Prominent Pureblood Dead

[Gail Lawrence]

Amos Lawrence, 38, leaves behind his parents and a daughter.

Prominent Pureblood Dead
Clarice Sheridan

3 June 2007.

Bristol, Avon--Pureblood wizard and family heir Amos Lawrence was killed yesterday near Bristol. The cause of death is still unknown.

Lawrence, 38, and his muggle wife, Mary, were in an “automobile” when they struck a tree along the “M5 highway.” Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Tests by muggle authorities revealed Mary died in the collision. However, they say Lawrence was dead beforehand. Aurors have yet to examine the body, but poison is suspected.

“There’s no spell damage on the body, so we think it’s some type of potion,” Auror Alphonse Baudin said.

According to Baudin, Aurors will take possession of Lawrence’s body by tomorrow. After an examination by Magical Law Enforcement, it will be returned to the Lawrence family for interment in the family crypt.

The couple were returning to their home in Plymouth from Ely, where they were visiting Lawrence’s parents, the esteemed Gabriel and Anne Lawrence.

“It’s a real loss for the magical community,” James Hannigan, Lawrence’s brother-in-law, said. “He was a kind soul who was devoted to his parents.”

Other family members were unavailable for comment.

Lawrence, a free-lance journalist with The Daily Prophet and the Western Morning News, was the only heir to the family name.

He was preceded in death by his brother Gilead on 25 August 1977.

He is survived by his parents, his sister Elisabeth Hannigan, of Athy, Ireland, and his estranged daughter Abigail, 17, of unknown residence.

[Gail Lawrence]

Pureblood Heir Found Poisoned
Clarice Sheridan

8 June 2007.

London--Pureblood heir Amos Lawrence, 38, was killed by poison, a Magical Law Enforcement spokesman said yesterday.

Lawrence, killed on 2 June in an “automobile” crash, was examined by MLE for four days prior to the statement.

“He was dead before the wounds were made, so we knew it was only a matter of time,” Auror Alphonse Baudin said.

Muggle authorities, who examined the body before MLE, were unable to determine the cause of death. However, they agreed that Lawrence was dead before the crash.

“The poor man probably died of a heart attack,” Sergeant James Thornhill said of Lawrence. “His heart was starved for oxygen there at the end, and he couldn’t hang on.”

MLE provided a different answer.

“The potion in Lawrence’s system was a variation on the Shrinking Solution,” Baudin said. “It caused the vessels around his heart to constrict, causing a fatal heart attack.”

This heart attack occurred while Lawrence was steering the “automobile.” Upon his death, he lost control, and it crashed into a tree.

According to MLE estimates, the potion took effect over the course of 12 hours. Aurors are looking closely at the Ely home of the esteemed Gabriel and Anne Lawrence, where Lawrence had spent the previous four days.

The crash also took the life of Lawrence’s Muggle wife, Mary.

MLE will finish their examination of the body today. When they are done, it will be returned to his parents, who will prepare it for interment in the family crypt in Ely.

[Gail Lawrence]

Family Matriarch Seeks Granddaughter
Clarice Sheridan

10 June 2007.

Ely, Cambridgeshire--Family matriarch Anne Lawrence delivered a statement yesterday from her Ely home, asking her estranged granddaughter, Abigail, to return to the family to mourn the death of her father.

“Gabriel and I want Abigail to know we love her,” Madam Lawrence said. “We want her to come home to the family she has left.”

The statement comes on the heels of the death of Amos Lawrence, Lawrence’s son and the only heir to the family name and title.

Abigail, who just turned 17, left her Plymouth home in December of last year. She has not been seen since the start of Hogwarts’ summer holidays on 1 June. Her current residence is unknown.

A reward has been offered to anyone with information on Abigail’s whereabouts.

“We just want our granddaughter back,” Madam Lawrence said. “We’re the only family Abigail has left, and we want what’s best for her.”

[Gail Lawrence]

Pureblood Funeral Proves Moving
Clarice Sheridan

18 June 2007

Ely, Cambridgeshire--Many prominent witches and wizards turned out yesterday in Ely for the funeral of Amos Lawrence, killed 2 June.

The funeral, which started at noon, lasted nearly three hours and included a tribute to Lawrence’s accomplishments. It ended with a procession to the Lawrence family crypt, where Amos’ body was interred.

Among the speakers were Lawrence’s mother, Anne, and his brother-in-law, James Hannigan.

“Amos was always a quiet man with a quiet strength,” said Hannigan. “Family was his priority, and nothing could stop him protecting them.”

Madam Lawrence echoed his sentiments.

“From a young age, Amos clung to his sister, Elisabeth. His family was everything to him, and his views on who those people were was often rather inclusive.”

Many guests remained after the ceremonies to give their best wishes to the Lawrence family.

Pureblood Aldric Maxwell commented that “I didn’t know the young man well, but I never heard anything bad about him. I knew when he died that I could not disrespect such a fine young man by refusing to attend.”

Conspicuously absent from the proceedings was Lawrence’s daughter, Abigail, who has been missing since 1 June. Madam Lawrence directed part of her eulogy to her granddaughter, saying that “Family was everything to your father, and I can only hope you have learned from his example.”

“It’s a shame the girl wasn’t here,” Maxwell said. “I think it broke her poor family’s hearts.”

[Gail Lawrence]

Investigation into Pureblood’s Death Ends
Clarice Sheridan

22 June 2007

London--The inquiry into the death of Amos Lawrence comes to an end today, but many questions are left unanswered.

