A heavy silence settled over the Wizengamot as Antonio's fierce outburst came to an end.
Myriad of reactions rippled across the chamber which were divided sharply along political lines.
The group of lords and spectators loyal to the Dark Lord wore expressions twisted with hatred, rage and venom.
In the visitors' balcony, Rodolphus Lestrange was sitting in a rigid manner, his body stiff from anger. His face was a mask of barely restrained fury.
He was clenching his fists so tight that his knuckles had turned white and he was grinding his teeth together with audible force.
His companions and cronies sitting next to him, very easily, felt the intense wave of hatred that had been emanating from his body.
Every time Antonio had uttered words like "filth," "scum," or "lowlives" in reference to the death eaters, his comrades, Rodolphus's blood had boiled hotter.
To him, it was not only Antonio who was responsible for this debacle. Bellatrix too had played a role and she too was the target of her hatred.
It had been her fault all of this had begun.
Her taunts, her provocations that she had initiated by the deliberate favour and special treatement she had shown Antonio in front of her future husband, himself, had sparked the chain of events that led to this disaster. She too was deserving of the punishment that he was to bestow upon Antonio.
And he was not alone in his line of thoughts. More than a few in the chamber secretly longed for the chance, that they could don their Death Eater robes and masks again, and hunt Antonio down and silence his insolence permanently. If only they knew how mistaken they were.
For in their arrogance, many of them were clunging to a very dangerous illusion. That Antonio Olario was not truly a wizard of exceptional calibre. They believed his slaying of two of the death eaters had been nothing more than a lucky strike. They thought that Antonio had been able to accomplish the successful attack because his sudden attack had caught his foes off guard and driven the rest to flee in a chaptic panic. In their minds, he was powerful, yes, but far from untouchable.
On the other hand, people like Edmund Bones and Amelia Bones and their allies had wide smirks creeping onto their faces.
Not only had Antonio exposed the propaganda, lies, and deceit of Barty Crouch about defending two death eaters for all to see, but he was also on the verge of establishing a precedent.
A precedent that resisting, and if possible killing, Death Eaters was the correct course of action.
His actions, and the way he had described and defined them in the last few moments, would serve as an example to the general populace. He had shown Wizarding Britain that Death Eaters could be killed as easily as any other human.
And his repeated insults toward them had added the perfect finishing touch. Because of the ruthless and dangerous image the Death Eaters projected, hardly anyone even dared to speak about them in public but Antonio had not only spoken of them, he had mocked and humiliated them openly. He had called them filth, scum and low lives with all the disgust he could have mustered.
Though all this might set a target on their back, they were still very happy.
Such courage would serve as an enduring example.
Apart from these two extremes, there were many others whose thoughts ranged across various shades of neutrality. Most were genuinely surprised by Antonio's powerful demeanour and unflinching courage. His presence and manner had sparked a curiosity within them, a curiosity about how things would unfold in the days to come.
And within this shade of neutrality, there were two figures of particular significance. Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall.
Dumbledore wore his usual friendly smile and calm and serene expression on his face.
Yet beneath that gentle exterior, he was frowning in thought.
Antonio Olario was a wild card he had not been anticipating. That man had popped out all of a sudden and the strenght he wielded was not something that he could ignore.
While Olario stood on the same side as Dumbledore, opposed to the Death Eaters, his manner and methods were far too extreme for the old wizard's liking.
Antonio had just openly called for the killing of Death Eaters, advocating it as the correct course of action. He had tried to spark a violent resistance against the death eaters.
That alone made Dumbledore deeply uncomfortable. It was neither an ideology nor a methodology he could endorse.
"No matter what you say," Barty's loud voice cut through the chamber, pulling every eye back toward the well. "It is a proven fact that you killed two wizards. That your actions were deliberate. That you had another choice and ability to execute that choice yet you chose to kill them."
He turned from the minister to address the entire Wizengamot.
"Esteemed members of the council," he said, his tone heavy with warning, "think this through. Give it a very deep thought."
"Do you truly wish to legitimise such behaviour?" He questioned. "Do not see this as an isolated incident. Consider the impact it will have in the future. If left unpunished, it will set a dangerous precedent… and you must decide whether you want that precedent to exist."
"And I will say the same," Antonio's voice rang out instantly, firm and unshaken. "Think carefully about the precedent you wish to set."
"Because the next time if it is you who is targeted, will you want the freedom to defend yourself without restraint. Or to be bound by rules and judgement which you yourself have drafted, while your enemy works actively to see you dead?"
With this the arguments were over. Compared to many other cases, it was an extremely short trial. For there was no doubts about the facts. It was a matter of which perspective was correct. And now, it was time for the vote.
"I believe we are done here," Dumbledore's calm voice carried across the chamber. "Does anyone wish to add anything more before this court?"
Silence answered him.
Although he was about to call for the vote, Dumbledore had already taken the measure of the room. He could sense the mood of the council as easily as one might read the direction of the wind.
The Bones and Black families, he suspected, would side with Antonio. The families which might have been sitting on the fence would most probably lean towards Antonio. After all, they would not be willing to find themselves in Antonio's situation.
And with the way Antonio had delivered his fiery defence, he had left Barty's case in shambles.
It had been weak from the beginning, and Antonio's closing arguments had driven the final nail into its coffin.
It was time for vote and Dumbledore struck his gravel to indicated the proceedings.
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