Ministry of Magic
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| Harry Potter association | |
| Ministry of Magic | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | London |
| Current head | Rufus Scrimgeour |
| Intentions | To keep order in wizarding Britain, maintain its respectability. |
| Enemies | Lord Voldemort, criminals. |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
In the fictional universe of the Harry Potter series as written by J.K. Rowling, the Ministry of Magic is the governing body of the magical community of Britain and succeeded the earlier Wizards' Council. It is known that other countries have their own Ministries of Magic. The Minister for Magic (original British editions and the film series) or Minister of Magic (U.S. editions) is the head of the Ministry. The job of the Minister for Magic seems to include executive, legislative and judicial functions (see more below).
While being a wizard or witch has obvious advantages, the system of government is not one of them. The Ministry seems to be an unelected body, and appears largely oligarchic. There appears to be little coherent separation of powers and the judicial system is heavily biased. Trials are short and do not employ juries, and lawyers are not allowed. Courts often display a marked disinterest in evidence for or against a suspect, instead relying on personal prejudice to decide the outcome (another key objective is to get the trial over and done with as quickly as possible). Not all criminals are even given trials. As can be seen from the events described in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Ministry is quite prepared to decree and enforce draconian laws without notice. The few rights that human wizards do have are denied to non-humans, who are often prejudiced against in court. Even humans can be imprisoned without trial and subjected to the horrors of Azkaban (which modern governments would ostensibly consider to be psychological torture) and even summarily executed by Dementors, as nearly happened to Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It is never revealed if Ministries of other nations are the same as that of Britain.
The Ministry has seven departments and many minor offices to deal with different aspects of the wizarding world. Different departments communicate through "Inter-departmental memos", pale violet paper aeroplanes that will fly to their destination. The British Ministry of Magic headquarters is in central London, deep underground.
The Ministry keeps in touch with the British Prime Minister with the help of a wizard's portrait in the Prime Minister's office on Downing Street, which notifies the Prime Minister of the Minister for Magic's arrival.[HP6] It cannot be removed. In times of warfare, aurors are assigned to secretly protect the Prime Minister (although he may not necessarily be told about it). Although the Ministry would presumably want to keep up good relations with the muggles, the behaviour of their delegates does not reflect this; most Ministers of Magic consider the muggle Prime minister to be beneath them and act in a patriarchal manner towards them.
Employment with the Ministry can be obtained soon after completion of a wizarding education, as in the case of Percy Weasley. Additionally, a line in the film version of Goblet of Fire mentions the possibility of summer internships with the Ministry, although this is a non-canonical departure from the book.
The Ministry gives an appearance of (at various times) either incompetence or malice. However given that we only see the Ministry though Harry's eyes (and he has every reason to dislike it) its real abilities (or lack thereof) are difficult to determine.
[edit] Current and former Ministers for Magic
The current Minister for Magic in Britain is Rufus Scrimgeour, who replaced Cornelius Fudge as of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Fudge himself replaced Millicent Bagnold, about whom nothing else is known. Other Ministers have included the highly popular Grogan Stump (1770-1884), who was appointed to the post in 1811 and settled the Beings vs. Beasts classification problem, and Artemisia Lufkin, the first witch to be elected to the post. Below the Minister are various undersecretaries (most notably Dolores Umbridge), and heads of various magical departments. The exact structure of power within the ministry is relatively unknown.
Albus Dumbledore, former headmaster of Hogwarts, was offered the job of Minister and refused it at least three times. In his latter days at Hogwarts, Tom Marvolo Riddle was widely predicted to become Minister for Magic someday. Riddle refused all offers of assistance to find work at the Ministry, however.
[edit] Floor directory
To enter the ministry via the Visitors Entrance, one must dial the number 62442 ("MAGIC") into a specific public telephone and state one's name and reason for entering. Passes are then issued (apparently through a magical system) and the telephone box then descends through the ground into the ministry's lobby in Floor B8.
A floor directory of the Ministry of Magic is as follows:
Important note: As the entire Ministry is underground, the higher the floor number, the deeper the floor is. (Although the texts do not normally use the prefix "B-" on floor numbers to denote underground floors, they are used in this article to comply with standard usage and for purposes of clarity.)
