dark beige

Cedric Diggory slain by Voldemort in fight

A teenage prefect who was often seen with Harry Potter was stabbed to death in a brawl outside a magical graveyard early today, police said. Cedric Diggory, 18, was caught up in a fight between Potter and evil Lord Voldemort, and was slain just after midnight, Dumbledore said in a statement.

The teenager's death - less than two terms after another youngster was brutally slain only a few metres away - has focused Hogwarts' attention on wand crime.

Diggory was one of many taken to various hospitals across Hogwarts after the Triwizard Tournament turned into a brawl, police said. Among them was the 900-year-old evil wizard Voldemort, who has since been arrested on suspicion of murder, alongside accomplice Peter Pettigrew.



The fight did not appear to be gang-related, police added, but it puts the number of violent teenage deaths in Hogwarts at 1 so far this year. Diggory played on the same quidditch team as Potter.

Hogwarts' homicide rate is more than three times lower than that of the Diagon Alley, according to 2005 statistics, but the parade of young victims mixed up in strange magic plots to banish good for ever on the nightly news has disquieted many wizards.

The school's new headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, won election on promises to tackle violent crime. And the Ministry of Magic have recently kicked off an aggressive new program to search anyone they wish for wands without having to justify their suspicions beforehand.



Friends including Potter himself paid tribute to Diggory for his "great sense of fairness", calling the death a "tragic loss".