THE DAILY PROPHET
March 15th
We hate to say we told you so, but, then again, we told you so, writes Penny Page, Daily Prophet Reporter. Despite many protests and urgings from countless voices in our community, Albus Dumbledore, headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has continued to retain suspected former Death Eater, Severus Snape, on his teaching staff. Professor Severus Snape was previously dropped of all charges nearly sixteen years ago after the testimony given by his employer, and still, the Wizarding world has found ample room for suspicion.
"He's always been shifty, that one," says Penelope Winkle, an employee at Galadrag's Wizard Wear. "So secretive—wearing those long sleeves. No matter what the weather! I've never trusted him for a moment."
Certainly Professor Snape's actions of late have done nothing to debunk such assaults on his character. Poisoning a student, sparking fires in the Forbidden Forest, snatching young girls and disappearing for months at a time. We wonder how Dumbledore managed to let it get this far. Until now, nothing has been done, no lines have been drawn, and Professor Snape has been allowed full, unhindered access to the young and impressionable minds of Britain's young witches and wizards.
However... happily, fortunately, this reign of terror, this uninterrupted string of dark deeds gone unpunished, has at last come to an end. Not twenty-four hours ago, Severus Snape was apprehended by Ministry Officials at the Admiral Aces pub in central London. Eyewitness reports confirm that the struggle was brief and that Hogwarts' former Professor gave himself up to Officials within moments of realizing that he had been surrounded. Whether or not he did so for appearance's sake or out of genuine remorse is yet to be determined, but there is no question that the public at large is entirely supportive of the arrest. Yours truly is happy to write, with complete sincerity, that she had the unique privilege of witnessing first-hand this criminal's admittedly quiet, yet no less glorious, send-off to a Ministry holding cell.
He is behind bars, dear readers, and unlikely to emerge for a long time to come.
Trial has been set to take place on the 7th of May in order to determine his admittance to Azkaban Prison. Here's to hoping for a good turnout. Mark your calendars! If enough opposition makes itself present in that courtroom, silent or otherwise, surely even Dumbledore's formidable clout may be thwarted by the people's demand for justice.
THE HAT
March 17th
This just pulled out of The Hat:
It was not but two days ago that Severus Snape (former Potions Professor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) threw us all into shock, terror, and awe by single-handedly slaughtering the previously hospitalized Adrian Travers—and doing so without even a thimble-full of remorse! And that's not the half of it. Until now, the universally accepted perception has been that this murder was, though tragic, an exclusively contained event. But new rumors are surfacing that point to something much deeper, much darker, much more traitorous than we initially could have ever imagined. I speak of a plot, people—a conniving, diabolical plot aimed at taking down our very own and beloved Minister of Magic!
Though the details of such dastardly plans are still under wraps, it is obvious that these suspicions are not entirely unfounded, for, as of this morning, at 5:35 on the button, Severus Snape was transferred to a "temporary" cell in Azkaban prison. Whether or not this cell will become permanent is still under heated debate, and will probably continue to be so for a long time to come. There has been no word as to how long the Ministry plans on keeping him on the island prior to his trial. Judging by public opinion polls, there won't be much of a fight to secure his release, and he very well may remain in Azkaban until the 7th of May. A few supporters have managed to make themselves heard over the past few days—former students, Professors, lunatics all—with desperate pleas and pledges of faith, attempting to confirm the ex-Professor's "moral purity"—but, thus far, their words have fallen upon deaf ears.
Severus Snape—traitor? Murderer? Innocent until proven guilty? Whatever the verdict, he is now firmly ensconced in Azkaban prison, and my question to you, Britain, is—Should he remain?
Please mail in your thoughts to:
Geoffery Cartwright
Executive Editor
The Hat
Cheers.
FROM THE DIARY PAGES OF HERMIONE JANE GRANGER
March 26th
Dear Diary,
Well, I've sent him several letters—all of them short, none of them signed—and each one has been returned to me unopened and with nothing but a terse note from the Ministry saying, "Prisoners are not allowed mail." I knew it was a long shot after all, but worth a try, I think. At least for a few days I was able sit through class, safe in the hope that I had at least done SOMETHING (small and trivial though it might have been). But, now, quite honestly, I am unable to muster anything past vague resignation. Already there have been rumors that his trial date is to be moved. Some even say months down the line! Will this nightmare never end?
It's times like this I wish…
Certainly, on the whole, I enjoy being one of the (very) few in the world who understand him, and though it seems selfish to say, I like to feel that because of this I am able to keep him almost entirely to myself. But, a lot of the time, especially now, I wish there were others who cared for him. I wish Harry cared for him. All Harry cares for now is finding You-Know-Who. Which, I suppose, we can't blame him for. He was, for reasons passing my understanding, chosen to follow this path. But revenge is always on his mind, and I don't much care for the look in his eyes. He's awfully pale. He and Ron fight quite often now, too. In fact, even as I write this they are sitting at opposite ends of the common room, avoiding eye contact and sulking as they pretend to do their homework. It was something about Mr. Weasley, I think. Harry said something insensitive, or made a remark, I'm not sure. I try not to get involved these days.
Harry hasn't told Ron yet, but he claims to be developing a plan. I'm not certain what exactly this plan is meant to accomplish, though it isn't difficult to guess the general direction of intent.
He says this plan will involve me.
He says I need to be ready. That I need to practice my flying and be ready "to go" at a moment's notice.
I'm worried.
Anyway, I'll write more later. Lavender needs help with her Transifguration homework.
