[PROLOGUE] The Daily Prophet, morning issue, by Dolores Skeeter
Grindelwald Spotted At Godric's Hollow
Gellert Grindelwald, the greatest dark wizard of our time has been spotted at a small village where both magical beings and muggles dwell. Godric's Hollow, the birthplace of a celebrated wizard, Godric Gryffindor, was threatened yesterday by non-other than Grindelwald himself.
His motives are unknown. In fact, it is a puzzle why Grindelwald's whereabouts have been nearing our midst, when for years he had been terrorizing all of continental Europe.
Elsbeth Montague spotted Grindelwald and made contacts with the Auror Office, right away. But as quickly as he came, he left, and the Aurors were too late at their arrival. "Scariest moment of my life! He was just casually strolling the neighborhood graveyard. I have no idea what he could possibly have been up to, but let me tell you, I don't want to know!" explained a frantic Montague.
Grindelwald's great aunt, Bathilda Bagshot is a known resident of Godrics Hollow. There was no death toll, so could this just be a friendly visit to his great aunt? Bagshot refused to be interviewed.
Although he did not inflict any damage to the village people, his presence altogether should be frightening enough.
Back in his homeland, he is known to torture and murder muggles as a sport. It is also rumored that he took it upon himself to build a prison where lives his enemies and any witch or wizard who dares to thwart him, called Nurmengard. However, no one knows where this prison is. Even as a young lad, his practices were deemed too explicit for a school that focuses around the dark arts, as he was expelled from Durmstrang Institute at the age of sixteen. The Bulgarian Ministry of magic have placed a 30,000 galleon bounty on his head.
The last months alone he was responsible for the death of a muggle family in London, the Carabella's. In the muggle news, it is said that the deaths are being investigated by 'Forensic Investigators'. Forensic Investigation is a muggle occupation with a purpose to propose a hypothesis on how a crime was enacted with the evidence given. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement are misguiding these investigators so that it would look like a mere accident.
The Ministry advises that you take extra cautions, and put safety charms around your house tonight.
Tragedy at the Ministry
A tragic week at the Ministry! Three consecutive deaths of Ministry employees followed after Boxing Day. The first victim was the Head of the Muggle Liaison Office, Quincy Quagmire, who was found dead at a Muggle town. The very next day, the Head of Muggle Excuse Worthy Committee, Frank Ensence was discovered lifeless in his own three-story vacation home. And as if things couldn't get any worse, Fedora Manning, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office dropped dead in her own office the very day after.
Minister, Ottaline Gambol and anyone with a first year education says that this was no mere coincidence. The characteristics between these three abridged legacies are too correlated to ignore. Quagmire, Ensence, and Manning are all muggleborns who openly share a fondness for muggles, and their professions regard muggle affairs. From that we can deduce that the perpetrator is a 'Muggle Shamer'. Furthermore, we can conclude that the perpetrator would most likely be a pure-blood.
The remaining pure-blood line families are currently awaiting trial, only to be questioned. (For the list of the "Sacred Twenty-One", please refer to the bottom of this article.)
Once the trials were launched, the Minister was bombarded with howlers expressing their discontent with these requests. Not only from the Sacred Twenty-One, but half-bloods and muggleborns alike. The act was called many things such as unjust and stereotypical. But Gambol simply states that these are 'necessary precautions' and that any witch and wizard with dirty reputations against Muggles would be questioned as well, in the future.
The Abbot, Longbottom, Ollivander, Shacklebolt, Weasley, and the Burke families have been cleared. The rest are still, at the moment, being scheduled. A resource says that the Gaunt family have refused to partake in the trials completely and hissed at them in parseltongue, the snake language. This makes them even greater targets for the Ministry. The ability to speak to snakes, after all, is a mark of a very dark wizard. The Gaunt's history with muggles aren't very clean either, their record holds previous attacks on muggles and muggleborns.
Could this have been the works of Grindelwald? Surely the ministry wouldn't be stressing on finding the culprit if it was that obvious? Well, Grindelwald was said to be in Bulgaria on the days of these tragic deaths. So Grindelwald has been ruled out, but then who could it possibly be?
Auror, Jenny Shackles who claims to have known the three personally, expresses her grief. "I was friends with Frank since Pre-Kindergarten." (Here, Miss Shackles refers to a first classroom based environment optionally given for muggle children in the United States.) "He introduced me to Quincy and Fedora four years ago. Ever since then, we four have been thick as thieves. I will miss them terribly. Their deaths are unfathomable."
Unfathomable indeed.
The Sacred Twenty-One: Abbott, Avery, Black, Bulstrode, Burke, Carrow, Crouch, Fawley, Flint, Gaunt, Greengrass, Lestrange, Longbottom, Macmillan, Malfoy, Nott, Ollivander, Parkinson, Prewett, Rosier, Rowle, Selwyn, Shacklebolt, Shafiq, Slughorn, Toddlemore, Travers, Weasley, Yaxley
Summary, courtesy of Darkwinter999. Please follow and review! Sorry, English is not my first language!