Underage Magic during war & at the MoM

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 93670

"Arya" wrote:
  
In fact, I go back to support my belief that they're not monitored
at all while they are supposedly in school because in GoF, if Harry's
use of the Disarming Charm, Summoning Charm and any other spells he
cast while escaping from the graveyard set off an UAM alarm then
Mafalda Hopkirk could have helped to support Harry's story of Volde's
return. ("Yes, Minister, he cast a Disarming Charm, an Impediment Jinx
and then a Summoning Charm in a cemetary in the middle of Little
Hangleton.") Oh, and in PoA, any spells cast while the kids were in
the Shreiking Shack would have set off the UAM detector--they were in
Hogsmeade, not Hogwarts at that time.  
 
bboy_mn responded:
 
Very much in agreement with you, so no arguement here, but I do want
to expand on a few points. First, by all indications, and by the
Ministy's own admission, Privet Drive is being monitored very closely.
I think the original aim of that monitoring was the idea that if any
magic did occur there, it probably represented an attack against
Harry, and that would mean Voldemort and/or Death Eater activity. 
 
So, while I don't want to argue the details of Privet Drive
monitoring, I do want to emphasis that it is there and to a far
greater degree than say Diagon Alley, the Ministry of Magic, or the
Burrow. Those places, as well as others, are flooded with magic and
would be very hard to monitor. 
 
The second point is that underage magic IN the Magic World is probably
a petty misdemeanor and happens all the time. As long as the parents
are monitoring it and keeping a lid on it, and it doesn't become a
public nuisance, then the Ministry probably doesn't get too upset.
 
However, magic in the muggle world is something of major concern, and
could very well create serious problems that would require significant
Ministry resources to fix. In that case, underage magic would be taken
much more seriously.
 
So, I don't think the level to which Privet Drive is monitored
represents the lever to which the wizard world or the world at large
in monitored. 
 
Also, I don't think underage magic in secure magic space is take as
seriously as magic in the muggle world.


Carol:
I agree, more or less, but would like to add that IMO it's the place
that's monitored, not the person, and that the MoM doesn't necessarily
know who performed the magic: Note: "a hover charm *was performed*" in
CoS. They don't know for sure who performed the charm but they assume
that it was Harry because he's the only magical person in that
neighborhood whose existence they're aware of. (They don't even know
about the Squib neighbor, Mrs. Figg, and certainly don't know about
Mark Evans if Mark is indeed magical.) The Patronus charm is also
(correctly) assumed to be Harry, only this time they don't bother to
use the passive voice because they're so eager to get Harry expelled,
but still, I'm pretty sure it's an assumption based on their awareness
(or presumption) that no one else in the neighborhood could have cast
the spell.

Probably other half-bloods and Muggle-borns are monitored almost as
closely as Harry (to prevent Muggles other than their parents from
seeing the magic), but places like Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade wouldn't
be monitored because there would be no way to distinguish the
continual practice of magic by adults in those places from that
performed by kids. That would explain why the magic in the Shrieking
Shack wasn't detected. If I'm right, the MoM, if Hogsmeade is on its
radar at all, wouldn't have been able to distinguish HRH's spells from
Lupin's, Sirius's, and Snape's. In other words, they wouldn't have
known that the magic was being performed by underage wizards. (And
when Fudge finds out about the Stunning spells later, Snape saves
their necks by saying that they were under a Confundus charm. Just had
to throw that in.)

Carol