Hogwarts Mystery Year 7

The Verdict

Sarah did her best to listen once the wizengamot was allowed to question the defendant. They were good questions--about why he was expelled from Mahoutokoro, how he'd managed to evade aurors several times but barely managed a group of students, and more details about his work with R. He answered them all, Sarah guessed, untruthfully, but she hoped the judges could see through the holes in his story. Finally, he was sent below them once more and it was theit turn. Sarah had hoped against hope that she would be called up first, giving more time for Jacob's truth serum to wear off, but luck wasn't with her today. 

Jacob was called and he moved to stand at the chair in the center of the room that had replaced Shiratori's cage. He was asked to recall his version of the events and he told it, as far as Sarah knew, exactly as it had happened. His story finished, it was time for questioning. 

"You admit to being on Hogwarts grounds without permission," said a man with a long, twirled mustache, "You are aware this is a punishable offense?"

"Yes," said Jacob, "But I felt I had no choice. I was looking after my sister. And it was a good thing I did, or Shiratori may have done worse than torture her."

"Hem, hem." Sarah glared up at Umbridge's raised hand. "I'd like to know more about your Hogwarts days. You were expelled, much like Shiratori. And you were recruited by this so-called R as well?"

"Yes," said Jacob. "I was recruited by Rakepick. She promised to get me inside the cursed vaults, something I'd been obsessed with my entire time as a student. I didn't realize then that she was a dark witch working for a dark organization, but I figured it out by the time she trapped me in one of the vaults for seven years."

"But you were freed, and you continued to purse the vaults," said Umbridge. "Tell us, what did you find in the final vault?"

Jacob screwed up his face. Sarah thought she could see sweat rolling down his temple. She could feel her own hands shaking. 

"Nothing," he said finally. "There was nothing inside it." 

Sarah slumped back in her seat, awash with relief. Jacob took a deep breath. Umbridge appeared most displeased. She started to speak again, but Dumbledore interrupted. 

"Remember to ask questions relevant to Shiratori's trial, Madam Umbridge. As he was in custody at the time the final vault was breached, questions about the vault are unnecessary."

Umbridge went as pink as her collar as she fumed, but Sarah smiled. Serves her right. Jacob got through the rest of his interview, and Sarah knew he lied several times about his goings on during Kazuhiro's time on the run, but she didn't care about that just then. All that mattered was Shiratori returning to Azkaban, where he belonged. 

She took a deep breath when it was her turn to sit in the chair, and recounted the events of the day honestly--how she'd ventured out onto the lake looking for the vault, how she and her friends had nearly been torn apart or drowned by grindylows, how someone, she'd assumed Jacob but now believed to be Shiratori himself, had saved her with the cyclone, how he'd attacked her first, and how he'd used the cruciatus curse on her before Jacob chased him off. 

"You say you believe Shiratori saved you from the cyclone," said Madam Bones during the questioning, "but you also call him an assassin. Why would he rescue you if he wanted you dead?"

Sarah paused, but Shiratori had already said it, so she supposed there was little point in lying. "Well, we figured out he wasn't sent to assassinate me after all. He wanted to recruit me. I believe he saved my life so he could capture me and force me to join R." 

"And, why does R want to recruit you?"

"I've no idea," she said honestly. "It doesn't make sense. R took everything from me. My brother, a normal life at Hogwarts...my best friend. I would never join them."