The Daily Prophet, Edition #1

[The Daily Prophet]

The Daily Prophet

Tragic Upset at the Ministry
One dead; culprit unknown.
by Bramm Corrier

LONDON - Last night at approximately 5 P.M., Minister for Magic Millicent Bagnold was found dead in her office. The cause of death was declared only a few minutes after her body was found, as at least ten Aurors rushed into the room. The third and most frightening of the Unforgivables, the Avada Kedavra curse, was the final verdict.

Ministry official, Cornelius Fudge, was questioned by a junior employee of the Prophet. He had this to say; "The whole of the Ministry has been deeply affected by the loss of Minister Bagnold, but we are doing our best to find and punish the culprit. The wizarding world has nothing to fear; this is sure to be an isolated crime."

Here at The Prophet we have quite a different idea of when the wizarding world should and should not live in fear. News of deaths throughout our world have appeared slowly but surely for months. The death of the influential Cadalein's shocked the world only a few days prior to this incident. An eerie symbol floated in the air above their destroyed home; a glittering green skull with a snake protruding from it's mouth. This mark is becoming widely speculated to be a death omen and was seen by The Daily Prophet's own Bramm Corrier moments after the Minister's death.

You be the judge, readers, but keep this at the forefront of your mind: would you rather be paranoid and protected or calm and vulnerable?

Continued, page 1A.

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CRIMINALS AT LARGE
by Bramm Corrier

AZKABAN - Early this evening at approximately 9 P.M., two dangerous criminals escaped from Azkaban prison. The prisoners, Bruce Hyde, 69, and Susan Hyde nee O'Sullivan, 66, were being transported to the Death Chamber, where the Dementor's Kiss would be performed, when they escaped. The details are unclear at the moment. When asked for a comment, ministry official Cornelius Fudge (who had been sent to investigate the matter), made no statement.

Those of you who were unlucky enough to have been alive during Grindlewald's reign of terror might recognize the names. Hyde and Hyde were well-known Grindlewald supporters and suspected to have performed at least fifteen murders while under his command. They managed to get away without punishment by becoming ministry informants, but that was, apparently, only a way for them to get close to ministry officials and get their own information. In late 1961, they were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, when they planned the death of an important ministry official. They were later imprisoned at the high-security prison, Azkaban, and only a week ago were handed down their punishment: the Dementor's Kiss.

Continued, page 2A

[The Daily Prophet]

1A

ACTS OF VIOLENCE STORM AREA
by Morgana Bathurst

LONDON - In a small semi-wizarding community near Bradford, there have been several violent attacks on muggles and wizards alike over the past week.

The area’s first attack was on Monday. Andrew Backley, a junior ministry official, was assaulted by two cloaked wizards. Thankfully, he managed to duel his way out due to recent Ministry training (see page_). But this sparked a string of violent measures by unknown people.

The next three attacks were on muggles in a small area. The most serious of which resulted in the hospitalising of an elderly man due to a stress-induced stroke. Muggle healers are still treating him.

A house two streets away from the muggle attacks was broken into the very next day. The owner was a wizard who insists the strongest of protection charms were cast around it. It is still uncertain whether anything was taken.

The final attack was on a retired author who lived in the same street as the break in. The witch’s identity has yet to be revealed but she is thought to be the author of one of the most popular household charm spell books. She is unable to remember much about the attack so aurors believe they must have wanted some kind of information.

It is unclear whether all of these attacks were committed by an organised wizard group or only some of them. Whatever the mystery, aurors are urging wizards in the area to be on their guard. This may not be the last of the attacks.

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this article was written by kathryn, a former History of Magic member. the staff do not own or claim to have written this article.

[The Daily Prophet]

1B

MINISTRY GIVES DEFENCE TRAINING
by Benedict Flynn

LONDON - Over the past week, the Ministry have been giving various levels of defensive training to a vast majority of staff members. The Ministry have not yet given a definitive statement in relation to the recent increase in organized violence, but it seems they are taking it very seriously behind closed doors.

A Daily Prophet mole has informed us of the training program which has been deliberately kept secret from the rest of the wizarding world. This Daily Prophet exclusive will undoubtedly be a publicity disaster for Ministry bosses, but we believe you deserve to know the truth.
This was not a rushed measure in the least. There are levels of training depending on the importance and the risk of each individual: the majority of employees will receive low level defence training; those with controversial histories and most heads of department will receive medium level training; and Unspeakables, some heads of department, and all central Ministry officials will receive high level training.

Another embarrassment for the Ministry is that this scheme is being run by the Auror department. Surely they should be more concerned with finding the wizards behind the recent attacks? Apparently, the Ministry are more concerned for their own safety.

So when you lock up your homes and go to sleep tonight, be safe in the knowledge that low level Ministry drones are much better protected.

I’ll leave the final judgement to you.

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this article was written by kathryn, a former History of Magic member. the staff do not own or claim to have written this article.

[The Daily Prophet]

1C

Heightened Security at Hogwarts
by Archer Ephraim

Continued from front page.
SCOTLAND - Early this morning a Prophet writer interviewed Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, First Class, and member of the Wizengamot. Headmaster Dumbledore revealed a heightened security at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's speculated that this added security is directly related to the death of the Minister for Magic, Millicent Bagnold, early last evening. While no proof of this was given throughout the duration of the interview, it seems this is the case.

While this extra security may put the minds of parents throughout the wizarding world at ease, what of the adults of the wizarding world? What extra measures are being taken to keep us safe? A Daily Prophet employee interviewed various wizarding folk, all of which asked for anonymity, to find out how the general public would answer these questions.

One wizard suggested we have nothing to fear: "Fer as long as Albus Dumbledore is alive, we 'ave nothing ter fear. He's the greatest wizard ter ever live."

Another member of the public had another ideas: "I'm not allowing the children to go off on their own. Every member of my household is in before dark and when we need to go into public, it's in groups. We'll continue these measures until the people behind these terrorisms are caught."

The latter seemed to be the more popular answer when it came to the community. The only question now is: what do we do? Buy a copy of next week's Prophet for a list of helpful hints to help you survive these dark times.