British Ministry of Magic

The Ministry of Magic is the governing body of the magical community of Britain and succeeded the earlier Wizards' Council. It is known that other countries have their own Ministries of Magic. The Minister for Magic (original British editions and the film series) or Minister of Magic (United States editions) is the head of the Ministry. The job of the Minister for Magic seems to include executive, legislative and judicial functions (see more below).

While being a wizard or witch has obvious advantages, the system of government is not one of them. The Ministry seems to be an unelected body, and appears largely oligarchic. There appears to be little coherent separation of powers and the judicial system is heavily biased. Trials are short and do not employ juries, and lawyers are not allowed. As can be seen from the events described in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Ministry is quite prepared to decree and enforce draconian laws without notice. The few rights that human wizards do have are denied to non-humans. Even humans can be subjected to the horrors of Azkaban, which modern governments would ostensibly consider to be psychological torture. It is never revealed if Ministries of other nations are the same as that of Britain.

The Ministry has seven departments and many minor offices to deal with different aspects of the wizarding world. Different departments communicate through "Inter-departmental memos", pale violet paper aeroplanes that will fly to their destination. The British Ministry of Magic headquarters is in central London, deep underground.

The Ministry keeps in touch with the British Prime Minister with the help of a wizard's portrait in the Prime Minister's office on Downing Street who notifies the Prime Minister of the Minister for Magic's arrival.

The term "Ministry" would suggest that, officially, the Ministry of Magic exists under the authority of the British government (in the same manner as the Ministry of Defence); however, in practice it appears to operate entirely autonomously, only interacting with the Prime Minister in times of dire need.

The Ministry gives an appearance of (at various times) either incompetence or malice. However given that we only see the Ministry though Harry's eyes (and he has every reason to dislike it) its real abilities (or lack thereof) are difficult to determine.

Current and former Ministers for Magic
The current Minister for Magic in Britain is Rufus Scrimgeour, who replaced Cornelius Fudge as of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Fudge himself replaced Millicent Bagnold, about whom nothing else is known. Other Ministers have included the highly popular Grogan Stump (1770-1884), who was appointed to the post in 1811 and settled the Beings vs. Beasts classification problem, and Artemisia Lufkin, the first witch to be elected to the post. Below the Minister are various under-secretaries (most notably Dolores Umbridge), and heads of various magical departments. The exact structure of power within the ministry is relatively unknown.

Albus Dumbledore, former headmaster of Hogwarts, was offered the job of Minister and refused it at least three times. In his latter days at Hogwarts, Tom Marvolo Riddle was widely predicted to become Minister for Magic someday. Riddle refused all offers of assistance to find work at the Ministry, however.

Floor directory
To enter the ministry via the Visitors Entrance, one must dial the number 62442 ("MAGIC") into a specific public telephone and state one's name and reason for entering. Passes are then issued (apparently through a magical system) and the telephone box then descends through the ground into the ministry's lobby in Floor B8.

A floor directory of the Ministry of Magic is as follows:

''Important note: As the entire Ministry is underground, the higher the floor number, the deeper the floor is. (Although the texts do not normally use the prefix "B-" on floor numbers to denote underground floors, they are used in this article to comply with standard usage and for purposes of clarity.)''


 * Basement Level 1 - Office of the highest Ministry Officials, such as the Minister for Magic, Advisor to Minister, Senior Under-secretary to Minister for Magic, and Junior Assistant to Minister for Magic (presumed)


 * Basement Level 2 - Department of Magical Law Enforcement
 * Auror Headquarters
 * Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office
 * Wizengamot Administration Services
 * 


 * Basement Level 3 - Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
 * Accidental Magic Reversal Squad
 * Obliviator Headquarters
 * Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee


 * Basement Level 4 - Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
 * Beast Division
 * Being Division
 * Spirit Division
 * Goblin Liaison Office
 * Pest Advisory Board


 * Basement Level 5 - Department of International Magical Cooperation
 * International Magical Trading Standards Body
 * International Magical Office of Law
 * International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats


