Ministry of Magic

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The Ministry of Magic is the government of the Magical community of Britain in

Composition and status

Connection to Muggle world

Each new

When interviewed, Rowling stated that when Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger work for the Ministry, they change it significantly, making it less corrupt.^{[citation needed]}

Departments

Department of Magical Law Enforcement

The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is a combination of police and

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 breaks when they reach the age of 17.[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.^[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. The Ministry seemingly ignores the Trace during the school year as students at Hogwarts are expected to perform magic and are under the supervision of teachers. This 'blind eye' also seems to be extended to places such as Diagon Alley, Platform 9¾, the Hogwarts Express and the village of Hogsmeade (the only settlement in Britain inhabited solely by wizards and other magical beings), which is located close to Hogwarts and which 3rd year students and above can visit on weekends provided they have a signed permission slip from their parent or guardian. The Ministry also seems to turn a blind eye to the use of magic in the Muggle world when the child is under the age of 11, as their powers have generally not been developed enough to cause a problem. A number of witches and wizards, including Harry Potter, Hermione Granger,

After Harry's first minor violation – a Hover charm that was actually performed by Dobby the House-elf – he is merely warned.[HP2] 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.^[HP3] 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.^[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.^[HP5]

At Harry's hearing, he is tried by the entire

• 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
  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 "Obliviate". In contrast to the incompetence displayed by the Ministry as a whole, the Obliviators appear to perform their task with a near-perfect success rate, keeping the Muggle world completely oblivious to the existence of the Wizarding World. 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, 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

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.

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

. Among the duties of the Department of International Magical Cooperation are:

• Work with magical governments of other countries
• Set standards for trade
• Create regulations for things like cauldron thickness
• Work with Department of Magical Games and Sports on the Triwizard Tournament
• International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats

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 floo powder; the Broom Regulatory Control, that controls the traffic of broom travel; the Portkey Office, the regulation of Portkeys; and the 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, seen as the most relaxed department (posters for favourite

Gobstones

Club, and the Ludicrous Patents Office – other sports and games-related aspects of the Harry Potter world.

Department of Mysteries

The Department of Mysteries, located on Level Nine, is a department in the Ministry of Magic 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-borns actually steal magic from Pure-bloods, making them "illegal magicals" and allowing their arrest.^[HP7]

The rooms at the Department each seem (although not spelled out directly) to refer to various mysteries of life. These rooms include:

Name	Description	Contents
Brain Room	This long, rectangular room is lit by lamps hanging low on golden chains from the ceiling. It is quite empty except for a few desks.	A glass tank of deep green liquid. In this tank a number of pearly-white brains drift around. When removed from the potion in the tank, the brains fling out streamers of thoughts which can seriously injure someone if they wrap themselves around them. Other doors open off this room.
Entrance Room	Large, circular room – everything black. Identical, unmarked, handle-less black doors are set at intervals around in walls. Dimly lit by blue flamed branches of candles.	Whenever one of its doors is shut, the room's walls rotate, disorienting its occupants for several seconds. This is presumably a security device to keep non-employees of the department from reaching a desired room. Responds to a verbal request for an exit by opening the correct door.
Space Chamber	A dark room possibly simulating outer space. Visitors find themselves floating as well.	Magically simulated floating solar system.
Death Chamber	A large, dimly lit, rectangular room with stone tiers (as benches) leading down to a pit in the centre. It is similar to an amphitheatre. Called the Death Chamber by Dumbledore.	In the pit is a raised, stone dais, on which stands an ancient arch with an ancient, 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 lit by "beautiful, dancing diamond-sparkling light".	A room in which various time-related devices are kept, such as clocks of every description and Time-Turners (necklaces with hourglass pendants, which will send the wearer back in time when the pendant is turned over). 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. Hermione mentions that the department's entire stock of smashed Time-Turners were not even replaced by September 1996.[HP6]
Hall of Prophecy	A cathedral-sized room, dark and very cold, illuminated by the dim blue fire emitted from more candle brackets.	Vertical to the door are towering shelves holding thousands of orbs (recordings of prophecies). To the left of the door are row Nos.1 – 53, while on the right of the door are rows Nos.54 and beyond. They are magically protected, so that the only people who can lift them off their shelf are the Keeper of the Hall of Prophecies and the subject(s) of the prophecies; all others are afflicted with instant madness. 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 "the boy who would defeat 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)	A room behind a door that remains locked at all times and which neither the "Alohomora" spell nor magical unlocking knives can unlock.	According to Dumbledore, behind that 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

Augustus Rookwood

who is a Death Eater.

