The Sky's The Limit
7th July 2025
Destined To Succeed Or Doomed To Fail?
New Ministry Scheme Unveiled
Today marks the launch of a new Ministry programme, aimed at eradicating prejudice in our modern world and building a new future, free from the narrow-mindedness and intolerance that led to the recent wizarding war. Headed by young muggle enthusiast Steven Hopkinson (21) and including in its team the recent Hogwarts graduate Scorpius Malfoy (18) who was forced to fight hard for his place on the programme (full story, page nine), the initiative hopes to bring about tolerance and understanding through the education of witches and wizards in the ways of muggles.
Critics are unenthusiastic, however, with many saying that the programme is "doomed to failure" and merely a "pathetic attempt to make the Ministry appear to be doing something productive." These critics claim that the programme will attract only muggle-lovers who wish to learn more, doing nothing to tackle the real problems that are rooted among old, pureblood families. They say that these pureblood elitists will never sign up for such a course, and that the programme will soon peter out, consigned to the scrap heap along with many other useless Ministry programmes.
A revolutionary new scheme or a ridiculous waste of time and money: what will it turn out to be? Only time will tell.
15th November 2025
Could You Live Like A Muggle?
How much do you know about Muggles? Enough to dress like one well enough not to attract attention? Perhaps. Enough to hold a conversation with one without saying anything particularly stupid? Maybe. Enough to live like one for several months? Probably not. Today, for the first time, seven adult witches and wizards venture out into the muggle world, attempting to live without magic. For the last four months, they have studied muggle culture, muggle habits and even the use of eceltricity. They know how to answer a fellytone, watch a moving picture (though I've been informed that these aren't in fact pictures, and are normally referred to as "movies") and can cook meals without the use of magic.
Predicted four months ago to fail completely, this programme has denied the expectations of critics and drawn in surprising numbers of applicants, the latest total being seventy-three. However, it is yet to be deemed a complete success, and the experience of the seven participants over the next few months may be the key factor in deciding its value. Has it truly prepared them for what they must face, or will they find the muggle world too much to cope with, even after the training they have received?
Watch this space, readers. Regardless of the outcome, this could prove to be a very interesting experiment indeed.
11th May 2026
From Prejudice To Friendship
Purebloods Rethink Out-dated Beliefs
Now nearing its one-year anniversary, the anti-prejudice scheme launched by the Ministry last July has much to celebrate. Although receiving doubtful reviews to begin with, the programme has attracted several hundred applicants over the last ten months, with graduates of the course having nothing but positive feedback to give.
"It's totally changed my perspective, not only on muggles, but on my whole life," says Maria Redman (34), "I had no idea how hard it would be to live without magic, even just for a couple of months, and feel nothing but respect for the muggles who do so every day. The ways they have thought up to deal with problems we would solve with a mere flick of a wand are simply incredible, and I will never take magic for granted again."
Not only has the experience been educational, but it has also had some other surprising effects. "I made several friends while living in muggle London," Maria tells us, "They're muggles, but apart from that we're unbelievably similar. My family are an old pureblood one, so I've never really had much contact with muggles before, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed their company. The woman who was staying in the flat next to mine, a muggle named Stacey, has become almost like the sister I never had. I can't tell her about being a witch, of course, but in spite of that we get along brilliantly. Needless to say, my parents aren't too pleased!"
Much of the success of the scheme can be accredited to its leader, Steven Hopkinson (22) and his charming and very enthusiastic assistant, Scorpius Malfoy (19). The two make an excellent team, and have had incredible success with their rather unusual and radical teaching methods, succeeding to an extent that nobody could possibly have predicted.
So what's next? How far will this initiative go? With such positive results so far and the determination and willpower to do just about anything, there is nothing to stop Steven and Scorpius from soaring to even higher heights and achieving more than anyone would ever have expected when this all first began.
3rd December 2026
Dream Team Soars To New Heights
A year and a half ago, Steven Hopkinson was a nobody, unknown to anybody apart from his close friends and family, and Scorpius Malfoy was a name vaguely associated with former Death Eaters Lucius and Draco Malfoy, but had done very little in his own right. Today they are the heroes of all muggle-rights campaigners, celebrities of the wizarding world and potential candidates for an Order of Merlin, First Class. The pair are responsible for a scheme that has revolutionised the way the wizarding community view muggles. Since launching their programme, numbers of muggle-abuse related crimes have been reduced by almost ninety per cent, and a recent survey carried out by the Daily Prophet indicates that the number of people who feel muggles are "inferior" has more than halved.
