obstruction of justice
marephraim
htfulcher at comcast.net
Wed Oct 2 19:46:38 UTC 2002
No: HPFGUIDX 44817
Steve writes:
> There seems to be a school of thought that the Ministry is keeping
an espicially close eye on Harry's house. Any sign of magic on
Privet Drive could be a sign that Voldemort had tracked Harry down,
and they would need to respond right away.
>
> Since Fred and George are performing magic all the time, I
seriously doubt that everyone gets that same level of surveillance.
>
> [snip] ... it doesn't seem reasonable that the Ministry monitors
all magic everywhere all the time. I think Harry is a special case
and that's why they detect things so quickly.
>
> Although, I can't help being curious about how they are monitoring
him. Maybe we will eventually find out.
MarEphraim writes:
This touches on a topic from when I first encountered this group and
which is discussed in the Mysteries and Inconsistencies FAQ. At the
time I first wrote to this list I supposed that the Restictions of
Underage Wizardry might have been either a) a recent law or b) a law
that only applied once study at Hogwarts had begun. (It was also
suggested by someone at the time that it was just a flint in PS/SS
that Hermione et al. mentioned having tried out some spells, etc..)
On the other hand, I could easily see how the Ministry could
monitor, not "all magic everywhere all the time," but magic
performed by students away from school. Unbeknownst to the students
they could be under a charm that somehow notifies the Ministry
thereby allowing for the swift response to infractions.
It also seems equally probable (and as other threads have generally
commented) that Dumbledore, and quite possibly the Ministry, may
have placed special charms that give notification of magic performed
in and around Privet Drive.
This said, it would seem likely that in general the law applies to
students enrolled in Hogwarts. Even Harry has (unknowlingly)
performed magic before attending Hogwarts. Yet these acts, like
those of Ron, Hermione and the other children refered to (i.e., QWC
in GoF) do not have the honed polish of even first year students on
summer holiday.
We could speculate also whether there is a distinction between magic
performed in and around a wizard family/home versus that of a muggle.
MarEprhaim
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