Detecting the Underage use of Magic - You Asked!

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 97170

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jimlaming" <jlaming426 at a...> wrote:
> I have been wondering about the MoM ability to monitor the underage 
> use of magic.  There is a great thread at #94458, which discusses 
> mostly the age aspect of the issue.
> 
> What I want to know is: How do they know what magic is being done and 
> by whom?  Is there any logic or intuition or analysis that is applied 
> to the detection and the resulting violation?
> 
> ...edited...
> 
> Jim, who loves asking questions, even stupid ones


bboy_mn:

Now you've done it, you've invited me to post one of my many theories.

Choices - spend hours seaching back for my original post, or take a
few seconds and post it again. Sorry, searching takes too long.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
ORIGINALLY POSTED SEVERAL MONTHS AGO-
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Magical Radar - Unwitting Request for Theory.


This post is in reference to the 'Hagrid's wand and wand use
restrictions' thread. I'm starting a new thread because I really don't
have a direct response to any specific person.

Once again, you have all unwittingly invited me to post one of my many
(many, many, many) theories. 

You asked for it, so ready or not, here it comes.

Detection of Magic-

Have you ever seen 'lightening strike' radar on the television weather
report?

The lightening strikes usually show up as little '+' (plus) signs, and
as the lightening radar is played forward through a span of time, we
see the accumulation of lightening strikes in our weather area. Hold
that thought.

Now let's look at standard weather radar, where various density of
weather phenomenon show up as various colors depending on the
intensity. Pale blues and pale greens represent mild rain showers. As
the color moves through yellow toward oranges and reds, the storm
become more intense. Dark red usually represents severe thunder
storms, perhaps even tornados. 

I think a combination of these two represents the way magic is
monitored, it is both event driven similar to lighten radar, and
intensity driven similar to storm radar.

The wizards monitoring magic occurrences at the Ministry of Magic are
able to detect magical events. That allows them to closely monitor
specific locations like Harry's (actually the Dursley's) house. If
that magic exceeds a particular threshold, it then appears on Magic
'Storm' radar. 

When substantial bursts of magic occur or magic events occur at
critical locations, that may automatically trigger, more sophisticated
magical detectors that can divine the nature of the magic that
occurred. This would allow the Ministry of Magic to dispatch
Accidental Magical Reversal Team and Teams of Obliviators very quickly
to deal with dangerous magical events.

Now let pause to consider the "Decree for the Reasonable Restriction
of Underage Sorcery (1875). First and foremost, let us note that it is
the "Reasonable" restriction, not that absolute restriction. 

First, it's existence seems reasonable, we can't have wizards in
training running around willy-nilly performing magic all over the
place. The Ministry is quite busy enough, thank you very much, without
having to run around undoing improperly executed spell by every
juvenile wizard in the country. Seems quite reasonable to restrict an
untrained wizard to using magic only under closely supervised
conditions. More on that later.

Now to a far more critical and important wizarding law; the
"International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy ". Now we
are dealing with international law, and one at the very heart of the
existence of wizarding government. By Hagrid's statement and by
general observation, the most significant and consuming function of
wizarding government is to keep the existence of the wizard world
secret from the muggles.

An egregious breach of this law puts the entire wizard world at risk.
If the muggles found out, it would be like finding out for an absolute
fact that our government had know of the existence of space alien ever
since they landed at Rosewell, New Mexico. Half the population of the
world would be calling for us to NUKE them off the face of the
universe and the other half would be worshiping them as gods; chaos,
riots in the streets, wars over which countries had the right to
exploit this new technology, chaos, chaos, chaos.

Moving on, let's look at underage magic that does and appears to
happen in the books.

First, the Weasley twins; while not flatly stated, all indications
seem to be that Fred and George are performing some magic during the
summer holiday as the invent their joke products. True, a significant
amount of that could be potion based, but I think there are enough
indicators for us to conclude that it is not all potion based. 

So, why isn't the Ministry of Magic storming the Weasley Castle
(figurative on the castle part) keen on throwing the miscreant Twin
into prison?

Why? Because it's happening in a secure space, among other things. The
Weasleys live on a secluded farm away from the prying eyes of muggles.
The Weasley farm, based on my best guess, is on muggle land purchased
by Mr. Weasley, and it is just outside a muggle town, and logically,
the Weasley farm is surrounded by other muggle farms. Although, I want
to emphasis again that the Burrow is probably secluded, surrounded by
trees and hills, and generally out of sight of muggles going about
their daily business. 

In addition, it seems reasonable that Mr. Weasley would have added
some muggle protections to his land. Although, I don't think he would
have to go as far as the protections seen at the Quidditch World Cup
or at 12 Grimmauld Place. I speculate that the Burrow isn't magically
hidden from Muggles since three taxi drivers seemed to have found the
place OK. Rather, Mr. Weasley has just applied some Apathy Charm to
the land. This make the Burrow tediously boring and uninteresting to
muggles. So utterly uninteresting that they completely ignore the
place, and even if they do happen to see it, it's so boring that what
they see barely, if at all, registers in their mind. So, beyond
knowing the between this tract of land and that tract of land is
another track of land which we (the readers) know as the Burrow, the
muggle don't give it a second thought or a second look.

