Nox
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter.
...
All twelve victims were...stabbed. Twelve times each, in fact.
How...anticlimactic.
Hypothetically speaking, stabbing is not a very efficient choice vis-a-vis other methods of killing, especially not when magic is available. Without getting into technical, gruesome detail, the stabbing is messy, leaving the offender with the task of cleaning both the scene and the evidence. Additionally, wielding sharp implements requires incredible precision, implying that the victims would need to be subdued physically and consciously; otherwise, the danger to the implement wielder can be fatal— or at least potentially debilitating, if your would-be-victim suddenly managers to turn the blade your way.
Now, if you've taken a look at me (one Hermione Granger) any time recently, you'll know that I'm average height, slender, not exactly buff; ergo, I can maybe lift a small weight, tops. You wouldn't even need to look at a dozen full grown victims with twelve stab wounds each at various junctures to conclude that this alleged crime spree would be very difficult task for me to carry out alone given my relatively tiny stature. Given the nature of the adults (adult men and women of various heights, weights, and center of gravity distributions), I would have to be either very efficient with my body mechanics or very, very reliant on either Muggle or Magical restraints.
Unfortunately for the prosecution, the magical autopsies revealed no sign of external, Muggle-type restraints such as ropes, tape, etc. The obvious conclusion would be that some other means of restraints were utilized— most likely magical, since there were no other visible damage. The question of exactly what kind of Magical restraints is still under investigation (read: they have no clue and are stalling for time, most likely), hence the significantly long trial period between establishing my identity and moving onto the actual minutiae of the commission of the crime.
What puzzles me is why I wouldn't have chosen more practical Magical method for this alleged crime. Surely, with all the nifty magical tricks available with a functioning wand, I could have found a more efficient way than some kind of magical restraint and then haphazard stabbing in various quadrants? You would think people who can multiply food and instantaneously appear and reappear in different places could harness this kind of energy for...oh...I don't know...less complicated and risky methods that don't involve leaving copious amounts of evidence behind?
In other words, with curses such as the Avada Kedavra floating around, it's terribly illogical for any witch or wizard would resort to Muggle means.
Or at least it would be, if magic wasn't traceable.
As the boring, gruesome parts of the trial wore on, I learned that wands can be forced to regurgitate the last few spells performed. This is how Aurors (magical detectives) determined that someone utilized Hermione's wand to wipe my memory. What the Aurors have been unable to tell me or the Court, however, is why or who performed the action. That is to say, the spells are traceable, but the magical signature of the caster is not.
Of course, one can easily bypass having their magic traced by utilizing a different wand. That is one of the reasons why the Ministry of Magic closely regulates the sale and purchase of wands, and why people such as Ollivander are routinely invited to testify in magical trials. Then again, just because Hermione's wand was utilized to commit said crimes does not mean that Hermione herself was responsible, nevermind the fact that I may or may not be Hermione and, from what little I've learned about her during testimony, Hermione is bright enough not to hang a neon "LOOK HERE" sign above her wand.
Hermione (or me, since we haven't established that yet), would have chosen the most logical, least hands-on solution. She would have either devised a near graceless magical solution or a near traceless Muggle solution. From a purely theoretical perspective, stabbing is highly personal. It's not like pressing a trigger or lighting a fuse, all of which can be done remotely, from (relative) distance and safety. Stabbing is technical, specific, and very, very precise. You would have to know right places to stab to induce certain death and be certain of hitting at least one; otherwise, people end up with various randomly placed wounds in potentially non-fatal places, like the victims here. A couple of the deeper wounds would have caused massive bleeding eventually, but most of the superficial wounds would have caused pain, which of course is awful, but not conducive to the end game.
Frankly, the entirety of this alleged M.O. confuses me. I can brainstorm any number of less "obvious" ways to accomplish the same point without the risk of...you know...victims escaping, leaving evidence behind, getting caught, etc. etc.
Yet another reason why wizards and witches were loons, I thought. I would have just Avada-ed everyone with someone else's wand and Vanished the evidence.
...
Besides the technical reports of the magical autopsy branch, the character witnesses after Lockhart were surprisingly boring. Having learned that long term residents of Spell Damage wards do not make credible witnesses, Fluffy has resorted to calling people with impeccable credentials...or, in many cases, those with too short a history to be established as unreliable ones.
The first victim of this new strategy is a short, blond boy with a mass of curly hair and a mountain of teenage acne. Colin Creevy can't be more than fifteen or sixteen, but he's thrilled to be part of the Wizengamot proceedings because he's Muggle and he's never ever seen the inside of such a great courtroom before. The only unfortunate thing is that the Plum Robes won't let him bring his cameras to document the proceedings; not to worry, though, there is an overgrown, beetle-esque reporter in the front row for some gossip rag documenting each word for the public's perusal.
Colin begins his testimony by excitedly identifying me as a fellow long-term resident of the Hospital Wing in his First Year at Hogwarts. Apparently he was the victim of a Basilisk whose permanent home is a secret chamber under the foundation of the school—yup, you read that right— this school of magic, this so-called safest place in the world, had a beast that could kill with one stare wandering around the pipes where it can murder children and adults at will and not one of the so-called teachers bothered to take substantive action.
(Can we just pause to reflect on how I'm supposed to be the crazy one here?!)
The only reason Colin isn't dead is because— get this— his camera. He had the great fortune of "seeing" the Basilisk through the lens instead of staring at it head-on, which is, I'm sure, a great comfort to his parents who no doubt thought sending their son off to school to learn magic would be grand adventures and not life or death situations.
Incidentally, the only reason I'm (er, Hermione's) alive is because I was the only one who figured out the culprit was a Basilisk and had the good sense to carry around a mirror instead of looking directly into its eyes. I was twelve at the time, people. Yay, me, although I didn't figure this out in time to stop myself from being Petrified like a lump of wax for a portion of my education. Small wonder Lockhart even remembers me after I wasn't even in his class for a part of the year, a fact that did not make Fluffy any happier when I pointed out that I couldn't have possibly Obliviated the pompous milquetoast as I was literally unconscious in the Hospital Wing at the time.
Judging by the glare on her face, I'm sure she regrets me ever being revived from Petrification, and not just because I'm doing a somewhat passable job of defending myself with little information and minimal outside help.
Then again, if I truly reasoned out the Basilisk situation at twelve, I suspect I have a decent shot of out-reasoning some of the minds here. Good thing, too, because the more I get to know this world, the more I think some of the adults are worse than useless. No wonder children go to unimaginable lengths to protect fellow children from terrors that really shouldn't be a part of any child's repertoire.
A terrifying thought, considering that is my allegedly motive for committing the stabbings.