New Hogwarts Students Shrouded in Secrecy
Never one to put too much store by convention, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has recently begun to take in strays, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Hogwarts Correspondent. The newest influx of Hogwarts 'students' arrived not by train, as is the norm, but rather were smuggled into the castle under cover of darkness this past Halloween.

The Headmaster's official statement regarding these new students was that they were the sole survivors of a plague that ravaged their small village. The children in question have been quarantined in a secluded part of the castle. As of this writing, the Daily Prophet has been unable to locate the village, and has uncovered no evidence of the alleged plague that occurred there.

'Pure rubbish!' exclaimed one interested observer.

Rumours abound that the children in question are from a leper colony and are at the school to assist in the training of students interested in Healing. More troubling is the speculation that these children have been forcibly brought to Hogwarts for the purposes of nefarious alchemical research.

Ministry officials had no comment on the matter, although Madam Bagnold maintains that Albus Dumbledore 'has [her] complete trust.' Sources close to the Minister, however, intimated that a thorough investigation of the school might soon be underway.