British Ministry of Magic

The Ministry of Magic (M.o.M.) of the United Kingdom is the main governing body of the magical community of Great Britain. The Ministry connects the British government to the wizarding world. Its headquarters are in Whitehall, in central London, deep underground. It is headed by the Minister for Magic.

The Ministry of Magic was formed as a successor to the earlier Wizards' Council and came into being sometime during the 1600s. It was involved in the International Confederation of Wizards' decision to create the Code of Secrecy and still today takes the responsibility to enforce the Code. The laws against magic-use by underage wizards and against wand use by non-wizard folk are also enforced by the Ministry in part to maintain secrecy.

The Ministry's employees appear to be a largely unelected body, but the post of Minister itself is stated to be an elected position. Both the Minister and the Ministry on the whole are seen to be reliant on the wizard public opinion, which they attempt to influence via the Daily Prophet, the wizarding newspaper. In the books, employment with the Ministry can be obtained right after completion of a wizarding education, though different offices require different levels of education and sometimes specific exam results.

The magical government sometimes has given the impression of, at various times, either incompetence or malice, which are demonstrated by successful break-outs from Azkaban and the Campaign to Discredit Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, respectively. The Ministry has been known to be corrupt in nature, as it is shown to be quite prepared to decree and enforce draconian laws without notice and seem uninterested in solving serious problems, choosing instead to ignore or cover up bad news.

The current Minister in Britain is Kingsley Shacklebolt. It is known that other countries have their own Ministries of Magic, such as Norway, Germany, etc.

Early Years
The Ministry of Magic succeeded the earlier Wizards' Council. In 1717, The Ministry classified the Imperius, Cruciatus & Avada Kedavra curses unforgivable.

Shortly before Millicent Bagnold's retirement, many of the wizarding population wanted Albus Dumbledore to become Minister. He was offered the job four times, but turned it down, because of his previous negative experiences with power.



The most likely person to become Minister from that point on was Bartemius Crouch Sr., who had gained popularity from his purges of Death Eaters after the first fall of Lord Voldemort, including arresting his own son for participating in the Cruciatus Curse torture of Alice and Frank Longbottom. However, he fell out of favour, when people suspected that his son's actions and death in Azkaban were the result of Crouch not caring for his son.

Second Rise of Lord Voldemort
During the events surrounding Lord Voldemort's second rise to power, Cornelius Fudge, a highly-corruptible easily-intimidated man, was Minister for Magic. While in office, he regularly tried to interfere with the everyday lives of witches and wizards. Fudge refused to acknowledge Lord Voldemort's increasing power and influence and as a result was replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour after Fudge left the office in disgrace. Unfortunately, Scrimgeour did not do much better than Fudge, as he made the Ministry look like it was making progress, despite the contrary.

Take Over by the Death Eaters
Scrimgeour was murdered on 1 August, 1997 when the Ministry was taken over by Death Eaters. Pius Thicknesse, having previously been placed under the Imperius Curse, was put into a brief position as Minister by the servants of Voldemort. Under his control, the Ministry became totalitarian, placing surveillance upon those it was suspicious of, such as Arthur Weasley, and creating the Muggle-Born Registration Commission to prosecute Muggle-borns for allegedly stealing magic. It was also given a motto of 'Magic is might' which was engraved by a sculpture which was shaped as a Witch and Wizard sitting on thrones made of Muggles. Death Eaters such as Yaxley gained high positions within the Ministry as well.

Recent Years
In 1998, after the destruction of Lord Voldemort, Kingsley Shacklebolt became Minister for Magic and led a massive reform of the Ministry. This included the efforts of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in the Auror Office, and Hermione Granger advancing the rights of non-humans, and eradicating pro-pure-blood laws in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and later the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Departments
The Ministry has eight departments and many minor offices to deal with different aspects of the wizarding world. These are the following:
 * Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
 * Department of International Magical Cooperation
 * Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
 * Department of Magical Games and Sports
 * Department of Magical Law Enforcement
 * Department of Magical Transportation
 * Department of Mysteries
 * Magical Maintenance Department

The departments communicate through "interdepartmental memos" written on pale-violet paper which is folded into paper aeroplanes which fly on their own to destinations. They once used owls, which caused intolerable amounts of fouling by their droppings and moulted feathers.

Floor directory
One may enter the Ministry via the visitors' entrance which is in a outside on the pavement. The entrance code on the payphone is number 62442 ("MAGIC"). Following the prompts of the operator, passes are issued and the telephone box will descend through the ground into the lobby (Floor 8).

More than twenty service lifts stop at all floors, levels 1-9. Stairways may provide access to all 10 levels in the Ministry and must be used to access the courtrooms on level 10.

After Voldemort took over the Ministry, employees and officials were forced to enter the Ministry by flushing themselves through underground toilets. Two stairways are labelled GENTLEMEN or LADIES. They lead into an underground public bathroom. A golden Ministry of Magic coin is used to open the stall doors.

The act of flushing oneself down the Ministry toilet causes the person to emerge into a fireplace on the left side of the Atrium, which faces the Fountain of Magical Brethren.

To depart the Ministry, one must stand in one of the fireplaces on the right side of the Atrium, causing them to come out of another toilet in the underground bathroom. At this point one may Apparate to a separate location.

As the entire Ministry is underground, the higher floor number indicates levels deeper into the ground.

