Following Percy Weasley downstairs, the students reached the floor where the Wizengamot courtroom was located. Despite the intimidating name, they somehow felt a trace of familiarity.
The corridor outside the Wizengamot courtroom was rather similar to the Hogwarts Castle dungeons. Torches were set into the rough walls, their flames flickering and casting the entire area in dim, chilling shadows.
Michael Corner hunched his neck. "Being tried in a place like this... I feel like I wouldn't even make it through this corridor before confessing everything I'd ever done."
Anthony Goldstein could not resist teasing him. "I never expected you to look at this corridor from a criminal's perspective!"
Chris Moen picked up the thread. "I'm different. It just feels like I'm back at Hogwarts, about to head to Potions Class!"
"Your perspective isn't any better than mine!" Michael quickly said. "Tell me, then! What's scarier—Potions Class with Professor Snape, or being locked up in Azkaban?"
"Azkaban?" Terry Boot raised an eyebrow. "Azkaban has been gone for nearly a year now. The current prison—"
"No!" Realizing what he was saying, he shook his head. "Why are we even talking about prisons? Can't we switch to a better topic?"
Padma Pettier, standing nearby, looked at Terry and the others and raised her eyebrows. "Don't you think you're being a little too relaxed?"
Before Terry and the others could say anything, the noise ahead suddenly died down, and Terry swallowed the words that had been about to leave his mouth.
The students rounded the corner of the corridor and discovered that people had already been waiting for them ahead.
Anthony lowered his voice and began counting while rubbing his brow. "The Minister of Magic, the Director of Magical Law Enforcement, the Head of the International Magical Cooperation Department..."
"So many Ministry officials came!