Magical Hogwarts

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Volume 31: September 2004



PAGE 1: CURRENT EVENTS AND MINI PLOTS

beauxbatons A new year at Beauxbatons has begun and some staff changes promise new adventures. The established Hypnosis professor Gaston Malinat is now teaching Care of Magical Creatures, substitute professor Arsène Dutour has returned out of his retirement to teach Botanique and socialite Vivianne Courtois has been appointed as Creative Arts and Literature professor. While Madame Olympe Maxime addresses the students at the beginning of term feast as usual, her speech this year is pretty brief, allowing the students of Beauxbatons to step forward and share their thoughts and hopes. In order to discover the students' passions and special talents in all different kinds of art, there is a new initiative "Beauxbatons Year of Arts" that introduces different forms of art throughout the year. While a lot of initiative is expected from the students, the professors Courtois and Böhme are available for support and to supply the students with what they need. In September students can take singing classes and attend choir practices. All professors have furthermore been asked to be available for career advice at any point this year to encourage students to study harder for their exams so they can achieve their goals no matter how highset they might be. durmstrang With the beginning of yet another new term, Durmstrang is excited to open its doors once again to its students. After Professor Erik Fisker’s paternity leave throughout the last semester, he is being welcomes back alongside a slew of professors new and old. Professor Galina Krylova has switched positions from Alchemy to Dark Flora and Fauna, though she has retained her position as Deputy Headmistress and Head of Klyk Vampira, which leaves room for new faces among the staff. Becoming what seems to be a new tradition under Headmaster Sevastyan Yeshevsky, there will once again be a “Welcome Home” formal gala for students of all ages immediately following the feast on the school grounds. Dress Uniforms are required for men, and dress robes of any kind are permitted for women. Underclassmen will be allowed to enjoy the ball until approximately 9pm on opening night, while the Upperclassmen are permitted to attend until 12am. Classes will begin promptly the following morning, however, and no tardiness will be excused due to late nights. For those who go against the grain, there are whispers of an unofficial after-party (or, more likely, concurrent party) underneath the school in the hidden port, but only those invited, and given a charmed invitation, have details of where and when to attend. ilvermorny It’s September once again, and Ilvermorny is celebrating the start of another school year. Students enjoyed the usual delicious welcome feast, able to sample the usual school fare as well as many dishes from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean islands. The feast was marred only by Headmaster Fontaine’s announcement that, due to construction following a mudslide in late July, several classes and professors’ offices have been relocated to temporary teaching facilities. Though the change is not expected to last more than a month or two, he has advised the affected teachers to make themselves comfortable. For the first week of term, students celebrated Friendship Day, with many returning students exchanging gifts and letters (charmed to fold into paper birds and fly to their recipients) with their closest compatriots, and new students encouraged to reach out and make new friends with their house- and classmates.

hogwarts Welcome back! This past summer has brought a few staffing changes and rearrangements, however the staff do not anticipate any transitional difficulties and are looking forward to another great year of cleaning out the reaccumulated https://www.hp-lexicon.org/thing/hogwarts-school-song' rel='nofollow noopener' target='_blank'>"dead flies and bits of fluff". Though perhaps not everyone is excited to be back at the castle: before the first weekend even arrived, tell-tale signs of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products in action began popping up all over the school. Portable Swamps covered several of the heavily-trafficked staircases, Decoy Detonators shrieked and whistled up and down the corridors during lessons, students spontaneously turned into large canaries during meals, trick wands activated in the library... and the list went on. The culprit is still at-large (and, for once, it does not seem to be Peeves), though the pranks have thus far been harmless and no one has been injured (aside from, in some cases, pride). In any case, Astronomy students have been advised to exercise caution in the unlikely event that a Punching Telescope is hiding among the equipment. world Alsace, France -- Traditionally taking place from mid-September to the end of October, the Alsace Wine Harvest attracts witches and wizards from around the world. Guests are invited to help with the harvest and then have a wine tasting in a semi-private atmosphere later on. It is possible to book a wine tasting tour with overnight stays at several old vineyards. Those guests that lend a helping hand with the harvest are usually given a box or more of six wine bottles as a thank you.

