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While British citizens all over the country rang in the new year with fun and song, the Death Eaters were at work. At precisely 12:23am, the first reports of seeing the Dark Mark over Big Ben and the Thames river began to trickle in to the Ministry of Magic. First-responding Aurors were at the scene within five minutes, with back up Aurors and Hitwizards arriving minutes later. A thorough search of the clock tower revealed nothing, further searching of the immediate area uncovered that an entire pubful of celebrating Muggles had been slaughtered. Preliminary reports indicated that some of the Muggles died by the Killing Curse, but others were not as fortunate. A Ministry employee working on the case told the Prophet that some of the Muggles were indeed tortured before they were killed. Some were maimed, bloodied and bruised, while others had evidence of the Cruciatus Curse. The immediate reason for the attack is not known at this time, and further investigation will be needed to determine the details.
With the death toll by the Death Eaters already over 200, the year is not off to a good start. The Minister of Magic was unavailable for a statement, as was the entire Auror department, but we are told that he is scheduled to make a public statement this afternoon.