Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. All things recognizable belong to her.

The Daily Prophet...

As the 25th Anniversary of The Second War approaches in the upcoming year, the hunt for the memories of the surviving participants and families is going underway. The Ministry of Magic is seeking to obtain the personal accounts, experiences, and life stories of persons and families directly affected by The Second War.

These memoirs may be used for History of Magic studies at various magical schools throughout the world and in the public historical archives at the Ministry of Magic itself.

Minister Kingsley said a few words on the topic yesterday afternoon, expressing his own concern as he so gracefully ages and approaches the record of the longest standing Minister. "Our mission at the Ministry of Magic is to preserve the memories of those who fought in The Second War - of those who have made the liberties we so enjoy today possible. It is crucial that these recollections are obtained so that Wizarding communities across the globe will be grateful to those who fought and risked their lives, for generations to come."

"As the elderly who were affected come to the end of their lives, we've realized the importance of preserving the accounts and look forward to obtaining as many as possible whilst it is possible," says Magical Historian Terry Boot.

Any donations of memories would be greatly appreciated and may be sent in via parchment, vials, flasks, or tape recordings (a type of Muggle tool used to record voices).

Thank You.

Written by Parvati K. Panth

For your daily Horoscope, courtesy of Seer Sybil Trelawney, please turn to page 5.

As an aspiring magical historian, the assignment given to my rising Sixth Year History of Magic class not only seemed like it would be easy and fun, but also highly educational and potentially priceless. The task was simple: Interview a family member, friend, or someone else we know about their experience in The Second War.

I was beyond excited about the assignment, and upon returning home from school during the summer holiday, I immediately began searching for a fresh quill and some parchment. I already knew without a doubt whom I would ask to be my interviewee. My mother: Olivia Thomas. She herself was directly involved in the war. Though she would mention her encounters offhandedly at times, I either was too nervous to ask her for further details, or didn't think of the war as a highly important event due to ignorance of the ordeal.

After our brief end of the year lesson in History of Magic, I was thoroughly interested and even a little obsessed with the idea of a live personal account. For me, it wasn't just a bit of history. The war had changed the lives of my family. My mother's parents were assumed to be killed during the war, as their whereabouts were never recovered afterwards, and my father, a Muggleborn, was a target for capture.

This war was a huge deal and though I had only the faintest idea, has had significant impact on my life.

It's been said by my Aunt Angelina that the war was the catalyst for my parents' relationship and so after that last history lesson, in which we learned that many students that fought in the war either intermarried or married outside of the Wizarding World, I also became curious about how exactly my parents got together.

As my closest aunt, she tells me stories about her and my mum; about how she helped her learn to ride a broom and play Quidditch, and of my mum's hopeless crush on my father during their Hogwarts years. I rarely ever heard these stories from my mother, but found it interesting how she married her old school crush. Perhaps her accounts would help me get my best friend, Seth Finnigan, to actually realize I'm a girl.

But, that wasn't something I wanted to argue with myself over at the moment, I had business to attend to...

I bounded excitedly down the old stone stairs of our house, trying to gain some composure before my mum thought I bought all the sweets from the trolley on the train back home again. My brothers and sister weren't home, which meant that I had my mother to myself. That rarely happened . I took a calming breath before turning the corner into the kitchen.

"Mum?" I asked, shy but determined.

"Hm?" She answered while flicking her wand towards the cabinet, summoning ingredients whilst the dishes washed themselves.

"I was just wondering..." I suddenly got a bit unconfident. My mother was a generally happy, kind person, but if you came at her the wrong way she could become quite frightening.

I realized that the likelihood of my mother being peeved or uncomfortable was slim, so I summoned my courage and went through with my plan.

"I was just wondering if you would be willing to tell me about your experience in the war..." I heard my own voice get smaller as I spoke, something I noticed that happens to my mum's voice sometimes when she and dad had a row.

She beamed at me though, "I thought you were never going to ask and I'd have to beat you into a chair to listen when I'm one hundred and ten. Let me just get dinner started."

Her eyes were wide with excitement, the brown in them shining like she'd won the Wizard lottery. She flicked her wand towards the ingredients -they started to mix together into a large cauldron immediately- then towards the stairs, murmuring "Accio School Stuff!" I heard some vague rummaging somewhere upstairs and a container a little larger than a shoe box came zooming down the stairs and into my mother's outstretched left hand, showing off her recreational Quidditch skills. My mum then flicked her wand again towards the stove and a kettle began to make tea. We sat down at the large wooden table in the dining room; my mum pulled her legs into her chair, crossing them before jumping with a start, almost like a twitch.

"...Accio Muggle Tape Recorder!" With another vague rustle from upstairs, the recorder came zooming around the corner. "This will be much easier to record with, it's a long story, so writing it by hand with a quill will be long and tedious, and you'll be able to use this for extra credit in Muggle studies."

I dropped my quill onto the table immediately.

"Okay, where should I begin?" asked my mum, already clearly excited.

"At the beginning, when the war started. You were just a kid, right? Exactly how old were you? How did you even get involved?"

"Well, I suppose it all began to brew during fifth year, after Harry Potter claimed Voldemort, had returned..."

A/N: I've posted this story before, but after receiving an EXCELLENT review from a reader, I've stripped the story down, rewritten parts, and made it better. If you've read it before, I hope you enjoy this more than the last version; and if you haven't, I hope you like it, because I've been working on it for over a year. The other chapters are still being edited, and I will be posting them soon.

As you can probably tell, I love this story, which is why I've been working with it for so long, and I hope you will too. Enjoy.

Also, reviews are more than appreciated. I will love you forever. To make reviewing even more appealing, I'll read a story of yours that you request. :) Just, please review.

~T