A/N: I'm not brilliant at writing newspaper articles, so I hope this turns out ok.
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Chapter Three – The Daily Prophet Reports *Newspaper Article*
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SNAPE SUSPECT FOR FUDGE'S MURDERThe Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was murdered last night at Hollyleaf House, the mansion bequeathed to the Ministry by the late Jonathan Maxwell after his untimely death 20 years ago. Ministry officials have told The Daily Prophet that the murder was "unexpected by all and decidedly gruesome." The murder took place between the hours of 10 and 11pm during one of the Ministry's famed Dinner and Dance parties. It is reported that the Minister's guards heard screaming coming from his office, and upon entering they found Fudge's wand near the doorway, broken in half. Fudge's body itself was lying sprawled face down over his desk with multiple stabs to the back of his body. On further inspection, it became clear that he had also been stabbed twice in the front of his upper torso.
Severus Snape, a member of one of the oldest and most revered wizarding families in Europe, was arrested half an hour after the finding of the deceased Cornelius Fudge. The basis for arrest was due to his public aggression towards Fudge earlier in the evening – when he accused him of refusing to listen to Dumbledore's claims that You-Know-Who has been regaining strength. The Ministry released a statement a month ago over these claims, telling the public that so far there is no truth in the rumours that Dumbledore has been maliciously spreading. Snape then went on to imply that Fudge had some involvement with You-Know-You, which only brings into question Snape's own involvement. It has been rumoured for many years that Snape was a Deatheater, but the respected Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, has long denied these allegations on Snape's behalf.
When Dumbledore was asked about the rumours of Snape's loyalties and if he believed Snape did murder Fudge after Snape's arrest, he refused to comment.
One of our on-site reporters, Rita Skeeter, was able to speak with three other individuals at the party, two of whom are students at Hogwarts where Snape has been teaching Potions for several years.
"Ron Weasley (18) the youngest son of Arthur Weasley, a Ministry worker, told me that Snape, 'was a devil for giving out detentions, but I couldn't see him murdering anyone.'" says Rita, "But I could see in his eyes that he was terrified, as if afraid of saying a bad word against Snape. I then confronted a girl, whom I had met three years ago during the disastrous return of the Tri-wizard tournament, by the name of Hermione Granger (18) who told me that it was 'sad to see Fudge die in such a tragic way', but she refused to give out any information as to her thoughts on Snape. One must only conclude that the students are too scared to name Snape out of fear of what he might do to them after his release. Later that night I was also able to talk with Cheryl Maxwell (41), one of the wizarding society's high-fliers, who told me that Snape had 'left the hall in a hurry, after telling me that he was drunk. I was scared that he might try to do something.' When I asked Cheryl if she believed that Snape was the killer, she replied positively telling me, 'Yes… I would not put it past him.'"
Snape is now being detained at Azkaban, but it is suspected that he will be released within a matter of hours unless enough evidence against him is found. His arrest has made the Ministry more active in investigating Dumbledore's running of Hogwarts. It had been made clear that if Dumbledore allows Snape to teach on his release, they plan to remove Dumbledore from the school and place it under temporary control of the Ministry's Education Department.
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