• Allowing Muggles to see magic being performed: Because Muggles are not supposed to know that wizards exist, the Statute of Secrecy strictly forbids allowing Muggles to see magical acts being performed. Muggles’ memories are always modified by Ministry officials (called Obliviators) when they see such acts. In the Muggle world, the United States CIA reportedly has its own way of “wiping out someone’s memory” if they’ve seen something they shouldn’t have … yikes!
• Note that, as in most cultures, wizard self-defense is always permitted, which means that in exceptional circumstances in which anyone’s life is threatened, using magic in the presence of Muggles is allowed.
• Misusing magical creatures: Because so many magical creatures are dangerous, possessing and misusing such creatures is a crime under wizard law. Cruelty to animals, the equivalent crime in the Muggle world, does sometimes go unpunished in local courts, even though studies show that it’s a precursor to more serious crimes.
• Cheating other wizards: Cheating other wizards can range from selling useless amulets and substandard cauldrons to outright theft. In the wizarding world, as in nearly all Muggle societies, cheating others is strictly forbidden.
Thus, Ministry department officials act as a police force for petty crimes (what we might call misdemeanors). For crimes committed out of sheer evil—and especially for the use of the Unforgivable Curses (see Chapter 12)—Aurors hunt down the wizards in question, and the Wizengamot prosecutes the offenders, usually with a life-long term in prison.
When the only person hurt from the misuse of magic is the wizard him-or herself (such as is the case with many injuries), and no Muggles have seen the results of the misused magic, no one is punished. The injury is treated, the wizard may be publicly embarrassed, and he or she usually has to pay a fine, but the wizard is usually not prosecuted. This is generally the same as in the Muggle world, where if there is no one to press charges against an individual, and no damage was done to someone else’s property (including community-owned property), the individual is sent home, perhaps with a ticket or light fine.
Ridding the World of Evil Magic: Aurors, the Wizengamot, and Anti-Dark Wizard Groups
While Ministry department officials detect and deter petty crimes, Aurors are homicide detectives, the FBI, and the CIA all rolled into one, and the Wizengamot hears cases brought to trial by the work of Aurors. In addition, other wizards sometimes come together to fight Dark Magic.
Aurors and Their Role
Aurors are employed by the Ministry as part of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, are sometimes called Hit Wizards, and are the top police force in the British wizarding world. These law-enforcement wizards likely take their name from aurora, Latin for dawn or daybreak. (Aurora was, in fact, the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn.) As defenders against Dark Wizards, Aurors are wizards of light.
KING’S ENGLISH
A common story about the origin of the word Auror is that, because British police officers are colloquially known as "coppers,” Rowling named the Auror after the Latin aurum or aureum, meaning "gold.” This is a bit of a stretch, though. If this sort of thin connection were Rowling’s style, it could be equally likely that Aurors were named after the Latin auris, meaning ear or hearing, because they listened well enough in class to earn top marks! Pretty unlikely.
Aurors are among the most accomplished wizards in the world, excelling in several school subjects, including Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, and Charms. Animagi and Metamorphmagi (discussed in detail in Chapter 13) are prime candidates for Auror work, because they can easily change their appearance. Aurors must also be of outstanding character, because they are deeply entrenched in the Dark world and cannot be at risk of changing sides. Before taking their posts, Aurors train for three years beyond graduation from Hogwarts.
Think of qualifying to be an Auror the same way you might think of getting accepted to one of the U.S. military academies (West Point, the Navel Academy, and the Air Force Academy), which require a successful candidate to be an exceptional student and an exceptional role model. Applicants to the academies must receive recommendations from members of Congress to submit with their applications! Once there, the rigors of the academies are radically different from life at other colleges— course loads are heavier, nearly every student follows a basic engineering curriculum, military and physical training is required, and so on.