Ministry officials

The following characters are notable Ministry of Magic officials.

Death Eaters

.

Ludo Bagman

Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman is a retired professional

Augustus Rookwood

. It is stated that he had believed Rookwood, who was his father's friend, to be beyond suspicion, and that, consequently, he had thought that he was aiding the Ministry by passing the information on to him.

Bagman loves gambling, which got him in financial trouble so severe that he pays some of his creditors (including

Triwizard Tournament, of which he is one of the judges. He bets the goblins that Harry would win. He tries to help Harry over the course of the Tournament, giving him a perfect score in the First Task even though he is injured, and offering him advice. Harry and Cedric Diggory

end up tying for first place in the tournament, and Bagman does not win the bet as the goblins argue that Bagman was betting Harry would win outright. Bagman runs away after the Third Task of the Tournament.

Bagman's character was cut from the film adaptation of the fourth book. Some of Ludo's primary functions in the story were performed by Cornelius Fudge and Barty Crouch Sr., in the film adaptation. Bagman appears in the Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup video game as a Quidditch announcer.

Barty Crouch Sr.

Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Sr. was the head of the

Barty Crouch Jr., was caught with the Lestranges, Death Eaters who were assisting Voldemort's rise to power and who had tortured Neville Longbottom

's parents into insanity with the Cruciatus Curse. Crouch gave his son a trial before sending him to Azkaban; however, according to Sirius, the trial was a sham, merely a public demonstration of how much he hated the boy. The public were sympathetic to Crouch Jr., and placed all the blame on Crouch Sr., accusing him of driving his son to join the Death Eaters because of his parental neglect. After the trial, Crouch lost much of his popularity and any chance he had of becoming Minister of Magic, and he was shunted sideways to a post as the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation.

About a year after the trial, Crouch's terminally ill wife begged for her son's life to be saved, so Crouch abetted the two in trading appearances using Polyjuice Potion. Mrs. Crouch died as Crouch Jr. in Azkaban, while Crouch Sr. subsequently used the Imperius Curse to keep Crouch Jr. under house arrest. When

Bertha Jorkins

discovered the truth, Crouch Sr. silenced her with a powerful Memory Charm that permanently damaged her memory.

Crouch Sr. makes his first appearance in the series at the Quidditch World Cup in Goblet of Fire, when he attends the Quidditch World Cup with his house elf Winky as well as Crouch Jr., who is hidden under an Invisibility Cloak. Due to Winky's fear of heights, Crouch Jr. is able to slip away and steals Harry's wand to conjure the Dark Mark. When Winky is subsequently caught by Amos Diggory with Harry's wand, Crouch Sr. angrily dismisses Winky on the spot for failing to keep his son under control, as it was her idea to let Crouch Jr. attend.

Shortly thereafter, Voldemort and

Mad-Eye Moody

, to his father's presence. Crouch Jr. immediately goes to the forest, stuns Krum, kills his own father, transfigures the body into a bone, and buries it on the Hogwarts grounds.

Roger Lloyd-Pack appeared as Crouch Sr. in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. His apathetic condemnation of his son pleading for mercy was changed to his son openly revealing himself as a Death Eater due to Karkaroff's testimonies, with Crouch being heartbroken about having to put him in jail. His abusive custody and mind-control of Crouch Jr. is omitted entirely, as is his mistreatment and dismissal of Winky as she was not included in the films. In addition, his body is found by Harry in the woods near the Hogwarts grounds, rather than buried by Crouch Jr.

John Dawlish

John Dawlish is an Auror. He is very capable and self-assured, and is described as a "tough-looking wizard" with "very short, wiry" grey hair. He leaves Hogwarts with Outstandings in all his

N.E.W.T.s

(Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test). However, it is a running joke of the books that in any appearance or mention of him, he is eventually hexed, usually due to a combination of far superior opponents and sheer bad luck.

In

St Mungo's Hospital

.

Dawlish's first name is not revealed in the books or films. However, Rowling said in an interview with the podcast "

John Noe's appreciation of the character.^[8]

Dawlish was portrayed by Richard Leaf in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Cornelius Fudge

Cornelius Oswald Fudge is first mentioned in

Buckbeak

to occur, once again intimidated by Lucius Malfoy. In this book, it is revealed that, before becoming Minister for Magic, he worked in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes.

