July 1st

~NEWS~

NIVERA AND DARKSTORM ENGAGED!                                                                                                                             

By Falas Farraro, Edited by Mary Hardcastle

The Deputy Headmistress, Naya Nivera, and the Transfiguration professor, Henrick Darkstorm, are engaged! Though the two have only been a couple for a short time, Nivera gladly accepted when Darkstorm proposed. They are now planning the wedding! Please congratulate these magically lucky professors of Hogwarts!

THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER

By Chloé Lee-Gauthier, Edited by Vixtellion Cytrovixus

Have you Muggles ever wished you could visit the world of Harry Potter? Well, now you can! After paying muggle money, which I believe is called dollars, you can go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, by the juggles at Universal Studios. You can visit Diagon Alley, run by Disney World (a Muggle recreational resort). This is a great vacation for all fans of Harry Potter, magical or nonmagical!

~SPORTS~

THE SEMIFINALS: BULGARIA vs. JAPAN, USA vs. BRAZIL

By Vixtellion Cytrovixus, Edited by Jake Kim

The semifinals will be set as Bulgaria vs. Japan and the United States vs. Brazil. According to the records, Bulgaria is mostly focused on strength rather than strategy, while Japan's coach had set up a plan for the Japanese, focusing on their speed. However, some say that the Bulgarian team also had set up plans, so this game is almost impossible to predict who the winner will be. Brazil and USA have similar statistics, they both have a balance on strength and plans. Though Brazil can be predicted as a winner of this match, as they are familiar with this kind of competition as even magical folk of this country a obsessed with soccer (also known as futbol). However, America also has plenty of chance on winning, as they have great strength and Muggles of this country enjoy American Football, similar to another Muggle sport called Rugby, which requires strength, speed, and skill, just like Quidditch.