The Order of the Phoenix
In addition to Aurors, nonofficial anti-Dark Wizard groups occasionally spring up in the wizarding world. The most potent is the Order of the Phoenix, which is made up of powerful wizards and Aurors alike, yet meets secretly, outside of the Ministry’s purview. This group is, in fact, in opposition to the Ministry, during those times that the ministry is in denial over the existence of Dark Wizards. Like orders of knights throughout British history, who upheld the laws of the land even when kings had gone bad, the Order upholds the laws of the Ministry when the Ministry is too blinded or corrupt to take on that task itself. The Order’s symbol, a phoenix, is a colorful bird that lives for hundreds of years, periodically bursting into flame and renewing itself with new plumage and life (see Chapter 2).
Prosecuting Dark Wizards: The Wizengamot
The Wizengamot is the Wizard High Court and is made up of the best and brightest wizards of the day. The Wizengamot has similarities to both the United States Supreme Court and the UK House of Lords (a legislative body much like the United States Senate, whose judicial functions will be replaced by a UK Supreme Court in 2008), as both are the highest court in the land. However, both the U.S. and UK versions are appeals courts, in that they hear only cases that have been heard in lower courts. The Wizengamot, on the other hand, hears new cases, almost always criminal trials for crimes in which Dark Magic was used.
When they sit in full session, the fifty or so members of the Wizengamot are presided over by a Chief Warlock. Likewise, a Chief Justice presides over the nine justices on the United States Supreme Court, and a Senior heads the twelve UK law lords (although only five of those twelve usually sit at trial). Of the two, however, the Wizengamot is much more like the United States Supreme Court: members wear robes, proceed formally, may block the public from attending trials, and so on. (By contrast, the House of Lords’ proceedings are quite informal.) The Wizengamot Charter of Rights, a listing of basic wizard rights, sounds strikingly like the Bill of Rights that were amended to the U.S. Constitution, the document upon which the United States Supreme Court bases all its decisions.
However, unlike the United States Supreme Court, members of the Wizengamot act as prosecutors and interrogators during trials and may even skip the part where they hear evidence on behalf of the defendant. At times when the Chief Warlock has not been a person with a well-defined sense of justice, the Wizengamot have come to the court with their minds made up, and cases have been based on hearsay, with no witnesses or assistance for the defense. (This is frighteningly like the trials in some non-democratic countries around the world today.) As a result, defendants and witnesses appearing before the Wizengamot can be so nervous that they do not insist on the unbiased proceedings that are their right; in fact, rights under the Charter may be ignored by the Wizengamot. Indeed, at some proceedings, the charge is read, and then a vote (a show of hands) is taken to determine guilt or innocence; no other trial proceedings take place. And in extreme cases, no trial at all takes place; the accused is sent straight to Azkaban. This is not a legally sanctioned practice; it’s just what happens when the Ministry panics.
MAGIC TALE
Proceedings of the Wizengamot court sometimes sound an awful lot like the Salem Witch Trials. With no means of defense against charges, wizards may be found guilty of practicing Dark Magic, even though no trial is heard and no defense is argued on behalf of the accused. The assumption is that if Aurors went after and captured a wizard, he or she must be a Dark Wizard. But situations can be confused, and good wizards have been wrongly imprisoned
in Azkaban, just as innocent people were tortured or killed by hasty court proceedings in Salem, Massachusetts.
The Wizengamot has repeatedly sent Dark Wizards to prison, which is essentially a death sentence. The Wizengamot can also dole out lesser punishments, but only rarely hears cases that do not involve Dark Magic. As with Muggle courts of law, accused criminals can exchange testimony on other criminals for lighter sentences.
The name Wizengamot likely has a double meaning, both that of being made up of wise wizards and being made up of old wizards. Gamut means “entire range,” (and in Tagalog, the largest of the Philippine languages, gamot means “medicine”) while wizen means “dried up and shriveled.” A range of dried up and shriveled people? The medicine of the dried and shriveled? Hmmm. Perhaps, but wizen is likely derived from wizard, which means “wise.” The Wizengamot, then, can be thought of as made up of a range of wise, albeit a bit old, people. Or the medicine of old, wise wizards … tough medicine to swallow, for those found guilty.