His kindly relationship to Harry abruptly changes in Goblet of Fire. When Harry emerges from the

Triwizard Tournament's third task after having seen the rebirth of Voldemort, Fudge refuses to believe it. He is worried about the fallout of announcing Voldemort's return, marking the end of the Wizarding world's years of peace, and the sudden outbreak of gloom and terror; hence he decides to merely ignore all of the evidence rather than accept the truth. J. K. Rowling has since stated that Fudge's behaviour mirrors that of Neville Chamberlain in the lead-up to World War II.^[9]

In Order of the Phoenix, Fudge orchestrates a vicious smear campaign through the Daily Prophet to present Dumbledore as a senile old fool (even though he was constantly asking for Dumbledore's advice in his early days of being Minister for Magic) and Harry as an unstable, attention-seeking liar. He also passes a law allowing him to place Dolores Umbridge, his Senior Undersecretary, as a teacher at Hogwarts. He then appoints Umbridge as Hogwarts' "High Inquisitor", with the power to inspect and sack teachers, and ultimately Dumbledore's successor as Headmaster, which gives her (and by extension, Fudge himself) primary control of how Hogwarts is managed. Fudge is concerned that Dumbledore is a threat to his power and that he is planning to train the Hogwarts students to overthrow the Ministry.

After Voldemort appears in the Ministry of Magic at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Fudge finally admits that Voldemort has returned. He is ousted by the wizarding community for his failure to announce the return of Voldemort immediately after the Triwizard Competition; for discrediting Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore; and for installing Dolores Umbridge as Headmistress of Hogwarts. He is replaced by

Rufus Scrimgeour

, though he stays on as a powerless advisor and messenger to the Prime Minister in Half-Blood Prince.

Prior to his dismissal, he seeks Harry's support in giving the wizarding community the impression that the Ministry is winning the war, but Dumbledore and Harry both refuse to even consider it. Fudge is last mentioned in the series as one of the attendees at Dumbledore's funeral. His fate during Voldemort's takeover of the Ministry during the following year is unknown.

Fudge was portrayed by Robert Hardy in the film series.

Bertha Jorkins

Bertha Jorkins was a student at Hogwarts at the same time as

Little Hangleton

, Bertha is one of the shadows that spills out from Voldemort's wand and helps Harry escape. She appears to be wiser after her death, and supports Harry during The Goblet of Fire so he can defeat Voldemort, her murderer.

Rufus Scrimgeour

Rufus Scrimgeour serves as the Minister for Magic of the United Kingdom from

Muggle Prime Minister

with Fudge, now an advisor, to inform him about recent wizarding events, crucial to internal security.

Scrimgeour, however tough he looked, was no better than Fudge. He (and the rest of the Ministry) was more concerned about the Ministry's reputation than seeing the danger the

Stan Shunpike.^[10]

Scrimgeour makes a short appearance, looking tired and grim due to the pressures of his position, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at The Burrow, apparently as executor of Dumbledore's will. A final argument promptly breaks out with Harry over Dumbledore's bequests, his refusal to cooperate with the Ministry, and the Ministry's scapegoating of wizards guilty of no crime.

Scrimgeour is assassinated shortly after the visit, when the Death Eaters take over the Ministry through a coup. He is rumoured to have been tortured for Harry's whereabouts by Ministry officials under the control of the Imperius Curse before he is killed. Harry felt a "rush of gratitude" to hear that Scrimgeour, in his final act, attempted to protect Harry by refusing to disclose his location. With the Ministry in the Death Eaters' hands, the official line for Scrimgeour's death is that he resigned.

Bill Nighy played Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, in which he is portrayed as Welsh and a more compassionate character.^[11]

Pius Thicknesse

Pius Thicknesse is first introduced in

Corban Yaxley

, who uses his position to infiltrate the senior ranks of the Ministry. Thicknesse is described as a man with long hair and a beard, which are mostly black but tinged with some grey, along with a great overhanging forehead and glinting eyes. Harry's immediate impression is of "a crab looking out from beneath a rock."

After the

Kingsley Shacklebolt

replaces him as interim (later permanent) Minister for Magic. Not much is known about the "real" nature of Thicknesse, as he has been under the control of Yaxley for nearly the entire book.

Guy Henry plays Thicknesse in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2, in which he is depicted as a Death Eater even before Scrimgeour's death. In Part 2, Thicknesse is killed by Voldemort.

