The Spark {Book 5 in the Star of Gryffindor Series}

Chapter 20 - Potterwatch

The Daily Prophet
Issue No. 102,077
26 January, 2022

Special 25 Year Anniversary Broadcast of Potterwatch!

The Wizarding Wireless Network is proud to present a 25th Anniversary broadcast of the war-time station Potterwatch, created and run by the Vice President of the WWN, Lee Jordan. Potterwatch was created in 1997 by Jordan, then a nineteen-year-old member of the heroic Order of the Phoenix. With the help of George and Fred Weasley, he daringly worked to get information out to the vast majority of wizards during the reign of You Know Who.

This anniversary broadcast is meant to commemorate the sacrifices of all the brave wizards and witches who gave their lives during the years of the Second Wizarding War, as well as celebrate the peace that has lasted almost 25 years...

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Mr. Longbottom was arrested over the weekend, on charge of "conspiring in secret meetings against the Ministry." He wasn't sent to Azkaban, because he hadn't been convicted of anything, but it was still a big deal. A lot of people were outraged. A lot more were outraged because it hardly made the papers, just a side note on a middle page. It seemed like Hestia Carrow wanted to keep it quiet. Of course, we all knew about it at school because a couple of people who had read about it made a point of singling out the Longbottoms and either taunting them or comforting them. Soon, the whole school was buzzing with the news.

The Hufflepuffs were planning a protest. The entirety of the seventh year class from Hufflepuff (along with some others from other Houses) were planning on ditching school on the day of his trial to stage a silent protest at he Ministry itself. All the younger students who couldn't apparate were writing letters (or howlers) to the Minister about what a mistake she'd made. Most of the school joined in by the end of the week.

Other news was less grim. Mr. Longbottom's plight had been booted off the front page by an announcement of a twenty years edition of Potterwatch, something I'd never heard of but Albus was happy to explain. I didn't understand why "celebrating peace" was something that seemed to fit right now, considering that, even without Stillens being known, there had been two major terrorist attacks in the last four months and several other smaller ones. But Carrow would push whatever agenda she possibly could to keep the public happy. I couldn't say I was surprised.

Toire was doing well, and they expected her to make a full recovery. Teddy's letter about it was almost completely unintelligible, and I had to wait until Aunt Andromeda owled me the next day to figure out what he meant. She was going to be okay. I could finally breathe easily.

James's birthday was approaching. The big one, too: 17 years old. He would be learning how to apparate this term, and by the Easter holidays he'd be able to test for his apparition license. He talked of nothing else for a solid two weeks leading up to it. It got to the point where Albus and I were actively avoiding him, much to Wren's annoyance. I felt kind of bad, because it was his birthday, and it was a big deal, but he was getting to the point where we couldn't get a word in.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts, before class had started, I told Wren she needed to talk to him. She turned around and said she'd tried, and he hadn't even realized he'd been doing it.

"Once it comes, it'll be fine," she said. "After his birthday he'll go back to normal. Right?"

Albus nodded. "Of course. But his birthday isn't for another week and I have had put up with him for almost sixteen years. So if I end up ducking out of the room when I see him coming, don't blame me."