Results of the three-week investigation into Lawrence’s death are inconclusive, Ministry spokesman Sophus Yap told reporters yesterday.

Questioning focused for a time on Lawrence’s parents, the esteemed Gabriel and Anne Lawrence. His last hours were spent at their Ely home, before a modified Shrinking Solution induced a heart attack.

“The Lawrence family has been cleared of any suspicion, and there is no doubt in my mind that they had nothing to do with this horrible incident,” Yap said.

“The family has been extremely cooperative throughout this affair,” he continued. “They are dealing with the loss of their only son with solid pureblood stoicism and no fair amount of grief.”

With the main suspects officially cleared, it seems the case has been closed.

“There are no other suspects or leads at this time,” Yap said. “The Ministry will reopen the case if any more information comes to light.”

Lawrence’s funeral was held Sunday and was widely attended.

Both Lawrence and his Muggle wife, Mary, died in an “automobile” crash on 2 June.

[Gail Lawrence]

The Life and Death of the Lawrence Family
An independent submittal by Abigail Lawrence

25 June 2007.

I have been reading The Daily Prophet closely over the past several weeks. Every second day, there is a story about “the Lawrence heir” and his tragic, yet unexplained, death. The statements of support from wizards across the country have been nothing but supportive, and I must thank them for their sympathy.

However, I have found that this newspaper, the most respected in wizarding Britain, has been limited in its sources and quick in its judgments. The picture that has been painted of Amos Lawrence, rest his soul, has been shockingly one-dimensional and leaves out several years of his life. His wife, rest her soul, has been mentioned only in passing. As someone in daily contact with the Lawrence family for sixteen years, I feel I am uniquely qualified and duly responsible to set the record straight.

Mary Elaine Llewellyn was born 22 June 1970 in Aberystwyth, Wales to Gareth and Dilys Llewellyn. Her father, a rather unsuccessful entrepreneur, moved to Aberystwyth from a small inland town called Llanwnog in the late 1950s and soon met Dilys. They were married in 1959 and had three children: Elisud, Glenys, and Mary. The family was happy and loving, if struggling financially. However, these five folk are much different from the normal subjects of this fine paper. Mary and her family had the distinction, though many readers would say misfortune, of being muggles.

When Mary left school, she found a job in London. Frightened of the big city, she became lost in Charing Cross and happened upon young Amos Lawrence. Their momentary meeting was apparently memorable, and Amos came to call on her several times over the coming months, and they were married in 1989.

Until this point in time, the descriptions of Amos are, as far as I can tell, largely true. He was not necessarily a strong wizard, but because of the early death of his younger brother, Gilead, he was unusually devoted to family: his parents, Gabriel and Anne; his sister, Elisabeth; and his brother-in-law, James. His courtship of and marriage to a muggle caused a rift with the family of his blood, particularly with his parents.

Between the physical distance from the Llewellyns and the ideological rift with the Lawrences, Amos and Mary turned inward and supported each other. The young couple moved to Plymouth, where Amos found work as a journalist, and Mary gave birth the following year. Their devotion was passed on to their daughter, Abigail, their only child.

After several years, the Lawrence family came to accept the marriage, and as the small family found more money, they were able to make the trip to Wales. Thus, both the wizarding and muggle sides of the family came back into their lives.

However, this created a problem for Amos. The expectations put on him by his parents were often in conflict with those from his wife and daughter. He attempted to relieve the tension, but neither party was satisfied. Whatever she may have thought of the conflicting responsibilities, Mary stayed faithfully by her husband’s side until their deaths earlier this month. Their premature deaths unfortunately came before the tensions could be resolved.

Here, I must point out the disparity in coverage and image from this esteemed paper. Amos’ funeral, widely attended and covered by this paper, was held on 17 June at the Lawrence Family Home in Ely. Mary’s took place 11 June in Aberystwyth. Only family was present, and its sole appearance in the press has been a short obituary in the Western Morning News.

Four days ago, the Ministry for Magic dropped the Lawrence case. All potential suspects were cleared, and the case was declared closed until further notice. The Auror Department had determined that Amos’ murder resulted in the death of his wife, and closing the case allows their killer, or killers, to go free. Reopening the case at a later date may do little, as trails such as these grow cold with time.

This development is something that should not occur in our modern, civilized society. The Aurors and the courts are present to ensure that the guilty are punished, but if nothing is done, the Lawrence murders may go unpunished. Although I have my own suspicions as to who killed Amos and Mary, I shall leave that be for now. Whether or not I am correct, a rapid reopening of the Lawrence case and a thorough investigation of their deaths should result in the killer’s capture.

However, I must put forth the possibility that the Ministry has closed this case because the killer, or killers, has asked. This would not have happened directly, of course, but through the back channels that exist for the established families. It is widely known that many pureblood families hold a great deal of sway among Ministry officials. If one of them is the cause of or connected to Amos and Mary’s deaths, it would be only too easy to convince someone to close the case and remove the pressure.

Whatever the case may be, Amos and Mary Lawrence were two souls devoted to each other, above all else. They are greatly missed. They are survived by Gareth and Dilys Llewellyn, Gabriel and Anne Lawrence, Elisud and Deverell Llewellyn, Elisabeth and James Hannigan, Glenys and Bran Madock, four nephews (three muggles and a wizard), two nieces (both witches), and me.

Abigail Lawrence is the only daughter of Amos Lawrence, and the third grandchild of his parents, Sir Gabriel and Madam Anne. In September, she will be entering her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her residence is currently unlisted.