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

[Alex]

No: HPFGUIDX 53420

maria_kirilenko:
> 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.

I'm not attacking anyone (particularly JKR), or arguing against the restriction, 
I'm just poiting out inconsistencies that I'd like explained somehow. I'm in 
complete agreement that it's a bad idea for underage wizards to be practicing 
magic without adult supervision, but the tracking system that maria_kirilenko 
proposes is just as hypothetic and problematic as my idea that it's just a 
poorly conceived plot element that JKR's bending. If underage wizards were 
to practice magic at home with other adults nearby (in basements or their own 
rooms behind closed doors), they could still be causing serious harm to 
themselves, siblings, pets, etc. The idea that the MoM could track the rough 
location of spells being cast still has frightening big brotherly consequences 
(perhaps more so than just having a way of tracking underage wizards). One 
would think if there were a way to track magic like this, they could find out 
where any known DE or even Voldemort is by tracking their trail of magic...

snip, snip, snip (holes in my argument that I readily admit)

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

maria_kirilenko:
> 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.

I'll grant that it is applied somewhat consistently but I still feel that the whole 
idea of a restriction on underage magic is an idea that is not very well thought 
out (or explained) in terms of enforceability. It is frighteningly like big 
brother...again, if the MoM can track locale, why not more?

It's all hypothetical, and perhaps JKR has a completely valid explanation for 
how it works. If so, I'd love to know. (That and a million other things!)


~~aesob