VIKTOR KRUM RETURNS! -INTERVIEW-

By Molly O'Gorman, Edited by Mary Hardcastle and Ellen Kingman 

Viktor Krum on coming out of retirement.
When I first meet Krum, it is after Bulgaria's match with New Zealand in the 2014 Quidditch World Cup. He is naturally in a good mood - Bulgaria won easily - and is more than happy to discuss his recent return to Quidditch. 
I sip a pumpkin juice as he has a Firewhisky. I ask him why he chose to return twelve years after his retirement - he is, after all, thirty-eight. He smiles, responding in barely-faltering English. "I did not think to retire so early, but one thing led to another…" He is unwilling to bring up Bulgaria's crushing 2002 defeat to Egypt so early in the conversation. "I always felt that I could bring more to Quidditch, that I had not fulfilled my potential. I jumped at the chance to get back in the game - I aim to win the World Cup before I die." 
Well, Bulgaria is certainly in with a fighting chance. Before the World Cup began, the Bulgarian team was faced with a lot of criticism for taking Krum on as their Seeker - he is by far the oldest player in the Cup. I ask him how it felt, to be faced with that. 
"It is hard," he acknowledges, "to open the newspaper and be attacked in the first column, people with no background in Quidditch telling you that you're not good enough, but you have to get on with it. I've been playing Quidditch internationally since I was seventeen; I've learned not to let it get to me. Besides" - he laughs as he refills his goblet - "I proved them all wrong today." He smiles again, remembering the 410-170 victory, heightened by his catching of the Snitch. "I feel sorry for Ponika [the New Zealand Seeker] though. It is bad luck to draw against Bulgaria in the first round. But he is young - he has a sparkling career ahead. This is my last chance." 
I couldn't call my interview complete without asking him about his childhood, specifically the Triwizard Cup of 1994-5 which still lies at least partially shrouded in mystery. I ask him if he was put under the Imperius Curse, but he just shrugs. "I don't remember - take from that what you will." 
I press him further - what was it like to be a Triwizard champion? - but again he shrugs. "The other champions, Fleur Delacour and Cedric Diggory" - he pauses a moment in remembrance of the champion who died during the tournament -"they found it difficult, the sudden fame. For me and [Harry] Potter it was something that we had already adjusted to."
International fame came for Krum when he was seventeen and began taking part in European competitions, peaking when Bulgaria came second in the 1994 Quidditch World Cup to Ireland when Krum was only eighteen. I ask him what fame at such a young age was like. He laughs; this is a question which he has been asked many times. "For a long time, I didn't realise that people were starting to know my name. Quidditch was my passion. I missed a lot of school [he attended Durmstrang] for Quidditch, and I had to work hard to catch up, and for a long time it was just a lot of hard work.
"I didn't really think about the spectators - it was just me and the Golden Snitch. I remember being fifteen [he had just been signed to a team in the Bulgarian league] when a little kid approached me with a quill and asked for an autograph. I was totally bemused at first, but I suddenly realised that people liked me, people knew who I was. But yes, it was hard too, because when you're fifteen, sixteen, it's difficult to tell the difference between real friends and…" He waves his hands futilely, searching for the word. "Nifflers," he says at last. "There were lots of Nifflers at Durmstrang - not least the professors. Only a few friends have stayed with me."
We move on, and I can't help but ask about the 2002 match against Egypt (450-300) that signalled the apparent end to Krum's career. Krum winces as I bring it up. "It was a painful loss - Zaghloul [the Egyptian seeker] played very well, excellently, but I couldn't see that at the time, only that we had lost and that I was no longer good enough. It was dead even, the whole match, and I blew it for them. I thought I'd worn myself out. To have come second both times - it is not a position I want to be in again. I sometimes feel like I have spent a lifetime being second-best." He loses himself for a moment, staring wistfully into nowhere until I call him back to our conversation. "Let's see how [the match against] Norway goes," he says. "I don't want to jinx anything - figuratively speaking."
Our conversation ends as Chaser Nikola Vassileva calls him over to discuss team tactics, but I run into him again after the Norway game, which Bulgaria won by 150 points. Krum is elated - over the moon, he tells me in our brief conversation. "The Norwegians were the favourites - we were the outliers. It was 20-20, forty-two minutes in, and I caught it. Kristofferson [Norwegian Seeker] was of course upset, and I felt for her - it's the position I was in twelve years ago - but you win some, you lose some." It is clear from Krum's beam, so rarely seen on the face of the deadpan Bulgarian, that he prefers to win. He is hoisted on the shoulders of the Bulgarians and taken away for the celebrations. Far from being the hindrance supposed, Krum has turned into the Bulgarian team's greatest asset this season. However, all is still to play for against Japan - the odds have so far been in his favour, but Krum would be devastated to miss out on the title after getting this close once more.

~APPENDICES~

FIVE MINUTE ICE CREAM -RECIPE-

By Livienne Dandelion

Ice cream is popular not only in the Wizarding world, but also in the Muggle world. This is a recipe to make your own ice cream in only five minutes!

Ingredients:

1 (10 ounce) package frozen sliced strawberries, blueberries, or mixed berries.

1/2 cup of sugar

2/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Combine the frozen berries and sugar in a food processor or blender. Process until the fruit is roughly chopped. Spell to process food may be used alternatively if you cannot acquire this Muggle tool, but you will need a large pot or cauldron to process it in. With the processor (or spell) running, slowly pour in the heavy cream until fully incorporated. Serve immediately or freeze for up to one week.

Enchantments For the Bewitching Mind

By Soccorso Micheli Di Spirito de Cruz

A Charm to Send in the Name of Love

Fold a paper as white as snow
Fold it three times but no more
On one of the squares inscribes this rhyme
In ink like blood or crimson wine

*Drawn from my hand
These words run blood
Or wine, not ink,
Thy lip to woo:
So may they spend
My heart's sweet flood,
Bidding thee drink
The love I brew.*

Kiss it
Address it
And send it away,
But keep your name tongue-tied
A year and a day

~COMICS~

WIZARDING WEDNESDAY                                                                                                                                                    

By Timothy Winchester                                                                                                         

HIJINKS ENSUE                                                                                                                                                                     

By Joel Watson

NO ROOM FOR MAGIC                                                                                                                                                       

By Adrian Ramos