Part 5
Regulating Magic and the Wizards Who Perform It
As with any community, wizards require a method of governing themselves, and the Ministry of Magic fills that role. In this part, you discover the similarities between British and wizard forms of government, take a visit to the Ministry itself, and find out what happens to wizards who break the rules. You also get a bonus chapter, which highlights the people, places, and wizarding tools found in Rowling’s seventh and final novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Chapter 14
The Ministry of Magic
In This Chapter • Getting a glimpse at the old Wizards’ Council
• Reviewing the function of each of the seven Ministry departments
• Discovering how wizards and British politicos liaise
Located deep underground in the center of London, the Ministry of Magic is the governing body for wizards (and for all creatures with magical abilities) in Great Britain, similar in many ways to British and American forms of federal government. However, as this chapter shows, several governmental functions that appear in both Great Britain and the United States simply don’t exist in the Ministry’s seven departments, and vice versa.
The (Now Defunct) Wizards’ Council
Prior to the creation of the Ministry of Magic more than 400 years ago, UK wizards were governed by the Wizards’ Council. The Council spent much of its early days defining Being and Beast, in order to determine who should participate in the Council, and who shouldn’t.
MAGIC TALE
Wizards’ Councils appear in two of the most influential fantasy book series: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series. In Rings, Gandalf is a member of the White Council, the fraternity of wizards of which Saruman the White (and, later, Gandalf the White himself) is head. In Earthsea, a mature Ged becomes Archmage, head of the wizards’ council.
Ministry Departments Galore
Seven departments make up the Ministry of Magic, and they are described in the following sections.
Upon comparing the Ministry to both British and American federal governments, however, we find some startling omissions in the wizarding world:• Exchequer/Treasury: Wizards don’t appear to pay taxes of any sort, yet Ministry officials do manage to get paid. Given that no governmental body can operate without funds, somewhere, buried deep in London, there must be an exchequer or treasury department at the Ministry. Perhaps we just don’t know about it. Or maybe the Exchequer has an office in the Department of Mysteries (see the final section of this chapter).
• Work and Pensions/Labor and Social Security: As with the lack of an Exchequer, the Ministry of Magic has no ministry or department that deals with labor and pension issues. However, jobs are hardly scarce in the wizarding world: careers with the Ministry, at Hogwarts, at St. Mungo’s (see Chapter 7), at Gringotts (see Chapter 4), and in retail and service businesses do appear to be readily available, limited only by one’s lack of distinction in various school subjects at Hogwarts. In addition, elderly, retired wizards give all appearances of being well cared for and able to manage their finances quite well. So perhaps the wizarding community is in the unique position of having enough jobs available for the people who want them, and having citizens who plan for retirement.
• Education: Note that there is no Department of Education as there is in both UK and U.S. governments. Hogwarts, as the only British wizarding school, effectively functions as the education department of the Ministry. All decisions related to the training of wizards are made at Hogwarts and by Hogwarts staff. However, the Ministry of Magic has the power to adjust curriculum, change school rules with educational decrees, expel students from Hogwarts, and replace headmasters and/or professors who aren’t up to snuff.
• Housing: Nearly every government throughout the world has to deal, at some point, with lack of housing, overcrowded housing, unsafe urban dwellings, and/or unprofitable rural housing and farms. However, the Ministry of Magic does not appear to have any department or office that helps wizards locate affordable, appropriate housing for themselves and their families.
Those are the departments that do not exist in the Ministry. The following are the seven departments that do exist.
Department of Magical Games and Sports
The Department of Magical Games and Sports coordinates all international competitions held on British soil, and also regulates intra-British sports and games. The British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters has an office under this department, as does the Official Gobstones Club (see Chapter 6 for more on Quidditch and Gobstones).
One unusual office in this department is the Ludicrous Patents Office. No one is quite sure whether the agency is actively encouraging ludicrous patents, or whether this office is sniffing out the ludicrous ones and throwing those patent applications away.
British government has a similar agency to the Department of Magical Games and Sports in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which oversees and coordinates with museums and galleries, libraries, architecture, historic building, and the like. This British department also funds public broadcasting, including the BBC, promotes British tourism, encourages creative industries, and sponsors sporting opportunities and events, from grade-school to elite levels.
KING’S ENGLISH
An elevator, called a lift in Great Britain, transports wizards and witches deep under London to the offices of the Ministry. The most dangerous departments are the farthest from the surface, which makes sense.
No such centralized department exists in American politics, although small offices and divisions oversee some similar entities. Sports and games are nearly all self-regulated by sport governing bodies, with little or no government intervention. Even the U.S. Olympic Committee is a nonprofit organization, not a government agency.