 * Basement Level 6 - Department of Magical Transportation
 * Floo Network Authority
 * Broom Regulatory Control
 * Portkey Office
 * Apparition Test Centre


 * Basement Level 7 - Department of Magical Games and Sports
 * British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters
 * Official Gobstones Club
 * Ludicrous Patents Office


 * Basement Level 8 - The Atrium
 * The Reception Area
 * Fountain of Magical Brethren
 * Security Desk
 * Lifts


 * Basement Level 9 - Department of Mysteries
 * Hall of Prophecies
 * The Death Chamber
 * The Brain Room
 * Locked Room in the Department of Mysteries


 * Basement Level 10 - Courtrooms (stairway access only)

Vertical transportation directory
The main lift (a disguised telephone box) transports visitors from ground level to the Atrium on floor B8. Once inside said telephone booth, the visitor must dial "62442" (M-A-G-I-C) to receive an operator.

More than twenty service lifts stop at all floors between B1 and B9, inclusive.

Stairways may provide access to all 10 levels in the Ministry. They must be used to access the courtrooms on floor B10.

Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Arguably the most important of the various departments, this one is a combination of police and justice facilities, and is roughly equivalent to Britain's (muggle) Home Office. The department was once headed by Bartemius Crouch Sr. The former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, prior to her brutal death at the hand of Lord Voldemort, was Amelia Bones. Located on the second level of the Ministry of Magic, it includes:


 * Auror Headquarters, a team of elite dark wizard hunters.
 * The Improper Use of Magic Office which punishes wizards for using magic in inappropriate ways, at the wrong time, or in violation of magical laws;
 * The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office which regulates the use of magic on Muggle objects and recovers those which have been bewitched; which is located in a tiny office, staffed by an enthusiastic - albeit slightly ill-informed - Arthur Weasley and his assistant, Perkins. The aim of the office is to keep enchanted items out of the hands of Muggles, often necessitating raids to keep enchanted items out of circulation. Harry Potter briefly visits this office before his trial at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * The Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects is the office in which Arthur Weasley was promoted to in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Apparently, several new offices sprung up when Rufus Scrimgeour came to power as Minister for Magic because of Lord Voldemort.
 * The Wizengamot, the wizarding High Court of Justice.

Improper Use of Magic Office

 * See main article at Improper Use of Magic Office.

Wizengamot

 * See main article at Wizengamot

Department of Magical Games and Sports

 * See main article at Department of Magical Games and Sports.

Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
This department is responsible for repairing accidental magical damage. It is located on the third level of the Ministry of Magic and houses the following offices:

Accidental Magic Reversal Squad
The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad is a squad of wizards whose job it is to reverse 'Accidental Magic,' which is normally caused by young witches and wizards who have not learned to control their magic.

For instance, the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad was sent out in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when Harry inflated his Aunt Marge. They were able to successfully reverse the spell, deflating her, and proceeded to modify her memory (to remove any recollection of the incident) - presumably this latter task was performed by the Obliviators, according to their duty.

Obliviator Headquarters
An Obliviator is the designation for a Ministry of Magic employee who has the task of modifying the memory of a Muggle after witnessing incidents belonging to the magic world.

They are first called so in the sixth volume, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, although the mentioned practice already appears in the previous novels. The act of memory modification can be used by any wizard, by using the spell, "Obliviate." This event, however, is frowned upon in the wizarding society; most believe that memory modification should be done by Obliviators only.

Examples of times in which a memory charm was committed include when Professor Gilderoy Lockhart attempts to erase the memories of Harry and Ron in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and when the auror Kingsley Shacklebolt removed all memories of the secret D.A. organisation from the mind of Marietta Edgecombe, who had been in the process of betraying its secrets.

Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee
Explains away any magical accidents or occurrences which cannot be magically cleared up or completely removed from the minds of Muggles. For example, Peter Pettigrew killed twelve muggle bystanders and tore apart a street by means of an immense explosion during his altercation with Sirius Black. The massive and obvious damage and mortality was explained away by the committee as being due to a tragic accidental explosion of the gas main.