PAGE 2: SPORTS

league quidditch lift-off The British and Irish Quidditch League began its three-hundred and thirtieth season on Saturday the twenty-fifth of September, with their annual banquet and festivities. Featuring a who’s-who of the professional Quidditch world, the gala boasted attendants from all fourteen League teams, along with coaches, referees, Ministry officials, sports mediwizards, and (of course) the esteemed press. Particularly notable guests included media tycoon Elijah Cohen, who recently purchased the Wimbourne Wasps; Gordon Horton, the long-since retired, much beloved Chudley Cannons Keeper; and the Peterlee Plimpies, last year’s Cuaditch Children’s Club Champions. Hosted by the Department of Magical Games and Sports at the Hurly-Burly Hall in Hereford, England, the Quidditch Gala provided excellent food, varied drink, lively conversation, multiple sing-alongs of the Appleby Arrows’ unofficial anthem (Mary Moot’s 1985 hit “Proxima Centauri”) led largely by the Plimpies and their exhausted chaperones, live music, and a fireworks show in the evening. Finally, Daily Prophet staff is thrilled to report on the usual pre-season professional activities: new training regimes, new recruits, and – of course – the usual transfers and trades, ranging from the anticipated and acceptable, to the backstabbing betrayals that have some fans speculating that the real reason behind the Bats’ recent string of poor luck is a curse placed on the team after sniping former Chudley Cannon stalwart Craig Brown. Here’s to 2004, and (hopefully) another exciting season!

artistic flying world championships Guerlesquin in France hosted the eighth artistic flying world championships in August. The event has been largely advertised, especially in France, and the audience was the biggest ever for an artistic flying event held outside of Russia.Those lucky enough to get hold of a ticket got to see some great performances by established athletes as well as by some rising talents. The championships started with the junior competitions. In the junior men's competition two athletes from Russia, Fyodor Tikhomirov and Arseniy Mishin were a class of their own. After the technical exercise Arseniy Mishin was in the lead but after he made a little mistake in the free program, his rival Fyodor Tikhomirov was able to move up a place to secure the gold medal. The bronze medal went to Chengjiang Tong from China. The junior ladies competition was very tight and many mistakes were made. In second place after the technical exercise, Iroda Alieva moved up one place to become Uzbekistan's first junior world champion. The defending champion Yelizaveta Tikhomirova finished in second place while the reigning European junior champion Yevgeniya Shishkina lost a place to finish fourth behind the French Caroline Blanchard who won her first medal at international championships. Russian junior champion Anna Filimonova finished sixth at her first international championships. In the senior men's event, the gold and silver medals went as often to Anatoliy Tikhomirov and Gregoire Moulin while two former junior athletes had a fierce battle for the bronze medal. Just by the margin of one point Nikon Zima finished ahead of the reigning European junior champion Rodion Shishkin who had been in the third position after the technical exercise. Due to a recent injury, former multiple time medallist, Fabio Conti from Italy, couldn't perform his best but his high C-mark secured him at least the fifth place. The top two in the senior ladies' event were the same two athletes who have already dominated the sport for the past few years. Aglaya Tikhomirova defended her title with a good performance in the free program after her cousin, Svetlana Tikhomirova had beaten her by a small margin in the technical exercise. Surprisingly close to Svetlana Tikhomirova came the Hungarian Eszti Nagy who finished just one point below the vice champion in the free program. Élodie Dujardin from France narrowly edged out the third Russian competitor, Larissa Tikhomirova, earning the fourth place and thus the best place ever for a French senior lady.

PAGE 3: OTHER NEWS

pseudonym sleuthing According to several reliable sources, author of the critically-acclaimed brand new poetry book Out of Eden’s true identity has been revealed as none other than Kate Baker, ex-wife to popular wizarding rock band frontman Charlie Baker! Going by the pseudonym Dahlia Anthony, our protagonist must have known with her track record she’d be found out sooner rather than later! Stay tuned for more details in the next issue. a decade of banshee by Jonquil Jones They have had their fair share of less-than-complimentary headlines over the years but the Banshee boys (or should we be calling them ‘men’ now, at almost thirty?) have proved themselves as one of the most successful bands in the wizarding world. Their road was paved by the likes of The Weird Sisters and The Doxies, but Banshee can now comfortably be counted alongside their predecessors as a stalwart of British rock. Some would say they have been under-recognised by industry awards, most recently missing out to bassist Liam Thompson’s on-and-off lover Oliver Rigby (and his band, The Band) – no word on how this went down in the Banshee camp. Others might say they don’t deserve the attention or that their level of fame has been inflated by negative press rather than talent. If we focus on statistics, they had the fastest selling record for both their debut and sophomore albums – the pressure is surely on for their upcoming third release (sources say the trio have been spotted at recording studios in both London and Los Angeles). And, of course, some work is being done to repair their public image; notably, their ten year anniversary gig, held on Saturday 18th September in London, had proceeds going to the  Muggleborn Assistance Foundation – something we are sure is close to the heart of muggleborn frontman Charlie Baker. After the show, the primary lyricist was once again spotted with confectionery maestro Honey Flume, of Honeydukes – no official word yet on if they are official. Drummer and arguably the most eligible Banshee bachelor Sam Lynch still appears to be on the market. Rocking Horse Records have this morning announced that the full September show was recorded live, and the vinyl will be available for purchase by late October, with a portion of profits also going to the Muggleborn Assistance Foundation.