April 3rd
Dear Diary,
It's been confirmed! That nasty Penny Page has just published in The Daily Prophet that his trial has officially been moved to NOVEMBER in order to "accommodate for new evidence" and to "make certain that all involved receive proper attention and scrutiny." No doubt these new accusations are coming from nothing but a load of crotchety old brown-nosers looking to stir up a fight or get their names in the papers.
There were an awful lot of witnesses at the pub that night…
Bloody hell how I wish I knew what REALLY happened!
I'm sure he's made several statements by now, detailing the true nature of the accident (for I can't for a moment think it anything but an accident, as he certainly did not go to that pub with any intention to kill), however nothing of his personal story has been released. The Ministry is keeping quite a nifty grip on things, I must say.
I so dearly want nothing more than to lock Fudge up in my traveling trunk with one of Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts and give the whole thing a good hard shake! Honestly, he deserves far worse than that, but my imagination is failing me at the moment.
I might as well mention—though it's quite depressing—that I have come to dread opening the paper each morning. It seems like nothing good ever happens in the Wizarding World anymore.
I write to my parents as often as I can. Thankfully, they continue to assure me that they are both safe and well (albeit confused and frustrated—frightened, too, I think, though they have never said as much). I hope the weather is nice wherever they are. It's dreadful here. Haven't seen the sun for weeks.
I wonder if there are windows in the cells at Azkaban.
I wonder if it would even make a difference.
OFF THE WIRE: A MUGGLE NEWS REPORT
April 4th
Travesty struck Canary Warf early this morning when, at precisely 9:30 am, multiple lifts experienced an unexpected—and as yet, still unexplained—malfunction, wherein a total of 28 lifts crashed simultaneously from various heights throughout their respective office buildings.
As of 10:45 this morning, the death count is reported to have reached as high as 23, with around 40 seriously injured and 4 in critical condition.
Investigations are underway—though, there is serious speculation as to where to begin. Police officials are stumped but have been trying to calm the panic by assuring the public that they are doing what they can. So far this has included a network of sweep teams that have, and are continuing to, systematically search through each building involved in the accident. Resources say they have not found any further indications of impending attack.
"We don't know what we're dealing with, here, quite frankly," says a police official on the scene, who declined to be named, as investigations are still pending and updates on the proceedings have not been released to the public. "It isn't a terrorist group, as far as we can tell. There aren't any bombs, there haven't been any threats. This was entirely out of the blue. I wish we could say that we train for things like this, and that we are always prepared to handle this sort of thing. But, as you may or may not have noticed, we're completely dashed. No idea how this happened. To all appearances the damn things look perfectly operational! There is no explanation for this malfunction. I say, we're all completely dashed."
UPDATE, 1:36 pm:
Death count now at 26. No new evidence has been found. All of Canary Warf, and the surrounding area, has been closed off until further notice.
POLICE REPORT
POSTER FOUND ON DIAGON ALLEY BULLITEN
(PHOTO ATTACHED)
MISSING:
Amelia Thomas
Age: 10
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Height: 4'4''
Last seen on April 21st, 17:30, outside her Grandparents' flat at No. 16 Longridge Road, South Kensington, London.
Any information concerning the whereabouts of Amelia Thomas should be directed either to local authorities, to her parents, Pamela and Roger, or to her brother, Dean.
NOTICE FROM THE HEADMASTER
GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM BULLITEN
Dear students,
Due to recent events a 7:30 pm - 6:30 am curfew is now in place. No student is to leave the castle or step foot on the grounds a moment past sunset. As such, all extracurricular activities have been indefinitely postponed. Yes, this does include Quidditch.
All future Hogsmeade trips have been cancelled until further notice.
Please stay safe, look after each other, and study hard for end of year exams. They will be here sooner than you think!
Albus Dumbledore
FROM THE DIARY PAGES OF HERMIONE JANE GRANGER
April 31st
Dear Diary,
We've only had two Order meetings in the past months, one of which I stormed out of half way through. It's so frustrating! They are doing NOTHING! I have never in my life witnessed such a deplorable exercise in futility. Admittedly, they are making a minute bit of headway in terms of You-Know-Who's whereabouts, except that all everyone seems to be able to do is agree with each other that our best source of information is now in Azkaban. He's the only one who might know, but there is no way of contacting him.
So WHAT NOW, I keep asking—what do we do? Where do we go next? We can't just wait around for the Ministry to lift up their skirts for us. We need to take action! I'm sick of it, sick of all of it. Even McGonagall has ripped the last of my nerves to shreds.
I suppose I do not feel quite as distraught as that one terrible night so many months ago when I believed myself to have been the cause of such an unthinkable, disastrous situation. That night I thought I had... well, killed him. But it's close enough. I feel as though I'm constantly on the verge of doing something stupid. But how can I help it? There is so much talk now of possible execution. Since the growing rate of attacks in the past couple of weeks, public opinion has turned dramatically against the Ministry. Fudge is more worried than ever about an uprising, of being overthrown. He is constantly spinning quotes in the papers and on the radio about plots against the government, and how any perpetrators or supposed traitors will face dire consequences. Those currently in Azkaban are, expectedly, top on the list.
Two executions have already taken place.
I haven't slept for a while. Whenever I do, I have dreadful nightmares. And I walk! Dear God, do I walk. I have been wandering this castle from top to bottom every night in my sleep. Even in my unconscious state, it seems, I am forever restless and searching. Terrified. I don't know what to do.
May 8th
At last, Harry has a plan!
It's more dangerous than I could have ever imagined, but it could work, it could damn well work! I have no idea how we are going to pull this off. I'm scared. It's entirely ludicrous.
But I think I'm ready. I think we can do this. We've got to try.
Harry came by just now to go over last minute details. We have it all laid out. This is it.
We leave tonight!