Department of Magical Transportation
Every good government has an agency that deals with moving people from place to place (Department for Transport in London; Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C.), and the Ministry of Magic is no different. Chapter 5 discusses the four major ways wizards travel from place to place, which four key offices in this department regulate: the Floo Network Authority, the Broom Regulatory Control, the Portkey Office, and the Apparition Test Center.
These four offices operate very much like those in the Muggle world, where Muggle governments undertake tasks like regulating car emissions, licensing automobile drivers and their cars, regulating the safety of planes and trains, and so on.
Department of International Magical Cooperation
Governments of large, developed countries could, perhaps, take a lesson from the wizarding world and create their own “departments of international cooperation.” Instead, the United States has the departments of State (the chief agency of international diplomacy and cooperation), Commerce (for cooperating in trade), and Defense (for when nations aren’t feeling so cooperative). Similar departments exist in Great Britain: Foreign Affairs; International Development; Trade and Industry; and Defence.
The offices in this department include those related both to international trade and international law, as well as the British seats in the International Confederation of Wizards. Like the United Nations, the International Confederation of Wizards oversees all magical ministries and councils worldwide. This group initiated the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy, which is the international law that drives nearly all other laws and rules within the wizarding world: that Muggles cannot know of the existence of wizards and witches. The leader of the International Confederation of Wizards is called the Supreme Mugwump (see more in Chapter 1).
KING’S ENGLISH
You say "defence,” I say "defense” .... A number of British government terminologies are spelled oh-so-slightly differently than their American counterparts. Centre is center, organisation is organization, licence is license, and byelaw is bylaw. Go figure.
Department for Reg
ulation and Control of Magical Creatures
As both one of the most enjoyable and one of the most dangerous jobs in the Ministry, working for the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is a career without equal in American and British politics. The U.S. Department of Agriculture comes closest, but you can’t compare the inspection of cows—a primary function of the USDA—with the excitement of transporting a dragon, the gratification that comes from helping wizards rid their homes of garden gnomes and doxies, and the danger of hunting fire crab poachers. But it’s all in a day’s work for the employees of this department.
Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
This department has two aims:• To attempt to mend and cure wizards who have been injured by magic, either because of their own, er, lack of skill or because of an attack by another wizard.
• To modify the memories of Muggles who have inadvertently witnessed magical activities.
Those two goals are met in two ways:1. St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries: Hidden in London, this hospital treats everything from injuries due to exploding cauldrons to dragon pox to unliftable jinxes. The facility also acts as a nursing home, where wizards who have been put under the Cruciatus Curse (see Chapter 12)—and, thus, have been tortured until they become insane—are kept comfortable until they die.
2. The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad: An agency of this department, the squad rushes to the scene of magic and attempts to correct the damage done, much like an emergency medical technician (EMT) and ambulance driver might do in the Muggle world. If no Muggles have seen the results of the accident, the wizard involved is treated and either taken to St. Mungo’s or released, albeit with a hefty fine. But if Muggles have seen magic go awry, as is usually the case when unlicensed wizards attempt Apparition and leave body parts in two different places, or when Dark Wizards kill and maim indiscriminately, the memories of Muggles who survive the incident must be altered.Obliviators who work for the squad are expert at performing memory charms (see Chapter 12), thus removing any memory of the incident from the minds of the Muggles.
Muggles in the United States and United Kingdom do not have an equivalent department: the British Department of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are involved in treating and correcting maladies, but do not deal with cleaning up catastrophes.
Likewise, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (with groups like the Federal Emergency Management Agency) deals regularly with catastrophes, but would never attempt to change the public’s perception of the event. Wait a minute … maybe these two departments aren’t so different after all!
Department of Magical Law Enforcement
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is structured nearly identically to the U.S. Justice Department and the British Home Office. But unlike United States and British law, law enforcement in the magical world (see Chapter 15) has only two priorities: avoiding Muggle detection and protecting wizards.
International Code of Wizarding Secrecy requires every wizarding government to take strenuous precautions to avoid detection from Muggles, resorting to the memory-altering tactics employed by the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, as needed. For this reason, offices within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement make it illegal for wizards to both improperly use magic and misuse Muggle artifacts. There is no equivalent agency that comes close in the Muggle world.
To keep powerful and/or Dark Wizards from taking advantage of other wizards, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement vigorously protects the wizards within its borders. For wizards engaging in fraudulent, but otherwise harmless, activities, the Office for Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects (a mouthful!) prosecutes to the fullest extent of the law. For more evil deeds, the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol (or Squad) is on hand to make arrests, and Aurors (see Chapter 15) both track criminals and protect innocent citizens in danger. This service is much like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (United States) and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (UK).