Interview: Svetlana Vsevolodna Tikhomirova At the last weekend of August there was the annual open day at the Artistic Flying school in Rybinsk. Irina Sergeyevna Onishenko watched the showcase and managed to get an interview with Svetlana Vsevolodna Tikhomirova, Silver medallist at the world championships and Russian national champion. Sveta, thank you for agreeing to this interview and congrats on a successful season. But tell me, how does it feel to be second best again? Of course I’m disappointed that I added to my collection of international silver medals instead of finally being a champion again. Aglaya clearly has the support of the judges. I’m not giving up, though. Do you feel that it was unfair that Aglaya Antonovna Tikhomirova got to participate at the world championships after withdrawing from the national championships? Aglaya is a multiple time international champion. Of course she is a favourite to represent Russia. It does feel a little unfair that she didn’t have to qualify at nationals but I have to accept the decision. She is your cousin. Do you feel like family or just like rivals? We’re both professional athletes. We get along fairly well outside the arena but once we enter a competition it doesn’t matter that we are related. We are rivals then and want to defeat the other. You used to receive high technical scores and to impress because of your consistency. This season we’ve seen some mistakes from you while Aglaya Antonovna could still play out her strength when it came to some highlight elements and the interpretation of her free program. What was different for you this season? I’ve worked hard on improving my interpretation in the free program. I’ve tried to close the gap between myself and Aglaya there but I’m still struggling a little to focus on both - artistic expression and technical elements.

Which is something your rival seems to manage quite convincingly. There are also new young talents coming every season. How does it feel that a strong new generation of artistic flyers even from your family is going to join the senior ranks soon? I’m not scared of them if that’s what you’re asking. They are no threat yet and I’ll keep improving so they won’t endanger my position. Do you sometimes feel that you only stand a chance to win titles after Aglaya Antonovna retires? Well, without her I’d probably already be a multiple time champion. However, I’m an athlete. I want a real competition. I want to beat the best artistic flyers out there and I will try to beat Aglaya again next year if she keeps competing. Besides, her being such a strong competitor pushes me to work harder on myself and become the best athlete I can be. You said 'if she keeps competing', is she considering to end her career? I really don’t know. We don't talk about these things. However, she is not exactly a young athlete anymore and it’s getting harder for her to keep up with the younger competitors. Yet she defended her world title and you had to perform your best to secure the silver medal. Aglaya has been competing for many years and the judges love her. Part of her success is her reputation as a multiple time champion. However, I’m not feeling discouraged by this season’s results. I’ll work even harder and it’ll pay off. Do you already have a piece of music chosen for your free program for the next season and are you working on any new elements? No, the current season only just came to an end. I’ll start looking for a new program within the next few weeks. Thank you for the interview and good luck for the future Thank you.

PAGE 5: CREDITS AND NOTICES

information We have revamped The Daily Prophet based on member feedback and welcome any comments or suggestions in an effort to further improve the Prophet. credits This issue was created by the Administration team, with additional submissions and ideas from  Ashton and Laura. We would like to thank Christine for the super easy to use coding (and recoding), and Samm for the amazing header

how to contribute We would love to include more member-led stories and submissions. This can be in the form of in-character letters to the editors, rumours and gossip, or character-driven plots. You can submit your ideas to any member of the team, however if you have something in mind for a specific geographical area of the board please try to contact the admin for that area: Olivia for Hogwarts & Britain, Inga for Beauxbatons & Western Europe, Dylan for Durmstrang & Eastern Europe, and Lianne for Ilvermorny & North America.

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