- Basement Level 1 - Office of the highest Ministry Officials, such as the Minister for Magic, Advisor to Minister, Senior Undersecretary to Minister for Magic, and Junior Assistant to Minister for Magic (presumed)
- Basement Level 2 - Department of Magical Law Enforcement
- Auror Headquarters
- Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office
- Wizengamot Administration Services
- Improper Use of Magic Office
- Basement Level 3 - Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
- Accidental Magic Reversal Squad
- Obliviator Headquarters
- Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee
- Basement Level 4 - Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
- Beast Division
- Being Division
- Spirit Division
- Goblin Liaison Office
- Pest Advisory Board
- Basement Level 5 - Department of International Magical Cooperation
- International Magical Trading Standards Body
- International Magical Office of Law
- International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats
- Basement Level 6 - Department of Magical Transportation
- Floo Network Authority
- Broom Regulatory Control
- Portkey Office
- Apparition Test Centre
- Basement Level 8 - The Atrium
- The Reception Area
- Fountain of Magical Brethren
- Security Desk
- Lifts
- Basement Level 9 - Department of Mysteries
- Hall of Prophecies
- The Death Chamber
- The Brain Room
- Locked Room in the Department of Mysteries, which according to Dumbledore investigates the powers of the heart.
- Basement Level 10 - Courtrooms (stairway access only)
[edit] Vertical transportation directory
The main lift (a disguised telephone box) transports visitors from ground level to the Atrium on floor B8. Once inside said telephone booth, the visitor must dial "62442" (M-A-G-I-C) to receive an operator.
More than twenty service lifts stop at all floors between B1 and B9, inclusive.
Stairways may provide access to all 10 levels in the Ministry. They must be used to access the courtrooms on floor B10.
[edit] The Atrium
A long and splendid hall, with a highly polished wooden floor. The ceiling is peacock blue, and engraved with constantly changing golden symbols. The walls are panelled, and lined with fireplaces, which are used to floo in and out of the ministry.
Halfway down the hall is The Fountain of Magical Brethren, a fountain depicting the golden statues of a wizard, a witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf. Jets of water fly from various points of the statuary, adding a hiss of water to the other areas of the hall. The witch and wizard are set-up as a focal point of the Fountain, with the "lower beings" looking up in awe at the two humans. It is very unrealistic: centaurs consider themselves much more intelligent than humans and want nothing to do with them, whilst goblins get on poorly with wizards.
The Atrium receives damage during the Battle of the Ministry: the floor is scratched and scarred, the security booth is burned, and the fountain is largely destroyed, although the goblin and the house-elf survive. It is unknown if it was replaced.
[edit] Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Arguably the most important of the various departments, this one is a combination of police and justice facilities, and is roughly equivalent to Britain's (muggle) Home Office. The department was once headed by Bartemius Crouch Sr. The former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, prior to her brutal death at the hand of Lord Voldemort, was Amelia Bones. Located on the second level of the Ministry of Magic, it includes:
- Auror Headquarters, a team of elite dark wizard hunters.
- The Improper Use of Magic Office which punishes wizards for using magic in inappropriate ways, at the wrong time, or in violation of magical laws;
- The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office which regulates the use of magic on Muggle objects and recovers those which have been bewitched; which is located in a tiny office, staffed by an enthusiastic - albeit slightly ill-informed - Arthur Weasley and his assistant, Perkins. The aim of the office is to keep enchanted items out of the hands of Muggles, often necessitating raids to keep enchanted items out of circulation. Harry Potter briefly visits this office before his trial at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [1]
- Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects Office is the office in which Arthur Weasley was promoted to in book 6. Apparently, several new offices sprung up when Rufus Scrimgeour came to power as Minister for Magic because of Lord Voldemort.
- The Wizengamot, the wizarding High Court of Justice.
[edit] Improper Use of Magic Office
The Improper Use of Magic Office is headed by Mafalda Hopkirk. The Office is responsible for investigating offences under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy. The Decree prohibits an under-age wizard or witch from performing magic, while the Statute of Secrecy prohibits wizards and witches from performing magic in the presence of muggles or in a muggle-inhabited area. On receiving intelligence reports of a violation of the Decree, a note is sent to the offender detailing actions that will be taken by the Office. First-time offenders are usually let off with a warning while extreme cases may be referred to the Wizengamot.
Amelia Bones was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement before being killed in the summer of 1996.