Punishments
In nearly all democratic societies, punishment has four purposes:• Retribution: This purpose of punishment appears in the Old Testament “eye for an eye,” and is often referred to as “paying a debt to society.” This debt is usually tied to the heinousness of the crime: a lesser crime receives a lesser punishment.
• Deterrence: Punishment is meant to deter others from committing the same crime and to keep a criminal from repeating the crime in the future. The punishment must, therefore, be severe enough to act as a deterrent.
• Rehabilitation: Ideally, punishment also includes a component that rehabilitates the criminal, eliminating the underlying cause of criminal activity (mental illness, extreme anger, drug use, and so on).
• Incapacitation: Punishment is meant to restrain the criminal in order to keep him or her from committing additional criminal acts. Incapacitation ranges from house arrest to death.
In the wizarding world, retribution and rehabilitation tend to be ignored; the focus is, instead, on deterrence and incapacitation. Underage criminals are deterred by the risk of expulsion from school, and adult criminals are deterred by the risk of fines and public humiliation. Evil criminals are supposed to be deterred and incapacitated by sentences in Azkaban prison, but the most evil ones tend to break out and continue their criminal ways.
Expulsion
The Ministry of Magic has no power to punish Hogwarts students for the crimes they commit at school, nor does it have the power to expel students from Hogwarts. However, the Hogwarts headmaster does have that power, and he uses it as a chief deterrent to underage mischief.
Wizards-in-training are not allowed, for all practical purposes, to practice magic outside school grounds. However, this violation tends to be prosecuted by school officials only when it allows Muggles to see magic being performed or when it employs the use of Dark Magic. Playing Quidditch (see Chapter 6) in the backyard, for example, with no Muggle neighbors nearby, would not result in expulsion. Messing with helpless Muggles on the subway, on the other hand, would. This legal turning of the head happens all the time in the Muggle world … think of a police car sailing past cars going well over the speed limit on some major highways, for example!
Like Muggle high schools, although wizarding students do drop out of Hogwarts before completing their seven years, most wizarding jobs require education through at least the fifth year (when O.W.L.s are taken—see Chapter 8) or the sixth (when Apparition lessons are offered— see Chapter 5), so incentive is high for students to remain at Hogwarts until at least that time.
Wizards are considered to be “of age” when they turn seventeen, which is either late in their sixth year or early in their seventh. (In the Muggle world, it’s usually sixteen to drop out of school; eighteen to be considered a legal adult. The wizarding world does both at seventeen.) As such, seventh-year students cannot be expelled from Hogwarts for underage sorcery, as they are no longer considered underage. They could, possibly, be expelled for being gits and prats, though!
KING’S ENGLISH
A git roughly translates to "jerk,” but with a touch of jealousy to it and with a little bit of love. So your best friend is a git when she wins the spelling bee, and then forgets your birthday the next day. The boys at Hogwarts often call each other gits. A prat is an idiot, but at Hogwarts it also tends to be an uptight idiot: one who doesn’t quite get what’s going on, but is trying to be perfect anyway. Percy Weasley is a perfect example of a goody-two-shoes prat who has little common sense.
Fines and Public Humiliation
For the most part, wizards are kept in line for their minor crimes by small fines and public humiliation, if they can be caught. Repeat offenders of minor crimes are viewed with annoyance, and most are simply yelled at when they make their next public appearances. This sort of public embarrassment has recently been employed in the Muggle world, as when judges sentence bad teen drivers to several months of riding the bus, or sentence litterbugs to clean up the highway.
Azkaban Prison and Dementors
On the far other side of the spectrum from fines and humiliation is the deadly serious punishment of a sentence at Azkaban prison. In fact, the very name Azkaban strikes fear into the hearts of wizards. It is a place from which few wizards return, and when they do, they are often just a shell of their former selves.
