Editing Ministry of Magic (section)

==Departments==

===Department of Magical Law Enforcement===
The '''Department of Magical Law Enforcement''' is a combination of police and [[justice]] facilities. It is located on the second level of the Ministry of Magic. Bartemius Crouch Sr. once headed the department, prior to the first book.<ref name="HP4" /> At the beginning of the series, it is headed by [[Amelia Bones]], who is replaced by Pius Thicknesse after Voldemort murders her.<ref name="HP6" /> Thicknesse is replaced by [[Death Eater#Corban Yaxley|Corban Yaxley]] after Voldemort has Thicknesse appointed the puppet Minister for his regime.<ref name="HP7">{{HPref|book=7}}</ref> By the events of ''[[Harry Potter and the Cursed Child]]'', Harry Potter has become its head.

According to Rowling, this is the department that Hermione joins, after the events of the seventh book, transferring from the [[Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures]], where she began her post-Hogwarts career.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

====Auror Office====
The Ministry employs Aurors to pursue and apprehend Dark wizards. A potential recruit also has to pass "a series of character and aptitude tests." [[Nymphadora Tonks]] mentions that the program's courses of study include "Concealment and Disguise" and "Stealth and Tracking," and that the training is hard to pass with high marks.

Aurors in the ''Harry Potter'' series include [[Alastor Moody]], Nymphadora Tonks, [[Kingsley Shacklebolt]], [[John Dawlish]], [[Frank and Alice Longbottom]] and Rufus Scrimgeour. Harry himself later joins the department, and, according to a Rowling 2007 interview, is eventually promoted to department head.<ref>
Brown, Jen (26 July 2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20071019043954/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/from/RS.2/ "Exclusive: Finished 'Potter'? Rowling tells what happens next"]. ''[[Today (U.S. TV program)|Today]]''.[[NBC]] "As for his occupation, Harry, along with Ron, is working at the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic. After all these years, Harry is now the department head."
</ref>

During the First War against [[Voldemort]], Aurors had authorization to use the [[Unforgivable Curses]] on suspected [[Death Eaters]]: that is, they received license to kill, coerce, and torture them. Aurors also operate to protect high-profile targets such as Harry, Hogwarts, and the Muggle prime minister – in ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'' auror Kingsley Shacklebolt worked secretly in the Muggle Prime Minister's security detail.

====Improper Use of Magic Office====
The '''Improper Use of Magic Office''' is responsible for investigating offences under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the International Confederation of Wizards' Statute of Secrecy. They regulate an underage wizard's or witch's use of magic and prohibit wizards and witches from performing magic in the presence of Muggles or in a Muggle-inhabited area in the ''Harry Potter'' universe. An enchantment called "the Trace" is placed upon children and helps the department detect offences; it ends when they reach the age of 17.<ref name="HP7" /> However, Dumbledore explains to Harry that the Ministry cannot tell who exactly uses magic in a given area, only that it ''has'' been used. This can be seen as unfair to young witches and wizards who grew up in the Muggle world (such as Muggle-born wizards, or those with one magical and one Muggle parent) as they are more likely to be caught using magic than those who grow up in the wizarding world. Those living in the Muggle world generally have no contact with other witches or wizards away from school, and the Ministry simply presumes that any magic performed where they are is an act of underage wizardry, while at the same time presuming that any magic performed in a wizard home that has minors present was performed by those aged 17 and over. This means that minors living in the wizard world have a much greater chance of escaping punishment for the use of underage magic. The Ministry has to rely on wizard and witch parents to enforce the ban on under-age magic within their homes.<ref name="HP6" />

It is not known how or when the Trace is placed upon a child, though it may be assumed that it begins either when the child begins to show magical talent or when they first go through the barrier to Platform 9¾. A number of witches and wizards, including Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, [[Lily Evans]], and [[Severus Snape]] all known to have performed some underage magic while growing up in the Muggle world that went unpunished.