It is suggested that the Improper Use of Magic Office attends Wizengamot Court services, though when Harry Potter has a trial in the fifth book, nothing is mentioned about them.
It is presumed that, this department has several positions and that they remained loyal to the Ministry when Cornelius Fudge believed that Voldemort had not returned in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Improper Use of Magic Office is mentioned multiple times in the series; Harry receives a warning letter from them when Dobby uses a Levitation Charm on a pudding of Harry's Aunt in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Harry later receives a letter when he uses the patronous charm against threatening Dementors. The letter informs him that his wand will be confiscated and broken by ministry officials and that he will be detained until court notice; this appears to be standard procedure.
In Order of the Phoenix, Harry is tried by the entire Wizengamot court, however, Arthur Weasley remarks that it is highly unusual procedure for an under-age use of magic case. The court room is the same one visited by Harry in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire via the Pensieve, it includes a chair that self-locks when the defendant sits down, though Arthur Weasley also implies that it is unusual for the hearing to be held in such a room.
[edit] Wizengamot
The Wizengamot serves as the wizard high court of law (presumably the wizarding version of the Law Lords), and as a form of Parliament. It is headquartered at the Ministry of Magic and at least some of its trials take place in the dungeons of the lower levels. Wizengamot is pronounced /wɪzengʊmʊt/ in the audio CDs.
The Wizengamot has about fifty members, whose selection is unclear (although the Minister for Magic appears to have some control over selection or deselection), in addition to the Court Scribe, who acts as its stenographer. The Minister for Magic, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, and Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement all sit on the Wizengamot ex officio. Members wear plum-coloured robes embroidered with the silver letter "W" while the court is in session.
Trials seem to be quite short. The defence can present witnesses and the Wizengamot can examine them and the accused, but no lawyers are involved.
The word 'Wizengamot' is a portmanteau created from the words 'wizard', and 'Witenagemot', which was a council of powerful people summoned to advice and appoint Kings in Anglo-Saxon England. The word derives from the Old English for "meeting of wise men" (witan, wise man or counsellor; gemot, assembly).
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [1], the Wizengamot tries Harry on charges of violating the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and reluctantly dismisses the charges. References to "the whole Wizengamot" (in Percy's letter to Ron) imply that this type of trial is unusual. Smaller disciplinary hearings do not require the court's attention at all and are dealt with by a single questioner.
Albus Dumbledore holds the position of Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, except during the period coinciding with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [1] in which he was removed from the post because of his insistence that Lord Voldemort had returned (he was reinstated by the end of the novel).
The Wizengamot also appears to act as a form of parliament: the various decrees introduced by Cornelius Fudge are referred to as being passed and sanctioned by the Wizengamot, just as Muggle laws in Britain must be agreed to by Parliament. It is unstated how much control the Wizengamot has over passing these decrees, and how much control the Minister exercises in such circumstances.
[edit] Department of Magical Games and Sports
Seen as the most relaxed department (posters for favourite Quidditch teams are found tacked to the wall in its entrance corridor) deals with such sports-related pastimes as organising the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament. Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman used to be the Head of Department here, but his gambling problem forced him to flee from Goblin creditors. The current head of the department is unknown. The department is located on the seventh level of the Ministry of Magic, and includes:
[edit] Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
This department is responsible for repairing accidental magical damage. It is located on the third level of the Ministry of Magic and houses the following offices:
[edit] Accidental Magic Reversal Squad
The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad is a squad of wizards whose job it is to reverse 'Accidental Magic,' which is normally caused by young witches and wizards who have not learned to control their magic.
For instance, the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad was sent out in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when Harry inflated his Aunt Marge. They were able to successfully reverse the spell, deflating her, and proceeded to modify her memory (to remove any recollection of the incident) - presumably this latter task was performed by the Obliviators, according to their duty.
[edit] Obliviator Headquarters
An Obliviator is the designation for a Ministry of Magic employee who has the task of modifying the memory of a Muggle after witnessing incidents belonging to the magic world.
They are first called so in the sixth volume, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although the mentioned practice already appears in the previous novels. The act of memory modification can be used by any wizard, by using the spell, "Obliviate." This event, however, is frowned upon in the wizarding society; most believe that memory modification should be done by Obliviators only.
