While she was pressing hard, not giving the old man time to dawdle, she kept an eye on the healer. Only when the woman gestured her to back off or slow down, did she do so.
While she continued to press she was also watching the old man's, though muted due to the serum, expressions. He was quite flushed, breathing a little rapidly and sweating buckets.
At the eighteen minute mark, the Healer simply said, "Enough." And Bones immediately stopped and sat back.
She then watched as the Healer administered the antidote and kept up her monitoring charms on the old man as he began to recover.
Once he appeared to have regained his senses, Dumbledore started to look quite shocked and utterly disappointed.
"Well, well," she said. She'd have smirked at him if she wasn't already so horrified by some of the answers he'd given.
"Dumbledore, we now have the following confirmations under Veritaserum and faithfully recorded by Dicta-quill: You lied in court when you stated you did not know the Dursleys would mistreat Lord Potter. If anything, you were counting on it. You even 'helped' in that with the occasional casting of compulsion charms to increase their ire towards Lord Potter when he first arrived there. In effect, you were conditioning them to condition Lord Potter for you. Plus, if the abuse the Dursleys heaped onto Lord Potter was ever discovered, which it was, you would have ready 'patsies' to take the fall for you while you sat back and faked pious disappointment, which you did.
"What you've either completely forgotten about, or simply didn't care about, is that, if Lord Potter did not have the sheer force of will and fortitude he holds and has since amply demonstrated and had actually tried to suppress his magic as his muggle relatives tried to force him to do, you may very well have turned him into an Obscurial."
That caused the old man to nearly jump in his chair in shock, as if he'd been surprised by getting tagged by an electrified cattle prod.
Bones ignored it and went on. "On that, I have you for premeditated child abuse, psychological; premeditated child abuse, emotional; premeditated child abuse, physical; child abuse by proxy for all three; deliberate child abandonment; criminal child neglect; muggle-baiting many more multiple accounts than you've already faced court for and perjury of the case 'The Ministry and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore; Regent Dowager Lady Augusta Longbottom, presiding'.
"That last one means I can now keep dosing your arse with Veritaserum, over and over again, until I have all my answers before resubmitting that entire trial back before the Wizengamot. That means all those crimes of yours, which did not receive the full sentence, I get to reopen and have reheard. Double Jeopardy does not apply.
"Going back in time a bit, I now have the following: You received information that the Dark Lord had specifically targeted the Potters and Longbottoms. On hearing that you immediately 'ordered' both couples go immediately into hiding, but refused to tell them why other than you 'suspected' the Dark Lord was specifically targeting them. You tried to get the Longbottoms to use a Secret Keeper of your choice, but they refused you and Frank's mother fulfilled that role. However, you demanded to be informed of the Secret... in writing... and you were. You then kept that slip of parchment in a draw in your desk in the Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts, not even under a lock and key let alone within a magical safe.
"The Potter's, however, also wanted to use a Secret Keeper of their choice. However, you managed to convince them to use Peter Pettigrew instead of Sirius Black, their first choice. You were able to convince them by stating how much of a prank it was to fool everyone into thinking it was Black when, all along, it was Pettigrew. You also knew Pettigrew was a Death Eater and had obliviated him of knowledge you knew. As such, you convinced the Potters to use a Secret Keeper who you knew to be a marked Death Eater. I also have confirmation, from your own mouth while under Veritaserum, you were hoping Pettigrew would share the secret with his master, Voldemort, so that his master would go to the Potter Cottage, kill Lord and Lady Potter and attempt to kill the then infant Heir Apparent, Harry Potter.
"In other words, you deliberately and with forethought engineered the death of the last remaining members of a Noble and Most Ancient House, thereby rendering that House extinct. As such, by your own evidence-submittable admission, on this act alone I have you dead to rights for a capital crime that has only one punishment - the Veil. As the evidence is via your admission under Veritaserum and faithfully transcribed onto parchment by Dicta-quill, it cannot be overturned.
"All other crimes I've been able to uncover through your questioning today is just icing on the cake and, ultimately, doesn't mean much. However, it is useful in learning the truth about matters of importance to the Wizarding World.
"From what I have been able to learn so far, I now have enough to make a certain decision right here and right now.
"I, Madam Director Amelia Susan Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, determine the wizard known as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore to be a Dark Lord. As I say, so let it be written."
That had Dumbledore blanch so white she thought the man was going to die, right then, from either a brain aneurysm or a heart attack.
After a pause to carefully watch the man to see if Pockridge would have to step in to save the man's life for the moment, she had to wait a bit for Pockridge to step back before she continued.
"I, Acting Madam Minister Amelia Susan Bones, concur with the determination made by Madam Director Amelia Susan Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; and also determine the wizard known as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore to be a Dark Lord. As I say, so let it be written."
With a shorter pause, this time, she continued, "I, Madam Regent Amelia Susan Bones, Regent and Heir Secondary of the Noble and Ancient House of Bones and member of the Wizengamot, concur with the determination made by Madam Director Amelia Susan Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; and also determine the wizard known as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore to be a Dark Lord. As I say, so let it be written."
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