Dark Defense

Ultra Violet

To say that Cornelius Fudge was distressed by the current situation would be an understatement akin to claiming the denizens of Pompeii were mildly inconvenienced by the eruption of Vesuvius.

It had all started when he received an missive from Amelia Bones calling for an Emergency Meeting of the Wizengammot in Courtroom Ten, citing only that there had been an 'incident' at Hogwarts.

While Fudge was hardly the sort to ignore such a missive in the first place, the fact that Hogwarts, and by extension Dumbledore, was involved served only to hasten the Minister, desperate as he was to get his hands on anything that might discredit the Headmaster given Dolores' apparent inability to do so.

Were it not for his absolute faith in her loyalty, Fudge's paranoia, which had only worsened as of late, might have led him to assume she had been compromised, that Dumbledore had somehow swayed her over to his side. As it were, Amelia's sudden call gave him hope that his most trusted aide had finally made a breakthrough.

With this in mind, you could probably imagine his elation when he arrived at Courtroom Ten to see not only Dumbledore, but Rubeus Hagrid and that damnable Professor Vergil standing off to the side under Auror Guard.

His elation soon gave way to shock, however, when Amelia called for the accused to be brought in, looking on in horrified disbelief as Dolores, along with an entire squad of Aurors that she'd assured him were loyal to his cause, were led forward in chains and placed before the Wizengammot.

"What is the meaning of this, Amelia-Director Bones?" Fudge demanded, correcting himself mid-sentance in the face of the monocle'd witch's piercing glare "I was under the impression that Dumbledore-"

"Headmaster Dumbledore is the one pressing the charges against Delores Umbridge and her accomplices, Minister." Madam Bones replied curtly, prompting Fudge to glare impotently at the smiling Headmaster "Charges I will proceed to list for the Wizengammot to hear. Let the record also show that, in accordance with the severity of the charges, and by my Authority as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the accused have been administered Veritaserum prior to trial."

Needless to say, Madam Bones' declaration earned utterances of surprise from the other Wizengammot members, surprise that quickly turned to shock, even outright anger as she continued to list off Delores' considerable offences, which the woman was forced to confess to thanks to having been dosed with Veritaserum, along with a few others that, quite frankly, horrified even Fudge.

And all the while, Dumbledore merely sat there, smiling at him like the cat that got the cream, shot the Dog, framed the Postman for it and modified the canary's will so it was the sole beneficiary.

Game. Set. And Match.

Later...

"I must confess I severely underestimated Umbridge." Vergil mused as he and Hagrid exited Court Room Ten, more-so to keep the clearly enraged Half-Giant from doing something stupid that would see him being tried next "I knew she was a fanatic, but to go to such lengths to secure Fudge's position..." he scoffed, remembering the look of horror on the Minister's face "Karma's certainly a bitch, isn't it?"

"They can both rot in Azkaban for all I care." Hagrid spat, the Half Giant looking particularly murderous as he stormed down the hallway, wanting to get as far away from the Courtroom, and Umbridge, as he possibly could "Sendin' Dementors after Harry...if Dumbledore hadn't stopped me-!"

"You'd be the one currently being tried for attempted murder." Vergil cut in. Not that he couldn't understand the Half-Giant's ire, he simply didn't see the point in getting angry over something they could do nothing about. Nothing conducive anyway, as he had no doubt that, had Hagrid assaulted Delores within the Court-Room, in front of the entire Wizengammot, Fudge would've found some way to spin things to his advantage.