Examples of times in which a memory charm was committed include when Professor Gilderoy Lockhart attempts to erase the memories of Harry and Ron in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and when the auror Kingsley Shacklebolt removed all memories of the secret D.A. organisation from the mind of Marietta Edgecombe, who had been in the process of betraying its secrets.
[edit] Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee
Explains away any magical accidents or occurrences which cannot be magically cleared up or completely removed from the minds of Muggles, or which Muggles do not develop their own explanation for. For example, Peter Pettigrew killed twelve muggle bystanders and tore apart a street by means of an immense explosion during his altercation with Sirius Black. The massive and obvious damage and mortality was explained away by the committee as being due to a tragic accidental explosion of the gas main.
[edit] Department of Magical Transportation
This department is responsible for various aspects of magical transport. It is located on the sixth level of the Ministry of Magic and includes the following offices:
- Floo Network Authority: The Floo Network Authority is responsible for setting up and maintaining the network, and distributing the greenish floo powder. The network is composed of the fireplaces of all the wizarding houses and buildings which are interconnected and it allows the user to transport themselves to any other fireplace on the network thanks to the magical qualitites of the floo powder.
- Broom Regulatory Control
- Portkey Office
- Apparition Test Centre: The magical equivalent of the DVLA; grants licences to witches and wizards so that they can apparate.
It is unknown if the Knight Bus is regulated by this department.
[edit] Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
It is divided into three divisions ("Being", "Beast" and "Spirit") and contains liaison offices for goblins and centaurs, though the centaurs, being isolationists, have never interacted with the Centaur Liaison Office since its creation. Thus, "being sent to the Centaur Office" has become a euphemism at the Ministry for those about to be fired. For further detail on the distinctions between these divisions, see Magical beasts (Harry Potter).
In Chapter 7 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we learn that the department is located on the fourth level of the Ministry of Magic.
Offices:
- Beast Division
- Being Division
- Office of House-Elf Relocation
- Werewolf Support Services
- Goblin Liaison Office
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- Little is known about the operations of this office but in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [2], Arthur Weasley indicates Cuthbert Mockridge as the head of this office, although by the time of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [3], Horace Slughorn is referring to Dirk Cresswell as the holder of this post. No mention is made of the reasons behind the change.
- Spirit Division
- Ghoul Task Force
- Pest Advisory Board
[edit] Department of International Magical Cooperation
The Department of International Magical Cooperation is an agency which, as its name suggests, tries to get wizards from different countries to cooperate. The British International Confederation of Wizards is based here, as are offices that regulate international magical law. This department on the fifth level of the Ministry of Magic includes the headquarters of:
- The International Magical Trading Standards Body
- The International Magical Office of Law
- The International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats
The former head was Barty Crouch Sr until he was killed by his son Barty Crouch Jr. The current head is unknown. This is also where Percy Weasley began his ministry career.
[edit] Department of Mysteries
| Battle of the Department of Mysteries | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Second Wizarding War | |||||||
 Dumbledore and Voldemort dueling as depicted by Mary GrandPre |
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Order of the Phoenix (OotP), Dumbledore's Army (DA) | Death Eaters | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Albus Percivial Wulfric Brian Dumbledore (OotP), Harry James Potter (DA) | Lord Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy‡ | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| OotP: Half-a-dozen wizards DA: Half-a-dozen underage wizards |
Thirteen Death Eaters | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| OotP: One death (Sirius Black), a large number of non-permanent injuries; DA: One serious injury (Hermione Granger), most with non-permanent injuries | All but two captured; Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldemort escaped | ||||||
The Department of Mysteries is, as its name suggests, a mysterious department. It carries out most of its operations in total secrecy. Few wizards within the ministry actually know what is located within this department. Those wizards who work in the Department of Mysteries are called the Unspeakables.
Although most of the workings of the Department are still covert, some of the projects undertaken, most seemingly for research purposes, were revealed in Order of the Phoenix: the Department apparently works to uncover the secrets of death, time, thought, and love, among other things, and record prophecies whenever they are made. Records of prophecies are magically stored within glass orbs on rows of shelves within the Hall of Prophecy. They are magically protected, so that the only people who can lift them off their shelf are the Keeper of the Hall of Prophecies and the subject or subjects of the prophecies; all others are afflicted with instant madness. Whenever an orb breaks, the recorded prophecy it contains is repeated out-loud once, after which the recording is useless.