Dolores Umbridge

Main article: Dolores Umbridge

Dolores Jane Umbridge was the

Voldemort

, she is the only other character in the series to leave a lasting scar on Harry's body.

Percy Weasley

Percy Ignatius Weasley is the third son of

Ravenclaw prefect Penelope Clearwater. Academically a high-performing student, Percy received twelve OWLs and twelve NEWTs. When he finished school, this academic distinction plus his having served as Head Boy secured him a job in the Ministry in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. His immediate supervisor is Barty Crouch Sr.

; Percy somewhat idolises Mr Crouch, but Crouch never seems to remember Percy's name, calling him "Weatherby." When Crouch is ill, Percy replaces him as a judge in the second Triwizard Tournament task. He gave up his family time for a better position as an assistant to the Minister for Magic.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Percy is promoted to Junior Assistant to Minister Fudge. Since this is an unusually high-ranking position for someone of Percy's age to hold, Arthur suspects that Percy's promotion was not earned but instead given to him to allow the Ministry to better manipulate the Weasleys. Outraged and hurt by the suggestion, Percy violently argues with Arthur, resulting in Percy's subsequent alienation from his family. Although Harry notes he has always liked Percy "the least of Ron's brothers", he is still shocked to hear of this. When Percy learns Ron is made a prefect, he sends him a letter congratulating him for following in his footsteps, and unsuccessfully urges Ron to sever ties with Harry (claiming Harry is an extreme danger to Ron's prefect status), and to pay loyalty to Umbridge and the Ministry – going so far to refer to her as a "delightful woman," much to Harry's and Ron's disgust. Percy later makes an appearance in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, where he has apparently seen the error of his ways and pays an awkward visit to his family with new Minister Rufus Scrimgeour during the Christmas Holidays, although it is later revealed that this was engineered by Scrimgeour to speak to Harry alone. He later attends Dumbledore's funeral with Ministry officials, including Dolores Umbridge.

In the climax of

Augustus Rookwood

, and Percy clings to the corpse and shields it from further damage. In the last part of the battle, he and his father work together to defeat Thicknesse. His final appearance is in the book's epilogue, at King's Cross Station, talking loudly about broom regulations.

Percy is portrayed by Chris Rankin in the film series.

Others

Character	Background
Broderick Bode	A worker in the Department of Mysteries. He is placed under the St Mungo's Hospital ; he was subsequently strangled by a potted Devil's Snare plant at Christmas to prevent him from revealing any information about the Death Eaters' plot.
Amelia Bones	Head of the Sian Thomas in the film adaptation.
Reginald Cattermole	Works for magical maintenance in the Ministry. In the final book, Ron uses some of his hair to impersonate him and enter the Ministry to steal Slytherin's locket. His wife, Muggle-born Mary Cattermole, was being interrogated at the time that Harry, Ron and Hermione stole the locket. Steffan Rhodri portrays him in the film adaptation of Deathly Hallows.
Dirk Cresswell	Muggle-born, member of the goblin .
Amos Diggory	Father of Cedric Diggory. Works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Unlike his son, who is quite modest, Amos constantly boasts of his son's accomplishments and reminds Harry at every opportunity that Cedric beat him at Quidditch. In the film version of Goblet of Fire, he is more amicable and was portrayed by Jeff Rawle.
Madam Edgecombe	Works in the Department of Magical Transportation, Floo Network office. She helped Dolores Umbridge to police Hogwarts fireplaces. She is the mother of Marietta Edgecombe, the Ravenclaw who betrayed Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge.
Mafalda Hopkirk	Works in the Improper Use of Magic Office in the Ministry, and is responsible for sending out warnings when magic by the underaged is detected. In the beginning of the fifth book and movie, Harry receives a Howler with a subpoena to the hearing, written and narrated by Hopkirk. Hermione uses some of her hair to impersonate her and enter the Ministry, and gets close to Umbridge prior to their stealing of Slytherin's locket. Her voice is portrayed by Jessica Stevenson in the film version of Order of the Phoenix, but in Deathly Hallows, she is played physically by Sophie Thompson .
Griselda Marchbanks	An elder witch who formerly served on the Wizengamot and was already working for the Wizarding Examinations Authority in Dumbledore's time as a student, where she personally oversaw two of his exams and was greatly impressed by his abilities. Madam Marchbanks remains a vocal supporter of Dumbledore, in defiance of the Ministry's attempts to discredit and arrest him, and resigns her position in protest at his treatment. Marchbanks personally examines Harry and some of the students of his year when they sit for their O.W.L.s.
Bob Ogden	Dumbledore uses one of Ogden's memories to show Harry the background of the House of Gaunt, Voldemort's maternal family. Ogden worked as a Magical Law Enforcer and was Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad before he died.
Tiberius Ogden	Though never explicitly introduced, Ogden is mentioned several times in the fifth instalment as a staunch ally of Dumbledore in the face of the headmaster's growing unpopularity. As a result, allegations (probably invented) are made against him, claiming he is involved in goblin riots. A member of the Wizengamot until he resigns to show solidarity with Dumbledore.
Perkins	A friend of Mr Weasley who lends him and the Weasleys his tent during the Quidditch World Cup. Harry, Ron and Hermione use the same tent in the final book during their search for Horcruxes.
Albert Runcorn	While his allegiance is never made explicit, it is implied that he is a supporter of the Arthur Weasley, he is revealed to have discovered the falsified genealogy for Dirk Cresswell. Harry uses some of his hair to impersonate him to enter into the Ministry to steal Slytherin's locket. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, he is played by David O'Hara .
Newt Scamander	A retired Ministry official who worked in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He is the author of the textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. In the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, he is played by Eddie Redmayne.
Wilkie Twycross	A Ministry teacher who teaches sixth year students how to apparate; notable for his three Ds: determination, destination and deliberation. Due to the difficulty of apparition, the three Ds give him various nicknames from students, such as Dog-breath & Dung-head.