To prosecute crimes, the Wizengamot Administration Services acts as the high court, like the United States Supreme Court. You can find more on the Wizengamot in Chapter 15.
Department of Mysteries
Aaaah, the Department of Mysteries. Very secret are the goings on of this government agency; so much so that those employed by this department are called Unspeakables. It’s not that they can’t speak, it’s that they don’t.
An equivalent agency in British and American government probably exists, but who knows, really? Governments are full of mysterious activities; few advertise the fact by actively naming a department of
"mysteries.” Remember that the U.S. government was able to develop and test atomic bombs in complete secrecy during World War II’s Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Residents of that “Secret City” were not allowed to speak to anyone outside the town limits about what they were working on … the Unspeakables of the Muggle world. Similarly, the Central Intelligence Agency (United States) and Secret Intelligence Service (UK) are responsible for all foreign espionage, and those employed at those agencies are not allowed to speak to outsiders about their jobs. Perhaps there’s even a link between Rowling’s Unspeakables and the so-called “Untouchables,” government officials who went after mobster Al Capone in the 1920s.
The Link Between British Government and the Ministry of Magic
According to Rowling, upon the election of each new British Prime Minister, the Minister of Magic must contact the Muggle Prime Minister (through a portrait of a wizard hanging on the Prime Minister’s wall) to meet and discuss the existence of wizards, magic, and the Ministry of Magic itself. The Minister of Magic must also inform the Prime Minister whenever highly dangerous creatures are brought into the country or when Dark Wizards threaten the security of Muggles in general or the Prime Minister directly. Aurors have even been known to infiltrate the Prime Minister’s staff in order to guard and protect him under this last set of conditions.
What’s fascinating about this idea is that it forces readers to wonder, “Do wizards really exist in England, and the Prime Minister just doesn’t want to admit it?” It helps explain how the wizarding world has survived, undetected, all these millennia. In fact, one could argue that Rowling’s particular genius comes not only from creating an entire fantastical world, but in joining that world with the Muggle world and explaining ways in which the two have been intersecting for years. That concept gives readers pause, even those older, worldly, experienced readers. Is it possible? Did the Minister of Magic introduce himself through a picture in the wall to Margaret Thatcher back in the 1980s? What about Tony Blair more recently?
Each Muggle Prime Minister, of course, tells no one what he or she knows and takes the knowledge of magic and wizards to the grave. Why? Because if the Prime Minister passed along his knowledge of the Ministry of Magic and the entire wizarding world, his mental state would quite surely be questioned, and he would likely find himself turned out of 10 Downing Street in a half-day’s time.
TOURIST TIP
If you plan to make a trip to 10 Downing, you might get close enough to snap a picture of the sign that reads, "Downing Street” at the end of the block, or possibly even catch a glimpse of the Prime Minister as he gets into his Land Rover limousine. Forget getting any closer than that, as security is as tight as at the White House.
Chapter 15
Crime and Punishment
In This Chapter • Understanding the role of the Ministry
• Getting to know Aurors
• Examining the wizard court: the Wizengamot
• Reviewing wizard forms of punishment, including Azkaban prison
As with all societies, rules and laws exist to govern the wizarding world. Among British wizards, laws are established by the Ministry of Magic, and they are enforced by Ministry department officials, Aurors, and the Wizengamot. Convicted criminals are pu
nished, but punishments tend to be light for pranks gone wrong and for crimes committed out of monetary greed. For the use of Dark Magic, however, punishment is fierce: a term at a prison from which there is little chance of escape.
Ministry Department Officials: Tracking Down the Improper Use of Magic
Improper use of magic—the misdemeanors of the wizarding world— includes any of the following:• Playing pranks on Muggles: Because Muggles cannot defend themselves against magic of any sort, playing pranks on nonmagic folk is strictly forbidden. Wizards sometimes enjoy playing pranks on Muggles by magicking up their toilets, doorknobs, cars, and so on. Is there an equivalent in the Muggle world? Not exactly. This is something like an eighth-grader picking on a kindergartener, which may be a school violation but isn’t a crime. Perhaps white-color crime comes the closet—when those with more power pick on those with less.
• Using standard Muggle items in magical ways: Items commonly used by Muggles (and that, incidentally, are generally useless to wizards) are not allowed to be doctored up by magic. No similar “crime” exists in the Muggle world, although Muggles frequently use items in ways they weren’t originally intended. It’s just not considered a crime in the Muggle world.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter Page 20