Its name could be a reference to the Eleusinian Mysteries of Ancient Greece. It shares with those rites a preoccupation with immortality and the cycle of time. The "Unspeakables" may be a reference to The Untouchables, a group of US Treasury agents gathered by Elliot Ness to preserve prohibition.
The rooms at the Department each seem (although not spelled out directly) to refer to various mysteries of life, such as "Time", "Space", "Death", and "Love". These rooms include:
- An entrance room whose walls rotate, disorienting its occupants for several seconds, whenever all of its doors are closed. This is presumably a security device to keep non-employees of the Department from reaching a desired room. Responds to a verbal request for an exit by opening the correct door.
- The Thought Chamber - A long room in which brains swim in a green solution.
- The Space Chamber - A dark room full of planets floating in mid-air. Visitors may find themselves floating as well. Includes the planets Uranus and Pluto.
- The Death Chamber - A large, square room with stone tiers leading down to a pit in the centre. In this pit is a dais, on which stands a very old arch with a tattered curtain hanging from it. Called the "Death Chamber" by Dumbledore. It was through this archway that Sirius Black, Harry Potter's Godfather, fell to his death in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
- The Time Chamber - A room in which various time-related devices are kept, such as clocks of every description and Time-Turners (necklaces with hourglass pendants, which will send the wearer back in time when the pendant is turned over). It also contains a mysterious bell jar, inside which anything will grow steadily younger and younger, then slowly return to its original age in a never-ending cycle.
- The Hall of Prophecy - A giant, cavernous room with over a hundred rows of shelves, where recordings of prophecies are kept. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood are lured to this room by Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
- The ever-locked room - A room behind a door that remains locked at all times and which cannot be unlocked by either the Alohomora spell or magical unlocking penknives. According to Albus Dumbledore, behind that door is the most mysterious subject of study in the Department: a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature.......It is the power held within that room that you [Harry] possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all.. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, this power was confirmed through a dialogue between Harry and Dumbledore to be love.
Sixteen years before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [1], Sybill Trelawney made a prediction about Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter. According to Albus Dumbledore, a Death Eater overheard the first half, and reported that section to Voldemort (the Death Eater was revealed by Sybill Trelawney to be Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince, although her account also cast severe doubt upon Dumbledore's account). Voldemort decided to kill Harry Potter, believing this would prevent the prophecy from coming to pass: instead, he caused the events described by the prophecy to be set into motion in the first place, and lost his powers.
After his powers were restored in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort decided to listen to the complete prophecy, a recording of which he knew to be stored in the Department of Mysteries. However, only he or Harry Potter could take them from the Department of Mysteries, due to the prophecy label referring only to the two of them. Since Voldemort was unwilling to personally visit the Ministry, he decided to lure Harry there.
This plan nearly succeeded, but the prophecy was destroyed before Voldemort could obtain it. There was a struggle in the Department, during which Sirius Black fell through the Veil in the Death Chamber and perished. When Cornelius Fudge - in addition to a large number of others - witnessed Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic, he was forced to acknowledge that he was wrong in denying that Voldemort had indeed returned.
The Department of Mysteries had not fully recovered as of the September of 1996 (the beginning of the autumn term in Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince): at one point, it is mentioned that the Department's entire stock of Time-turners was smashed, with the implication that it has not managed to replace them.
[edit] External links
- The HP-Lexicon talks about the various departments in The Ministry of Magic
- Mugglenet page on The Ministry of Magic
- Ministry of Magic on the Harry Potter Wiki
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d [HP5] Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747551006/US ISBN 043935806X..
- ^ [HP4] Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 074754624X/US ISBN 0439139597.
- ^ [HP6] Rowling, J. K. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (in English). London: Bloomsbury/New York City: Scholastic, et. al. UK ISBN 0747581088/US ISBN 0439784549.
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| Towns | Godric's Hollow · Hogsmeade · Little Hangleton · Little Whinging |
| Schools | Hogwarts · Durmstrang · Beauxbatons |
| Homes | Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place · The Riddle House |
| Streets | Diagon Alley · Knockturn Alley · Spinner's End |
| Other | Azkaban · Hall of Prophecies · Hog's Head · Ministry of Magic · Shrieking Shack · St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries · Weasley's Wizard Wheezes · Wizarding world |