Reception

See also: Politics of Harry Potter

In connection with her portrayal of the bureaucratised Ministry of Magic and the oppressive measures taken by the Ministry in the later books (like making attendance to Hogwarts compulsory and the "registration of Muggle-borns" with the Ministry), Rowling has been asked whether there is a parallel with

Slate Magazine also interpreted Rowling's depiction of the ministration as criticism of the Bush and Blair administrations, suggesting the Ministry's security pamphlet recalls the Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System).^[14] University of Tennessee law professor Benjamin Barton notes what he considers to be libertarian aspects of Harry Potter in his paper "Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy", published in the Michigan Law Review, stating that "Rowling's scathing portrait of government is surprisingly strident and effective. This is partly because her critique works on so many levels: the functions of government, the structure of government, and the bureaucrats who run the show. All three elements work together to depict a Ministry of Magic run by self-interested bureaucrats bent on increasing and protecting their power, often to the detriment of the public at large. In other words, Rowling creates a public-interest scholar's dream—or nightmare—government."^[1]

In popular culture

One of the most influential wizard rock bands is named Ministry of Magic after the government structure in the series. Ministry of Magic has made numerous performances, amongst the most notable of them taking place in Wrockstock.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Barton, Benjamin H. (2006). "Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy" (PDF). Michigan Law Review. 104. Social Science Research Network. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
2. ^ "Ministers for Magic". Pottermore. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
3. ISBN 0747551006
   .
4. ^ Brown, Jen (26 July 2007). "Exclusive: Finished 'Potter'? Rowling tells what happens next".
   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."
5. ^ Rowling, J.K. Order of the Phoenix. Scholastic.
6. ^ Vander Ark, Steve (27 December 2000). "The Wizengamot". The Harry Potter Lexicon. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
7. ^ "Online Chat Transcript". Bloomsbury Publishing. 31 July 2007. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
8. ^ Anelli, Melissa, John Noe, Sue Upton (18 December 2007). "PotterCast 130: The One with J. K. Rowling" (Podcast). PotterCast. Retrieved 18 December 2007.{{cite podcast}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. ^ "J. K. Rowling Discusses Inspiration for Minister for Magic and More in New Interview", The Leaky Cauldron, 4 February 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2008.
10. ^ Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; 2005; Chapter 16; Pages 345–347 (American edition).
11. CBBC. 6 July 2009. Archived from the original
    on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
12. ^ J. K. Rowling at Carnegie Hall Reveals Dumbledore is Gay; Neville Marries Hannah Abbott, and Much More
13. People's Weekly World
14. Slate Magazine

External links

• Ministry of Magic on Harry Potter Wiki, an external wiki
• The HP-Lexicon talks about the various departments in the Ministry of Magic
• Mugglenet page on the Ministry of Magic
• Wizarding World page on the Ministry of Magic