Entry tags:

!1997: 08, !daily prophet, !news

Daily Prophet: August 6, 1997

Death Eater Causes Panic in Diagon Alley
Betty Braithwaite

The peace of Diagon Alley was shattered early yesterday evening as Rabastan Lestrange showed himself in Flourish & Blotts, setting fire to a display and terrorizing Diagon shoppers before Aurors arrived on scene and Lestrange went back into hiding.

Rabastan Lestrange, formerly an inmate of Azkaban, was a notorious criminal and follower of You-Know-Who during the seventies, and was eventually arrested and charged with multiple acts of murder, casting of Unforgiveables, vandalism, and associating with criminals and was incarcerated in Azkaban until his escape last year.

"It's like one minute I was looking at his wanted poster," said one Flourish & Blotts shopper, "and the next he was right in front of me, setting me on fire. Like he'd stepped out of the poster itself."

Following the sighting was another grisly altercation, as Aurors apprehended fellow Auror and Death Eater sympathizer Quillan Johnson who, seemingly spurned on by the appearance of Lestrange, chose to reveal himself as a Death Eater to his comrades in a violent attack. Auror Keiffer Kendrick was killed in the attack, and Auror Iain Edsel was taken to St. Mungo's where he is receiving treatment as is unable to make a statement.

It was initially reported that the Aurors had been questioning Mrs. Ava Edgecombe of the Department of Magical Transportation and her daughter, a Flourish & Blotts employee, at the time of the traitorous attack. However, sources close to the family say that the Edgecombes were planning on visiting relatives in Mozambique, and that they must have left after Lestrange's appearance in the shop. Johnson has been taken in to custody, and the families of his victims have this reporter's deepest sympathies.