The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter (42 page)

As with all societies, rules and laws exist to govern the wizarding world. Among British wizards, laws are established by the Ministry of Magic, and they are enforced by Ministry department officials, Aurors, and the Wizengamot. Convicted criminals are punished, but punishments tend to be light for pranks gone wrong and for crimes committed out of monetary greed. For the use of Dark Magic, however, punishment is fierce: a term at a prison from which there is little chance of escape.

Improper use of magic—the misdemeanors of the wizarding world— includes any of the following:

Thus, Ministry department officials act as a police force for petty crimes (what we might call misdemeanors). For crimes committed out of sheer evil—and especially for the use of the Unforgivable Curses (see Chapter 12)—Aurors hunt down the wizards in question, and the Wizengamot prosecutes the offenders, usually with a life-long term in prison.

When the only person hurt from the misuse of magic is the wizard him-or herself (such as is the case with many injuries), and no Muggles have seen the results of the misused magic, no one is punished. The injury is treated, the wizard may be publicly embarrassed, and he or she usually has to pay a fine, but the wizard is usually not prosecuted. This is generally the same as in the Muggle world, where if there is no one to press charges against an individual, and no damage was done to someone else’s property (including community-owned property), the individual is sent home, perhaps with a ticket or light fine.

While Ministry department officials detect and deter petty crimes, Aurors are homicide detectives, the FBI, and the CIA all rolled into one, and the Wizengamot hears cases brought to trial by the work of Aurors. In addition, other wizards sometimes come together to fight Dark Magic.

Aurors are employed by the Ministry as part of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, are sometimes called Hit Wizards, and are the top police force in the British wizarding world. These law-enforcement wizards likely take their name from
aurora,
Latin for dawn or daybreak. (Aurora was, in fact, the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn.) As defenders against Dark Wizards, Aurors are wizards of light.

Aurors are among the most accomplished wizards in the world, excelling in several school subjects, including Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, and Charms. Animagi and Metamorphmagi (discussed in detail in Chapter 13) are prime candidates for Auror work, because they can easily change their appearance. Aurors must also be of outstanding character, because they are deeply entrenched in the Dark world and cannot be at risk of changing sides. Before taking their posts, Aurors train for three years beyond graduation from Hogwarts.

Think of qualifying to be an Auror the same way you might think of getting accepted to one of the U.S. military academies (West Point, the Navel Academy, and the Air Force Academy), which require a successful candidate to be an exceptional student
and
an exceptional role model. Applicants to the academies must receive recommendations from members of Congress to submit with their applications! Once there, the rigors of the academies are radically different from life at other colleges— course loads are heavier, nearly every student follows a basic engineering curriculum, military and physical training is required, and so on.

In addition to Aurors, nonofficial anti-Dark Wizard groups occasionally spring up in the wizarding world. The most potent is the Order of the Phoenix, which is made up of powerful wizards and Aurors alike, yet meets secretly, outside of the Ministry’s purview. This group is, in fact, in opposition to the Ministry, during those times that the ministry is in denial over the existence of Dark Wizards. Like orders of knights throughout British history, who upheld the laws of the land even when kings had gone bad, the Order upholds the laws of the Ministry when the Ministry is too blinded or corrupt to take on that task itself. The Order’s symbol, a phoenix, is a colorful bird that lives for hundreds of years, periodically bursting into flame and renewing itself with new plumage and life (see Chapter 2).

The Wizengamot is the Wizard High Court and is made up of the best and brightest wizards of the day. The Wizengamot has similarities to both the United States Supreme Court and the UK House of Lords (a legislative body much like the United States Senate, whose judicial functions will be replaced by a UK Supreme Court in 2008), as both are the highest court in the land. However, both the U.S. and UK versions are appeals courts, in that they hear only cases that have been heard in lower courts. The Wizengamot, on the other hand, hears new cases, almost always criminal trials for crimes in which Dark Magic was used.

When they sit in full session, the fifty or so members of the Wizengamot are presided over by a Chief Warlock. Likewise, a Chief Justice presides over the nine justices on the United States Supreme Court, and a Senior heads the twelve UK law lords (although only five of those twelve usually sit at trial). Of the two, however, the Wizengamot is much more like the United States Supreme Court: members wear robes, proceed formally, may block the public from attending trials, and so on. (By contrast, the House of Lords’ proceedings are quite informal.) The Wizengamot Charter of Rights, a listing of basic wizard rights, sounds strikingly like the Bill of Rights that were amended to the U.S. Constitution, the document upon which the United States Supreme Court bases all its decisions.

However, unlike the United States Supreme Court, members of the Wizengamot act as prosecutors and interrogators during trials and may even skip the part where they hear evidence on behalf of the defendant. At times when the Chief Warlock has not been a person with a well-defined sense of justice, the Wizengamot have come to the court with their minds made up, and cases have been based on hearsay, with no witnesses or assistance for the defense. (This is frighteningly like the trials in some non-democratic countries around the world today.) As a result, defendants and witnesses appearing before the Wizengamot can be so nervous that they do not insist on the unbiased proceedings that are their right; in fact, rights under the Charter may be ignored by the Wizengamot. Indeed, at some proceedings, the charge is read, and then a vote (a show of hands) is taken to determine guilt or innocence; no other trial proceedings take place. And in extreme cases, no trial at all takes place; the accused is sent straight to Azkaban. This is not a legally sanctioned practice; it’s just what happens when the Ministry panics.