The Highgate Rampage

"Crazed Teenage Witch Attacks Muggle Park"

 * Just after noon this past Saturday, 16 year old witch Amanda Brewer attacked a group of unsuspecting muggles in Highgate Park, West Midlands, Birmingham.


 * AmandaBrewer.jpg only with her wand, the Avalon student proceeded to hex, jinx, and curse any muggle who crossed her path as she worked her way from the north west end of the park, past the playscapes, towards the south east end. Fifteen muggles were killed, including 3 children aged five, six, and nine. Twenty more were injured, including five children before Brewer could be subdued.


 * "It was lucky we got to her as quickly as we did," says one Ministry official. "If it had been a month later, she wouldn't have had the trace any more and we may not have been able to respond with the necessary speed."


 * Brewer, a five year member of the Witches League, has remained silent as to her motives in attacking the muggles. Her division members deny any allegations that their group would support such action in a member, instead commenting that they wished they had seen signs of such obvious psychological distress before she ruined her life and the lives of so many others.


 * "I just---I just can't understand," says Avalon student and Witches League spokesperson, Vivian Woods, "she never expressed anything like this in the past...This is just...just not how a League girl behaves. She knows that. My heart goes out to all the victims who've been touched by this terrible tragedy."


 * The injured were taken to St. Mungo's for treatment before having their memories changed by the Obliviators. They are all expected to make a full recovery. While many of them refused to comment, one outraged father did speak to a Prophet reporter before being taken to St. Mungo's. His name is being withheld for privacy reasons.


 * "It's unfathomable to me, how somebody could have done something like this. I mean, there were kids there! Kids! My little Jamie was standing four feet from me when that maniac started shooting! If I hadn't scooped her up, she could have been hit. I don't understand it. I really don't."

The Aftermath
The Highgate Ramage, as it would come to be called, was the first attack of this scale since the days of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

It brought to light many questions about the teachings of such groups as the Witches League and its male counterpart, the Trailblazers. However, those questions were put to rest within a few months of the attacks by the unimpeachable conduct of the majority of its members. While their doctrine is, very obviously, pro-pureblood, it cannot be said (officially) that it promotes hatred and violent behavior towards muggles.

It should be noted, however, that soon after Charles Mayhew became headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, both clubs were banned from the school. It it rumored that the Highgate Rampage was one of the reasons for his speedy acquisition of the post after the death of the last headmaster. If such a rumor is true, it would seem that Mayhew's job is not only to lead and protect the students of Hogwarts, but also to stop the growth of any open discrimination against muggleborn and part-muggle students by pro-pureblood activists.


 * The Daily Prophet is now taking donations for the building of a memorial statue in the park, for the lives lost in the attack.