[HPforGrownups] Magic and Law

[Catherine Coleman]

No: HPFGUIDX 42764

In message <004b01c2454e$1da4cb20$3dc3edd1 at Huntley>, Laura Ingalls 
Huntley <huntleyl at mssm.org> writes
>>
>> --- bboy_mn <bboy_mn at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> > Magic and Law-
>> > Why is it, when Harry performs magic away from
>> > school, the Ministry of
>> > Magic freaks out? Yet, Fred and George seem to be
>> > performing magic
>> > nonstop for the entire summer holiday. They spent
>> > all their time in
>> > their room cooking up magic inventions; most jokes
>> > and tricks. So why
>> > don't they get owls from the Ministry warning the
>> > that they will be
>> > expelled if they don't stop? Hardly seems fair.
>
>Well, I think that law is something like the don't-tape-rented-movies
>law
>here in the US...or the Speed Limit.  People do it all the time, and
>they
>don't get in trouble unless they're caught (which is pretty rare). 
>And,
>IMO, the reason why Harry gets caught, while the twins don't, is that
>Privet
>Drive is closely monitored for any magical disturbance (or something
>like
>this).  For Harry's *safety*, of course, but it works just as well for
>catching him in the act of doing illegal spells. Perhaps this is
>something
>connected to the "old magic" or Arabella Figg.

My theory is that Fred and George are doing magic in a magical household 
- and whatever detection devices for illegal magic exist, can only 
detect general area.  So they wouldn't be able to distinguish from Mrs 
Weasley doing magic, and Fred and George doing magic.

However, there's another point about why Harry was caught out when he 
did.  Dispensing with the blowing up of Aunt Marge firstly, at the time, 
Sirius Black had just escaped from Azkaban and a very close eye was 
probably being kept on Harry.

Things were slightly different in CoS with Dobby.  I've always been 
sceptical about the MoM knowing automatically that Harry had performed 
magic.  I always thought that Dobby had immediately reported the hover 
charm immediately after he disapparated.   The letter from Mafalda 
Hopkirk says, "We have received intelligence that..."

This leaves things open, IMO.  Although it is perfectly possible that 
Harry is monitored at all times (I would expect that the MoM would want 
to know if anyone else was performing magic anywhere in the vicinity and 
would have some kind of magic radar thing), I never thought that the 
knowledge would be detailed enough to know that it was a Hover Charm 
that was performed.  I always thought that if Harry was monitored that 
closely, then everyone would know how appallingly he was treated, and do 
something about it.  They would also know, for instance, that he hadn't 
been told of his background and his magical ability.

Catherine