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

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 53661

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Alex" <aesob at y...> wrote:
> aesob wrote:
> > <snip> 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. 
> > 

bboy_mn:

Let's take a close look at the law, or at least as close as we are
able given the limitations.

"Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery"

I want to draw everyone's attention to the word REASONABLE.  This
would imply that the decree is NOT the -

"Decree for the ABSOLUTE Restriction of Underage Sorcery"

I have said before that we are dealing with a range of 'crimes' when
we discuss this. Some degrees are merely mischief that hardly warrant
action by the Ministry. Others, especially if they involve Muggle or
do any kind of damage, are much more severe and of the nature of Gross
Misdemeanors and borderline felonies.

I think underage magic in magic space (the magic world) in ways that
are contained and supervised (to some extent) are not worth the
Ministries attention unless the reach the level of public nuisance and
even then it remains a minor problem. We see many examples of this,
underage magic in the magic world in the form of simple
inconsequential spells; lumos, etc....

Anything in the Muggle world and especially if it effect Muggles in
anyway is an event of primary importance. 

Since the Decree is for the REASONABLE restriction of underage magic,
we have to assume that it has some built-in flexibility. Some means by
which conditional use is allowed.
-end this part-


> >maria_kirilenko replied:

> > 
> > Location-tracked!Spells is a valid theory that is derived from 
> > canon, ...edited... (or) ...it's just a "poorly conceived plot 
> element" invented just to harass  Harry....

> ...substantial edit...
> 
> aesob

 
bboy_mn:
How many examples of the tracking of magic do we have in the series so
far? I can only think of one; although I'm open to someone proving me
wrong. Since Harry is the only example of magical tracking we have,
then we could assume that they are specifically tracking him at the
Dursleys. And given that fact that he lives among muggles, any magic
at his location becomes significant.

The fact that the Ministry detected a spell taking place at Privet
Drive and that they did not identify the source of the spell tells me
that they can't track specific people under normal circumstance.

Regarding the blowing up of Aunt Marge, while the Ministy's Accidental
Magic Reversal Squad didn't get to Privet Drive soon enough to catch
Harry, it is implied that they did get there very fast. That could
imply both specific and/or general monitoring. Although, I lean toward
the Ministry specifically monitoring this, the Dursleys, location.

If there is any ongoing monitoring of the magic world or the presents
of magic in the world then I would assume that they are looking for
trouble spots, places where there has been an unusual surge of magic
like a battle breaking out or a magical catastrophe. I think as an
illustration, magic tracking would be like weather storm tracking; it
ignores the general residual 'noise' and focuses on high density
concentrations of weather (or in our case, magic) phenomena.

Just a few thought.

bboy_mn