Azkaban is much like the U.S. federal prison called Alcatraz (nicknamed “the Rock”) that operated from the mid 1930s through the mid 1960s, both in name (three-syllable words beginning with the letter “a”) and in location, as they are both island prisons. Both are maximum-security prisons that house the most dangerous criminals: in the case of Alcatraz, the most deadly mobsters and other murderers; in the case of Azkaban, the most evil Dark Wizards. Alcatraz has had only one successful escape attempt; Azkaban has had several.
TOURIST TIP
If you’re visiting San Francisco, take the boat trip to Alcatraz Island to visit the prison, which is now a prime tourist destination and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Visit for more information.
The major difference between the two prisons, however, is the presence of dementors at Azkaban. Dementors (from the Latin de, out of, and mens, mind; or “to make insane”) are Azkaban’s prison guards: ghoulish, cloaked creatures (think of the Grim Reaper) who, just by being in the general vicinity of wizards and Muggles alike, suck happiness, peace, and hope right out of them. Victims in the presence of dementors feel a deep, whole-body coldness and remember painful events from the past. Because of the presence of these guards, many prisoners go mad in just a short time. In addition, for those requiring more serious punishment, they administer the Dementor’s Kiss; dementors actually suck out the person’s soul, so that he or she is nothing more than a walking shell. Most wizards die soon after the Dementor’s Kiss. Compare this to even the meanest guards at Muggle prisons, and there’s really no comparison.
Dementors can be kept at bay by conjuring up a Patronus (see Chapter 13), which acts as a positive force that shields the wizard from the soul-draining effects of the dementor. However, because the Patronus Charm is advanced wizardry, only the most accomplished wizards possess the ability to drive away the dementors. Happily, if one has been in the presence of a dementor and escapes, the ill effects can be quickly reversed by eating copious amounts of chocolate. Just one bite spreads warmth throughout the body and begins to bring joy back to the wizard. This is not unlike the role of chocolate in the Muggle world!
Rowling’s depiction of dementors may have been influenced by the work of Philip Pullman, a British fantasy author. Rowling’s dementors bear
a striking resemblance to Pullman’s Spectres in His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife, published in 1997, two years before dementors first appeared in the wizarding world.
The word spectre, by definition, means any object of fear or dread, but Pullman’s Spectres are especially dreaded. Although they cannot harm children, Spectres move toward adults as would a host
of insects, and then they eat out the person’s soul, leaving a mere shell of the person behind. Children can only watch this slow, soul-sucking death happening to their parents, older siblings, and other loved ones; they cannot stop the attacks or help defend against them. And children know that, in time, they, too, will be subject to Spectre attacks. The only defense against Spectres is the Subtle Knife, which can be borne only by the designated Knife Bearer.
Chapter 16
The Final Word
In This Chapter • Finding out who’s good—and who’s not
• Getting the lowdown on a new gadget or two
• Discovering a multitude of new incantations and spells
• Learning more about Horcruxes
• Latching on to additional advanced wizardry
This is the chapter in which you get the “final word” on the Harry Potter series. The seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, tied up a decade of loose ends, allowing fans to rest easy, knowing that good has prevailed and—at long last—Lord Voldemort has been vanquished.
In this chapter, you discover spells that appear for the first time in the last novel, get the latest on those horrible Horcruxes, and find out about the Deathly Hallows.
Good or Evil Revealed
So many questions about the goodness or badness of wizards lingered in the air before Deathly Hallows was published! Some cars even sported bumper stickers predicting that Snape was evil, while others begged for him to be trusted. When it was all said and done, audiences around the world were pleased to discover that Professor Snape is a good guy, loyal to the Order of the Phoenix to the end. Likewise, Mr. Ollivander, the wand-maker discussed in Chapter 7, is not a Dark Wizard, but was needed by Lord Voldemort for his knowledge of the Elder Wand (see “The Deathly Hallows” section later in this chapter). And the famed R. A. B. who stole a Horcrux from Voldemort (see both Chapter 13 and the “Horcruxes” section later in this chapter) was none other than Regulus Arcturus Black.
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