Tragedy has struck the Gamp family for the second time since Mrs. Emmaline Gamp passed away in September of last year. On February 2nd, Mr. Trey Gamp failed to return to his home in Bartonburg, Hogsmeade after leaving earlier that day for reasons currently unknown. He was found the morning of February 3rd in Hyde Park, stabbed to death with very visible signs of a struggle. His wand was snapped into three pieces.

It is possible Mr. Gamp was mugged by one or more muggles as there was no money found on his person but it is also possible that he was recognized as a wizard by his assailants and murdered for that reason, based on the aggressive nature of his destroyed wand.

Until early last month, Mr. Gamp was the Head of the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures when he unexpectedly quit. It is
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not known what provoked such an abrupt resignation. Mr. Gamp sadly passed away without a male heir and was the last surviving male descendant of our very first Minister of Magic, Ulick Gamp. Miss Hesper Gamp, the only living child of Trey Gamp, is the last of the bloodline still bearing the old pureblood name.

The six year old Miss Gamp is left an orphan and has been taken in by wealthy, reclusive widow, Euphemia Barton, her great aunt. Mrs. Barton (born Gamp) was widowed in 1847 after the murder of her husband by his valet and never remarried. The Gamp family name is also widely known due to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, named after the Gamp ancestor who discovered it. With such notable contributions to wizarding history, it can only be with sadness that we witness the inevitable disappearance of the Gamp name from modern society.

AUTHOR: IAN PENGLOSS