to the desk. There were two parchments lying side-by-side on top of the desk with a writing instrument across them. He walked behind the desk and saw his decree printed out in ink exactly how he had stated it.

“This is amazing, Albus! How did this happen? How could there be a transcription made as fast as that?” Webster said, looking up at Professor Dumbledore. His eyes were wide with amazement at the feat.

Dumbledore again cleared his throat and, after catching his breath, walked toward the desk. “You will find, Your Lordship, every time you make a statement saying it is to be a decree, an official transcript will be made almost simultaneous with your words. It will always appear on your desk for your immediate inspection. You can make amendments or corrections and place it in the small drawer under the lip of your desk on the right side. If the decree is correct as written, you sign the original and copy. The original with your signature is placed in the drawer I just pointed out to you and it will be automatically recorded into the court’s record. The copy will, in this case, be mine, as it is my charging document. You will also notice, once your decrees are signed, the Great Seal of the Hall of Justice will appear at the bottom left of the page in inks correctly matching the seal of your courtroom.”

Webster was amazed by all of this, even more so than anything else he had seen since first entering this chamber. He read the decree carefully again and it was exactly as he had spoken it. He picked up the writing instrument and signed both the original and copy. He watched in amazement as inks bled across the papers exactly as Dumbledore had said. Webster then placed the original in the small drawer and handed the copy to the old professor.

“I hope this proves you chose the right man for the job, Albus!” Webster said, grinning broadly.

“I never had a doubt, Your Lordship,” he replied. Dumbledore looked at the document and rolled the parchment up, placing it inside his robe.