One might now ask, how in the world did three taxi drivers find such a
tediously uninteresting place? Well, I can only speculate. It's
possible that someone waited for them at the end of the driveway, and
flagged them into the Burrow. Or Mr. Weasley may have relaxed the
charm. Or it could be that since the drive up is attached to a public
road, it is not charmed, and therefore can be found by muggles. I
could continue with assorted speculations, but we know for a fact the
muggles can find the Burrow; we are all free to speculate as to why
they can.

No, no, I haven't forgotten that I am suppose to be talking about the
twins and their unauthorized magic. Back on track again.

My point is that Fred and George are in their home under the
'somewhat' supervision of their parents in a magically secure space
away from muggles, so as long as they don't create a public nuisance
the Ministry has better things to do with it's resources that chase
mischief makers. Beside, magic is occurring all the time at the
Burrow; the detection of a magical event there would hardly raise a yawn.

Now let's look at magic at the Dursley residence. The wizard world, to
some extend, know that the Dursley's are the muggliest muggles in the
world. Although, they are well aware of the existence of the wizard
world. In addition since this is the residence of Harry Potter, who is
at risk of retribution from Voldemort and his followers, the Ministry
is closely monitoring that location, because if magic does occur
there, there is a potential for it to be of disastrous proportions. I
also believe that the significant persons at the Ministry of Magic,
are not only aware of Harry's history but are very much aware that
Harry has a future that is of vital significants to the wizard world.
All the more reason to monitor 4 Privet Drive very closely.

A lot of eyes are upon our dear Harry Potter, far far more than he
realizes.

Now to the magic that occurred there. The incidence of the Hover
Charm, would be a significant event, and would be of noticeable
intensity for magic occurring in a muggle home, even for muggles who
are aware of the magic world. That would certainly trigger deeper
investigation of the event. That incident is compounded by occurring
in the presents of muggles; specifically Vernon and Petunia's guest,
who without question must be protected from knowledge of the wizard world.

Now a very substantial crime has been committed. Magic has been
exposed to muggle, and significant action must be take to correct the
situation. Since a violation of the highest and most significant
international law has occurred, Harry is given a very stern warning,
and rightly so.

The incident of the blowing up of one Marjorie Dursley while it
involved a muggle was an incident that was not observed by muggles. It
is events exactly like this for which the 'Accidental Magical Reversal
Squad' and the 'Oblviatior' exist. It was an accidental situation that
was easily contained by the Ministry, so no harm done. What's that old
sports saying, 'no harm, no foul'?

The other magic that occurred during that event, was minor and didn't
involve muggles, so again, no harm, no foul.

We must look at underage magic from the two perspective of Underage
Sorcery and breach of the Statue of Secrecy. 

Underage magic away from muggles, in magic or protected space, is a
misdemeanor, a mischief crime right up there with staying out past the
public curfew. This is far too trivial for the Ministry of Magic to
waste it's resources chasing after every little event and occurrence.
However, without a doubt, if the magic become significant, flagrant,
or dangerous the Ministry would step in.

Beach of the code of secrecy, puts the entire wizard world in danger,
and under all circumstance would require a swift and sure response on
the part of the Ministry. Events like these can not be ignored.

So in one case, we have a petty misdemeanor and the other we have a
capital crime and the authorities respond accordingly.

Now to Harry and the Dementors in the latest book. A Patronus charm is
not small potatoes. Knowledgeable wizards and witches are quite
impressed with Harry ability to produce one, and the occurrence of a
charm this advanced and significant in muggle space could not be
ignored. Something this significant probably lit up the magic
detection radar like a Christmas tree. 

Our dear Fudge simply took an event that would certainly require the
Ministry's attention and used it as the perfect excuse to railroad
Harry into a conviction that would have gotten him out of the
Ministry's hair for good. Even a blind man could see how Fudge
unfairly manipulated the situation, doing everything possible to
prevent Harry from properly defending himself, in order to discredit him. 

This particular circumstance involves far more than a mere breach of
secrecy.

One could ask why Harry wasn't prosecuted for the 'Lumos' charm.
Again, we have to consider degree and context. Fudge would have been
laughed out of court if he had tried to 'hang' Harry for a Lumos
charm. That's an extremely minor charm that would hardly even register
on the Ministry's radar screen, and certainly wouldn't have involved
disclosing the secret wizard world to anyone who might observe it.
It's way to minor to merit attention.

So there you have it; my take on magical radar and the crimes it detects.

Is there anything I left out?

Of course, it's just a theory.

In conclusion... be careful what you ask for, you might just get it.


bboy_mn