Detecting the Underage use of Magic - You Asked!

[natti_shafer at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 97268

Very well thought out bboy_mn. I agreed with most of what you 
wrote.  My only objection come from this paragraph:

 
> 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.

This incident in CoS reveals how woeful their detection is because 
Harry does not perform the Hover Charm; Dobby performs it.  So 
although the Ministry knows it was performed, they cannot pinpoint 
the source and are left to assume Harry performed it.  Why they make 
that assumption we are not sure.  I see two possible explanations:   

1) They might have assumed that the only wizard in residence at 4 
Privet MUST have performed it. 2) They were able to tell that Harry 
was in close proximity to the Hover Charm and investigated no 
further to see if another magic user was present.  

So while this was a major violation of the Restriction on Underage 
Magic when you say that Harry is "rightly" given a very stern 
warning, I must disagree.  He didn't perform the charm and even 
tried to stop the charm from occuring.
-Nathaniel