After Harry's first minor violation – a Hover charm that was actually performed by Dobby the House-elf – he is merely warned.<ref name="HP2">{{HPref|book=2}}</ref> His second violation, inflating Aunt Marge, is forgiven by Fudge because the Minister fears that Sirius Black is after Harry, and feels that his safety after running away from the Dursleys takes precedence.<ref name="HP3">{{HPref|book=3}}</ref> After his third offence (creating a Patronus to protect himself and Dudley from two Dementors), the letter sent to him states that he is expelled from school; that representatives will arrive at his home to destroy his wand; and that he is required to appear at a disciplinary hearing given that the offence occurred after he had already received one warning.<ref name="HP5" /> Dumbledore reminds Fudge that the Ministry doesn't have the power to expel students from Hogwarts, or to confiscate wands without benefit of a hearing.<ref name="HP5" />

At Harry's hearing, he is tried by the entire [[Wizengamot]] court and cleared of all charges thanks to Dumbledore's intervention. Such proceedings are highly unusual, however. For a simple case of underage use of magic, Harry was originally supposed to be interviewed solely by Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.<ref name="HP5" />

====Wizengamot====
The '''Wizengamot''' serves as the wizard high court of law, from the words "[[Wizard (fantasy)|wizard]]" and "[[Witenagemot]]", which was a council of powerful people summoned to advise and appoint kings in [[Anglo-Saxon England]]. That word derives from the [[Old English]] for "meeting of wise men" (''witan''&nbsp;– wise man or counsellor / ''gemot''&nbsp;– assembly).{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}

In ''Order of the Phoenix'', about fifty people are present at Harry's hearing. During the hearing, the Minister for Magic sits in the middle of the front row and conducts most of the interrogation, while [[Percy Weasley]] (the Junior Undersecretary), acts as [[stenographer]]. Other officials seen at the Wizengamot include the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.<ref>{{cite web|author= Vander Ark, Steve|date= 27 December 2000|url= http://www.hp-lexicon.org/ministry/wizengamot.html|title= The Wizengamot|publisher= The Harry Potter Lexicon|accessdate= 21 August 2015}}</ref><ref name="HP5" />

Dumbledore had held the position of Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot for about 50 years. He was removed at the beginning of the ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix|Order of the Phoenix]]'' novel and reinstated at the end. He remained in that post for one year, until his death at the end of ''[[Half-Blood Prince]]''.

====Other offices====
Other offices include the '''Magical Law Enforcement Squad''', which pursues day-to-day law offences; the '''Misuse of Muggle Artefacts''' Office, headed by Perkins, and the job in which the reader first sees [[Arthur Weasley]]; and the '''Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects''' Office, created by Rufus Scrimgeour in ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'', into which Mr Weasley is promoted, to be its head.

===Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes===
The '''Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes''' is responsible for repairing accidental magical damage in the world of ''Harry Potter''. It is located on the third level of the Ministry of Magic and houses the following offices:
* The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad is a squad of wizards whose job it is to reverse "accidental magic." These accidents are normally caused by young witches and wizards who have not learned to control their magic. They may also be caused by older wizards out of control, or severe, unintentional effects of charms or spells, such as ''splinching'' (in [[Magic (Harry Potter)#Apparition and disapparition|Apparition]] when a wizard or witch is split with one part remaining at the point of origin, and the rest of the wizard at the destination). For instance, two members of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad were sent out in the ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' book and movie when Harry Potter inflated [[Aunt Marge]]; they "deflated" her and erased her memory of the inflation (the memory modification done by Obliviators).
* The Obliviator Headquarters. "Obliviator" is the designation for a Ministry of Magic employee who has the task of modifying the memory of a [[Muggle]] who witnesses incidents belonging to the Wizarding world. They are first called so in the sixth volume, although the practice is mentioned in the previous novels: any wizard can modify memories in the ''Harry Potter'' books by using the spell "''[[Magic in Harry Potter|Obliviate]]''". They were sent out in the third book when after they deflated Aunt Marge, they erased her memory of the incident.
* The Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee explains any major magical accidents to the Muggles by creating a non-magical reason for the accident. For example, [[Death Eater#Peter Pettigrew|Peter Pettigrew]] killed twelve Muggle bystanders and tore apart the street (so as to reach the sewer pipe and escape) by means of an immense explosion curse during his altercation with [[Sirius Black]]. The massive and obvious damage and mortality was explained by the committee as due to a tragic accidental explosion of the gas main.

===Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures===
As noted in ''[[Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (book)|Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]]'', the '''Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures''' is divided into three divisions: the Beast Division, the Being Division, and the Spirit Division.<ref name="HPf">{{HPref|book=f}}</ref> It is also noted that Hermione began her post-Hogwarts career here before transferring to the [[Department of Magical Law Enforcement]] in this office.<ref name="AFTERALL">{{cite news|url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/content.asp?sec=3&sec2=1 |date=31 July 2007 |access-date=14 August 2007 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |title=Online Chat Transcript |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106145256/http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/content.asp?sec=3&sec2=1 |archive-date=6 January 2008}}</ref> It is located on the fourth level of the Ministry of Magic.

