Underage Magic at the Weasley's (and in general)

[maria_kirilenko]

No: HPFGUIDX 53389

Alex <aesob at yahoo.com> wrote:

Yes, that particular example was a bad one (damn the movie for 
messing me up! j/k), but it still doesn't undermine the point I was 
trying to make, which is that the "Ban on Underage Magic" is a 
plot element that JKR created to prevent Harry from using magic 
on Dudley during summer vacation to keep him miserable and 
as a lead-in to CoS for what Dobby does, and it's otherwise been 
overlooked or abandoned because it's too restrictive to other 
story lines. JKR overlooks it in all the books, and it's really only 
a 
"Ban on Harry from doing Magic in front of Muggles or he _May_ 
get in Trouble".

Me:

Let me try to defend JKR a bit (not that she needs it).

I believe that schoolchildren on vacation are indeed not allowed to 
do magic. But the tracking system in the MoM is such that it cannot 
determine who exactly preforms the spell. In other words, they only 
track the location. This is why F&G preform magic in the Burrow 
during the summer - there are adults living there, and the MoM simply 
doesn't know that it wasn't an adult who had preformed the spell.

Let me try and go other the reasons you listed:

>>>1. The ban is something that is only ever applied to Harry once 
(beginning of CoS), and it was used as a plot element to 
introduce us to how troublesome Dobby could be, as it's 
something Harry's not even guilty for. As Juliet points out above, 
in PoA, Harry is pardoned for blowing up Aunt Marge (when he 
actually is guilty) by none other than Fudge, the Minister of Magic!
>>>

In CoS, when Dobby preforms the Hovering Charm, the MoM only knows 
that a charm had been done at Privet Drive 4. They don't know who did 
it. But since Harry is the only wizard living there, they deduce that 
Harry was the one doing the magic.

In PoA, Fudge was so relieved that Sirius hadn't murdered Harry when 
Harry ran away, he just didn't care about the fact that Harry did 
magic.

>>>2. The ban seems to be ignored in wizarding families and at 
wizarding places (which are still outside of Hogwarts!). As 
harrydraco42 and misstresskathy pointed out in previous posts, 
the Weasley twins must have been using magic to create their 
Canary Creams. The child in GoF blowing up a slug at the 
Quidditch World Cup is scolded by the mother, but no ministry 
official descends on them to squash the behavior. Harry sends 
up red and gold sparks in Ollivander's in SS/PS, and students 
practice magic on the Hogwarts Express (still before school!).>>>

First, I think I covered the location-not-wizard tracking system. 

Now, about the little boy witht the slug (Kevin, IIRC) and 
Ollivander's: I believe that the Restriction of Underage magic refers 
to children that are already at school - the ones who have studied 
magic and can control what they do, up to a certain point. 

Pre-Hogwarts kids, OTOH, constantly have spontanious outpourings of 
magic. It's a normal part of growing up for magical children, and 
they can't control it.

>>>3. The ban is not exercised on the Weasleys twins when they 
feed Dudley the one ton toffee, nor is Harry in trouble when he 
causes Dudley to fall into the snake pit (even though this is 
before he knows he's a wizard, shouldn't there have been some 
ramifications if it's truly a "Ban?")>>>

It's not a ban, it's a "Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of 
Underage Sorcery."

The trick with Ton Tongue Toffee is that it was already enchanted at 
the Burrow. No one actually cast the Engorgement Charm on Dudley. 
This is why there no letter that we know of, although, admittedly, it 
could have arrived later.

When Harry made the glass disappear, he wasn't in school yet, and I 
believe I covered that already.

>>Maybe I don't have hard proof, but I stand by my idea that the ban 
on underage magic was a quickly conceived plot element that 
was too restrictive, so JKR's gone soft on it.>>>

Actually, I think JKR is pretty consistent with it. It's also not as 
scary, I think, if the MoM doesn't know *everything.* It would be 
pretty oppressive if the Ministry knew who, when, and where had 
preformed what spell.

>>>Wizards old and young, especially in non-muggle areas rely so 
heavily on magic, the ban is an unfair burden for them, and 
JKR's realized this when she's started exploring new areas such 
as the Weasley's home and the Quidditch World Cup. That's 
why she's gotten lax with it.>>>

I, OTOH, think that kids who aren't 'fully qualified wizards' should 
not be allowed to preform magic whenever they want to, and that the 
restriction is a good thing. 

For two reasons: 

1. Children screw up spells - 'like poor Eloise Midgen.' If, in 
addition, there aren't even adults around to fix the spells, it gets 
much worse.

2. Being magical is a responsibility. It's so easy to abuse one's 
magical abilities - Jelly-Legs Jinx everyone you don't like, 
Confundus-Charm the shop owner down the street into giving you two 
items for the price of one,Crucio your neighbour's evil dog, Imperio 
your mom into buying you tickets to the World Cup - sorry, this is 
slowly getting disgusting. Anyway, most children can't objectively 
judge their actions, especially before they do them. This is another 
reason for the restriction.

I hope that helps,

Maria