Department of Magical Transportation
This department 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:


 * Floo Network Authority: The Floo Network Authority is responsible for setting up and maintaining the network, and distributing the greenish floo powder. The network is composed of the fireplaces of all the wizarding houses and buildings which are interconnected and it allows the user to transport themselves to any other fireplace on the network thanks to the magical qualities of the floo powder.
 * Broom Regulatory Control
 * Portkey Office
 * Apparition Test Centre: The magical equivalent of the DVLA; grants licences to witches and wizards so that they can apparate.

It is unknown if the Knight Bus is regulated by this department.

Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures

 * See the main article at Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Department of International Magical Cooperation

 * See the main article at Department of International Magical Cooperation.

Department of Mysteries
The Department of Mysteries is, as its name suggests, a mysterious department. It carries out most of its operations in total secrecy. Few wizards within the ministry actually know what is located within this department. Those wizards who work in the Department of Mysteries are called the Unspeakables.

Although most of the workings of the Department are still covert, some of the projects undertaken, most seemingly for research purposes, were revealed in Order of the Phoenix: the Department apparently works to uncover the secrets of death, time, thought, and love, among other things, and record prophecies whenever they are made. Records of prophecies are magically stored within glass orbs on rows of shelves within the Hall of Prophecy. 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 or subjects of the prophecies; all others are afflicted with instant madness. Whenever an orb breaks, the recorded prophecy it contains is repeated out-loud once, after which the recording is useless.

The rooms at the Department each seem (although not spelled out directly) to refer to various mysteries of life, such as "Time", "Death", and "Love". These rooms include:


 * An entrance room whose walls rotate, disorienting its occupants for several seconds, whenever all of its doors are closed. 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.
 * The Thought Chamber - A long room in which brains swim in a green solution. When the brains touch human flesh, they release long tendrils of thought and wrap around their victim, as they did with Ronald Weasley
 * The Space Chamber - A dark room full of planets floating in mid-air. Visitors may find themselves floating as well. Includes the planets Uranus and Pluto.
 * The Death Chamber - A large, square room with stone tiers leading down to a pit in the centre. In this pit is a dais, on which stands a very old arch with a tattered curtain hanging from it. Called the "Death Chamber" by Dumbledore. It was through this archway that Sirius Black, Harry Potter's Godfather, fell to his death in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
 * The Time Chamber - 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, then slowly return to its original age in a never-ending cycle.
 * The Hall of Prophecy - A cavernous room with over a hundred rows of shelves, where records of prophecies are kept in glass spheres containing ghostly apparitions that tell the prophecy. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood are lured to this room by Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
 * The ever-locked room - A room behind a door that remains locked at all times and which cannot be unlocked by either the Alohomora spell or magical unlocking penknives. According to Albus 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 you [Harry] possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all.. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, this power was confirmed through a dialogue between Harry and Dumbledore to be love.

Sixteen years before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Sybill Trelawney made a prediction about Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter. According to Albus Dumbledore, a Death Eater overheard the first half, and reported that section to Voldemort (the Death Eater was revealed by Sybill Trelawney to be Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince, although her account also cast severe doubt upon Dumbledore's account). Voldemort decided to kill Harry Potter, believing this would prevent the prophecy from coming to pass: instead, he caused the events described by the prophecy to be set into motion in the first place, and lost his powers.

After his powers were restored in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort decided to listen to the complete prophecy, a recording of which he knew to be stored in the Department of Mysteries. However, only he or Harry Potter could take them from the Department of Mysteries, due to the prophecy label referring only to the two of them. Since Voldemort was unwilling to personally visit the Ministry, he decided to lure Harry there.

This plan nearly succeeded, but the prophecy was destroyed before Voldemort could obtain it. There was a struggle in the Department, during which Sirius Black fell through the Veil in the Death Chamber and perished. When Cornelius Fudge - in addition to a large number of others - witnessed Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic, he was forced to acknowledge that he was wrong in denying that Voldemort had indeed returned.

The Department of Mysteries had not fully recovered as of the September of 1996 (the beginning of the autumn term in Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince): at one point, it is mentioned that the Department's entire stock of Time-turners was smashed, with the implication that it has not managed to replace them.