To what do these two young wizards owe their success? While the Ministry claims to have supported this initiative from the beginning, sources within the department reveal that Steven had to fight long and hard to persuade them even to consider it, and that they received very little funding at the beginning. It was not assistance from the Ministry, then, that allowed the two young men to achieve so much. It seems they have no one to thank but one another, and that the credit goes to nothing but their own hard work and dedication.
"My parents have been incredible in supporting me with this," Scorpius tells the Prophet – a revelation which might surprise those who still see Draco Malfoy as a Death Eater, pureblood supremacist through and through – in a recent interview, "And my friends Al and Rose have always encouraged me to stick with this dream, even when it seemed impossible. I couldn't have done it without them. Steve's been brilliant, too. He's such a great team leader, and he has a real passion for this that inspires those around him to believe in the things he believes in."
Steve has equally positive things to say about his co-worker: "Scorpius is one of the most charismatic people I've ever met. You just can't help but like him. He can be introduced to some old-fashioned traditionalist with very extreme views about muggle inferiority, and within ten minutes he's got them questioning everything they've ever believed and seeing the world from a completely different perspective. I don't know how he does it."
While Steven is the driving force behind it all, it is clear that Scorpius is the one to actually introduce the ideas to people. They each teach a class – and have been forced to take on and train six new teachers due to the demand for this course – and their students have nothing but praise for the unique and clearly understandable way in which they teach.
Only seventeen months after critics deemed it "pathetic" and "doomed to failure" this radical scheme has altered the entire make-up of our society. We can only hope that Steven and Scorpius will continue to surprise and challenge us far into the future. When it comes to these two, it seems the sky really is the limit.
Al,
My Transfiguration course finishes in a couple of months, and I just received a letter from Professor Dabinett saying that the Transfiguration teacher is happy to take me on as an assistant at some point and then, once she retires, I would be considered for the permanent position. Isn't that great? It wouldn't be for a couple of years though, so I thought I might move down to London and try and get a job there. I'm going to share a flat with Ruth Cassidy – remember, the Ravenclaw who refused to go out with you – and hopefully get a job, maybe in a shop in Diagon Alley or something.
You're in London for the very end of your training, aren't you? It'll be great to see you more regularly – I feel like I've barely seen you at all over the last few years – and hopefully I can be there when you graduate from training and become a real Auror.
See you soon!
Rose
Rose,
That's great! I can't wait to see you. It's been weird only seeing you once or twice a year, after us seeing each other almost every day when we were at Hogwarts.
Look forward to seeing you!
Al
Scorp,
I've got my final test in a couple of weeks, and then I become a proper Auror! Isn't that brilliant? I can't believe this is actually happening. Then again, compared to Scorpius "Hero-of-the-Muggleborns-and-Champion-for-Equality" Malfoy, being an Auror doesn't really seem that impressive, does it?
Anyway, Rose has finished her course and is moving to London. I would suggest the three of us meet up, but I don't know if that's going to be too difficult for you, after all the history between you. She's arriving on Saturday and I though maybe we could all go out together on Sunday. Do you want to come?
Al
Al,
I'm not really too bothered about seeing Rose. We're both mature adults and can move on from what happened in the past. After all, I'm completely over her, and I'm sure she's over me, too. If I were still in love with her or something I might not want to, but I'm not and for old times' sake it would be nice for the three of us to get together.
I'm busy this Sunday, though. In fact, I'm pretty busy for most of the foreseeable future. You'd think now we've hired so many more people Steve and I would have less work to do, but apparently it doesn't work like that. It's absolutely crazy here. Might be best if you just meet Rose, and maybe I'll see her some other time. Or maybe I won't. Either way, it's not a big deal to me.
Congratulations on making it through the Auror course, and good luck on your final test. I'm sure you'll do brilliantly. And I hope that's not you being bitter, because if I remember correctly we both promised a long time ago never to be jealous of one another. And besides, Aurors are an essential part of society, and being one is very impressive.
Scorp
Scorp,
Yeah, I'm sure things must be very busy right now. Even though Sunday is your day off, I'm sure there's still far too much stuff for you to do for you to be able to come out for a couple of hours. Rose will understand.
Of course I'm not bitter. I was joking. While I'm very pleased for how successful you've been – and you deserve every bit of it – and very proud of you, I wouldn't trade places with you for the world. Some people are born to revolutionise the wizarding community; some are born to be Aurors. I'm the latter.
Hope to see you soon,
Al
P.S. I'm not buying any of it. I'm your best mate and I'm not stupid. You can pretend all you like, but you're not over Rose. If you want to be "busy", however, I will go along with that. It's your life.