===Department of International Magical Cooperation===
The '''Department of International Magical Cooperation''' is an agency that attempts to get wizards from different countries to co-operate in wizarding actions both political and public.<ref name="HP4" /> This department on the fifth level of the Ministry of Magic includes the headquarters of the International Magical Trading Standards Body, the International Magical Office of Law, and the British seats of the International Confederation of Wizards. The former head was [[Barty Crouch Sr.]], until his death. This is also where [[Percy Weasley]] began his Ministry career. This department is similar in function to the real-life [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] of the United Kingdom, and various organs of the [[United Nations]].

===Department of Magical Transportation===
The '''Department of Magical Transportation''' is responsible for various aspects of magical transport. It is located on the sixth level of the Ministry of Magic and includes the following offices: the Floo Network Authority, responsible for setting up and maintaining the network, and distributing the greenish [[Magical objects in Harry Potter#Floo Powder|floo powder]]; the Broom Regulatory Control, that controls the traffic of broom travel; the [[Magical objects in Harry Potter#Portkeys|Portkey]] Office, the regulation of Portkeys; and the [[Magic in Harry Potter#Apparition and disapparition|Apparition]] Test Centre, that grants licences to witches and wizards so that they can apparate.

===Department of Magical Games and Sports===
The Department of Magical Games and Sports organises events like the [[Quidditch World Cup]] and the [[Triwizard Tournament]]. [[Ludo Bagman]] used to be the Head of Department here, but his gambling problem forced him to flee from Goblin creditors. The department is located on the seventh level of the Ministry of Magic, and includes the British and Irish [[Quidditch]] League Headquarters, Official [[Gobstones]] Club, and the Ludicrous Patents Office&nbsp;– other sports and games-related aspects of the ''Harry Potter'' world.

===Department of Mysteries===
The '''Department of Mysteries''' is a department which studies particular enigmas (death, time, space, thought, and love) and stores copies of prophecies made in the ''Harry Potter'' universe. During Voldemort's discriminatory regime, he forces the department to lie and claim that [[Muggle-born]]s actually steal magic from Pure-bloods, which makes them "illegal magicals" and allows their arrest.<ref name="HP7" />

The rooms at the Department include:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!width=125|Name
!Contents
|-
|Brain Room
|A tank of green liquid which contains a number of pearly-white brains. When removed from the tank, the brains fling out streamers of thought which can seriously injure someone.
|-
|Entrance Room
|Whenever one of its doors is shut, the room's walls rotate, disorienting its occupants for several seconds. Responds to a verbal request for an exit by opening the correct door.
|-
|Space Chamber
|Magically simulated floating solar system.
|-
|Death Chamber
|There is a pit with a raised, stone dais, on which stands an arch with a tattered black curtain hanging from it. Despite an absence of wind, it continuously flutters slightly, and entrances its viewers. Harry Potter hears faint voices from beyond the veil when he comes near it in the books. It was through this archway that [[Sirius Black]] fell and died in ''Order of the Phoenix''.
|-
|Time Chamber
|A room in which various time-related devices are kept, such as clocks and [[Magical objects in Harry Potter#Time-Turner|Time-Turners]] (which can send the user back in time). It also contains a mysterious bell jar, inside which anything will grow steadily younger and younger, and then slowly return to its original age in a never-ending cycle.<ref name="HP6" />
|-
|Hall of Prophecy
|Vertical to the door are towering shelves holding thousands of orbs (recordings of prophecies). Whenever an orb breaks, the recorded prophecy it contains is repeated aloud once, after which the recording is useless. [[Sybill Trelawney]]'s 1980 prophecy of "[[Harry Potter (character)|the boy]] who would defeat [[Lord Voldemort|the Dark Lord]]" is kept in here until the events of ''Order of the Phoenix'' in which it was smashed.
|-
|The Ever-Locked Room (Love Chamber)
|According to Dumbledore, behind this door is the most mysterious subject of study in the department: a force "that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature... It is the power held within that room that Harry possesses in such quantities and which Voldemort has none at all." In ''Half-Blood Prince'', this power was confirmed through a dialogue between Harry and Dumbledore to be love.
|}

====Unspeakables====
The '''Unspeakables''' are the group of wizards who work in the Department of Mysteries (their identities [[classified information|classified]] for security reasons). Known Unspeakables include [[#Others|Broderick Bode]], Croaker,<ref name="HP4" /> and [[Augustus Rookwood]] who is a Death Eater.