If anyone had bothered to scrounge up the Ministry court records for late July of 1980 (and more than one scurrilous person did), they would have noted several strange proceedings that made Amadeus Shaylander's trial vastly different from normal inquiries conducted by the ministry. First, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, intervened on behalf of the musician to request a small, confidential inquest. Secondly, Dumbledore himself agreed to serve witness for the boy, along with Minerva McGonagall, and of all the random appointments, Daphne Valerian, a potion brewer at St. Mungo's. The three members of the Wizengamot were sworn to secrecy, and aside from the three aforementioned witnesses, and the accused, were the only people present at the trial. All transcripts from the event have been protected by spells not even Voldemort's lackeys could manage to circumnavigate. The only element of the trial that was made public knowledge was the sentence. It was actually listed as a headline in the Sunday edition of the Daily Prophet:
Shaylander Banned from Public Performance
After his absolutely stunning explosion during a Muggle performance outside of Chicago, young Amadeus Shaylander is officially banned from future public performance by the Ministry of Magic. In a hush-hush trial, the three members of the Wizengamot decreed that the beloved musician would no longer be allowed to perform for Muggle or Magical audiences. But all is not lost for his dedicated fans, he is still able to produce and sell recordings of his work to the Magical community.
Mr. Shaylander was a wildly popular classical pianist and composer. From the tender age of eighteen, he traveled the globe performing for sold-out houses both Magical and Muggle. He received critical acclaim on many fronts. First, he was a renowned performer of classical repertoire both solo and concert. He also received accolade for his numerous recordings of these classical works. Recently, however, he had become most widely recognized for his exceptional albums of new music. His self-composed albums were the toast of symphonies from London to Sydney, Vienna to New York. He recently ended his tour for his second album of original work. Cont. pg. 4
Cont. from Cover Story For those of you that haven't paid attention to news from the past month, "Deus", as he is known to his fans, was scheduled to perform a Muggle concert on June 30th at Ravinia, a popular Muggle summer venue. Those of you familiar with his work will know that he gives modified performances for Muggles, eliminating all use of his extraordinary magical abilities to project colors and set the mood. However, at this particular concert, He sat down at the piano to give quite a different performance. He got through the first sonata with no difficulty and no irregularities in his performance. However, the very first movement of the second sonata triggered something for him. About a minute into the militaristic movement, he broke down, crying. The few wizards and witches in attendance who did not require memory modification testify that he continued his performance for another full minute. Quite suddenly, the piano exploded, and the entire stage erupted in flames. Deus could be heard to yell from the middle of the inferno, but our witnesses were unable to make out what he had said. It is estimated that nearly three thousand Muggles required memory modification after the event. The Ministry, working with the American Bureau of Magic, were able to contain the affair, and there was no further contamination in the Muggle media.
A severe backlash was anticipated in the Magical community. Shaylander was a popular performer, but many questioned his mingling with Muggles performance in the first place. However, Merlin seems to be on Mr. Shaylander's side. We could only find out that Albus Dumbledore, a great fan of classical music and Mr. Shaylander, intervened on his behalf. The trial will air no details about the proceedings, but we do know that they settled on the lenient side of justice. If anyone else had caused an incident requiring that many memory modifications, the only music they would be making would be screams from their cell in Azkaban. Our congratulations to Mr. Shaylander on his victory, and we would love to get the name of his lawyer.