The Dark Days are Coming

Witches and wizards if this is true we are in serious trouble. The Ministry of Magic has posted an official period of crisis. This means that you should do the following until the warning is lifted:
1. Lock all doors and windows.

2. Put an anti-apparate anti-disapparate charm on your homes (even if you live in an area mostly populated by Muggles).

3. Do not go out after dark.

4. Do not go anywhere alone.

5. Report all suspicious behavior to the Ministry of Magic.

6. The following people are being watched by the Ministry of Magic in connection with the murder:
The Malfoys
The Crabbes
The Goyles
Macnair
Nott

If you see any of these people doing something strange alert the Ministry at once. All of you are probably surprised to see some names on that list. Like the Malfoys. They are Minister Fudges close friends. Well Minister Fudge is not leading this investigation, the Head of the Department of Mysteries is. The Malfoys are believed to be connected with the Quidditch World Cup Massacre, and other such Muggle torturings. Everyone on that list is believed to be Death Eaters and connected with Muggle torturings. Do not get in these people's way, it may be the last thing you ever do.

How many of you have heard about the phoenix. Probably all of you, but how many of you really know the phoenix? Not many of you. In this edition the Prophet will use quotes from the book The Sorcerer's Companion.
The most amazing thing about the phoenix is that it burst into flames every five-hundered years or so. From the ashes of these flames a baby phoenix appears. The phoenix in some cultures is a sign of the sun. Like the phoenix, the sun "dies" when it sets, and when the baby phoenix comes out of the ashes, like the sun metophorically being "reborn" by rising over the horizon, the phoenix is reborn.
It is legend that wild phoenixes eat frankincense, cinnamon, myrrh, and other suck herds and spices.
Most people want to know what happens to the ashes of the dead phoenix. Do they just get blown away by the wind? No, not at all. The fledgling phoenix, after gathering strength and testing out its wings, gathers up the ashes of its former self and seals them into an egg made of myrrh. Then the phoenix flies to the Temple of the Sun, which is in the Eygptian city of Heliopolis. Next the phoenix places the egg on the alter of the sun god, Ra. Then the phoenix flies back to Arabia ( the phoenix originated in Arabia, but know can be found almost worldwide) and starts another five centuries of life.
In some Asian and European cultures, the phoenix was believed to attack the king of snakes, the basilisk. There are two types of this mythological creature. The one known to Muggles, and the one known to the wizard world. The basilisk known to the Muggle world is a lizard, found in the African and South American rain forest. This lizard is also know as the Jesus Lizard because of its amazing ability to run across water on its hind legs. The basilisk known to the wizard world has many shapes. In some cultures the basilisk has the head, wings, feet of a chicken, and the abdomin and tail of a snake. In other cultures the basilisk is just a gigantic snake. There are many descripitions of the basilisk, but in all these descripitions there a few things in common, and here is what they are:

1. In all cultures there is know argument on how the basilisk is created. You need a chicken's egg, a hillside, and a toad. A toad incubates the chickens egg on a hillside.

2. If the basilisk here the call of a rooster it will die.

3. Basilisk are commonly found in deserts. Even if found in a forest, that forest will eventually become a desert, because the basilisk's breath and stare will crack any stone and kill any plant or animal.

That is all for this edition of the Magizoology Section. For more information on the basilisk of phoenix read the Sorcerer's Companion, Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them, and Webster's Encyclopedia.