Level 1 - Minister for Magic and Support Staff
This department has the offices of the highest ministry officials. It includes these known offices:

Office of the Minister for Magic
 * Office of the Adviser to Minister
 * Office of the Senior Undersecretary to Minister for Magic
 * Office of the Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic

Level 2 - Department of Magical Law Enforcement
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is the largest department at the Ministry of Magic, although the size of the Department of Mysteries is unknown. Arguably the most important of the various departments, it is a combination of police and justice facilities, and is roughly the equivalent to the Home Office of Muggle Britain. Harry joined this department, under the Auror Office, at the age of seventeen and was followed by Ron Weasley. It includes the following known offices:
 * Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office
 * Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects
 * Wizengamot Administration Services
 * Auror Office
 * Improper Use of Magic

Level 3 - Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes
The Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes is responsible for repairing accidental magical damage. It includes these known departments:
 * Accidental Magic Reversal Squad
 * Obliviator Headquarters
 * Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee
 * Invisibility Task Force
 * Muggle Liaison Office

Level 4 - Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is the second largest Department in the Ministry. After leaving Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hermione Granger briefly worked in this department before transferring to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It includes these known departments:
 * Beast Division
 * Being Division
 * Spirit Division
 * Goblin Liaison Office
 * Centaur Liaison Office
 * Pest Advisory Board
 * Office of Misinformation

Level 5 - Department of International Magical Cooperation
The Department of International Magical Cooperation is an agency concerned in foreign affairs that attempts to get wizards from different countries to cooperate in wizarding actions both political and public. The former head was Bartemius Crouch Sr., until his death. This is also where Percy Weasley began his Ministry career. It is closest to the Muggle British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, though seems to hold less prowess in the Wizarding world, apparently. It includes these known departments:


 * International Magical Trading Standards Body
 * International Magical Office of Law
 * International Confederation of Wizards, British Seats

Level 6 - Department of Magical Transportation
The Department of Magical Transportation is responsible for various aspects of magical transport. It includes these known departments:
 * Floo Network Authority
 * Broom Regulatory Control
 * Portkey Office
 * Apparation Test Centre

Level 7 - Department of Magical Games and Sports
The Department of Magical Games and Sports, seen as the most relaxed department (posters for favourite Quidditch teams are found tacked to the walls), deals with organising sports events the likes of the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament. Ludovic Bagman used to be the Head of Department here, but his gambling problem forced him to flee from Goblin creditors. It includes these known departments:
 * British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters
 * Official Gobstones Club
 * Ludicrous Patents Office

Level 8 - The Atrium
The Atrium is an area that serves to welcome visitors to the Ministry of Magic.
 * Lobby and Reception Area
 * Fountain of Magical Brethren/Magic is Might monument
 * Security Desk
 * Lifts
 * Magical Maintenance Office

Level 9 - Department of Mysteries
The Department of Mysteries is a section of the Ministry of Magic that carries out confidential research. Most of its operations are carried out 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 known as Unspeakables because of the confidential nature of their work. The also rarely talk, even to their co-workers. It includes these known chambers:
 * Thought Chamber
 * Space Chamber
 * Death Chamber
 * Time Chamber
 * Hall of Prophecies
 * Love Chamber a.k.a. The Ever-Locked Room

Level 10 - Wizengamot Courtrooms (stairway access only)
This is where wizards and witches are put on trial by the Wizengamot. These courtrooms were used during the First Wizarding War, for judging Death Eaters. In 1995, when Cornelius Fudge changed a simple case of underage magic to a full court trial, Harry Potter's hearing location changed from Amelia Bones's office to Courtroom Ten. There is a hallway leading from the Department of Mysteries, which leads to a stairwell leading to the courtrooms.

Public relations
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. There appears to be little coherent separation of powers and the judicial system is heavily biased.

Corruption
The Ministry of Magic gives an appearance of, at various times, either confounding incompetence or malice. The Ministry has been seen to decree and enforce harsh and tyrannical laws without notice. The few rights that human wizards do have are denied to non-humans. Even people who have been later found to be innocent have been subjected to the horrors of Azkaban, and not all of the accused are given trials, as was the case with Sirius Black. Modern governments would ostensibly consider some of the actions of the Ministry to be cruel and inhumane.

Under the direction of Minister Cornelius Fudge, trials were short and did not employ juries (instead, a Wizarding Council heard every case, regardless of what prior knowledge they had of this case), there was no possibility to appeal the verdict, and lawyers were not allowed. It is likely that conditions have improved with the new administration. During Hagrid's appeal case before the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, the executioner (Walden Macnair) was present with his axe before a verdict was even decided on, and mostly the Committee's decisions are influenced by Lucius Malfoy, who threatens and intimidates the members into doing his bidding.

After the return of Lord Voldemort, the minister at the time, Cornelius Fudge, refused to believe that the evil wizard was back despite mounting evidence, and the Ministry even mounted a campaign to damage Harry Potter's credibility, an effort fuelled in part by Fudge's on paranoid fear that Albus Dumbledore wanted his job. Eventually, the Ministry was forced to acknowledge the emergency and act. Fudge was removed from office for incompetence and replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour.

After the Fall of the Ministry of Magic, the entire Ministry was under Voldemort and doing his bidding under the puppet government headed by Pius Thicknesse. The various laws implemented in this regime included in the persecution and harassment of Muggle-borns and Muggles and propaganda suggesting the inferiority of Muggles and how they should be treated as sub-humans by wizards. However, after Lord Voldemort's fall and Kingsley Shacklebolt being appointed minister, Harry, Ron, and Hermione work for the Ministry and change it in ways to make it drastically less corrupt.

Muggle relations
The term "Ministry" implies that the Ministry of Magic is formally subject to the British Crown, but it is clear that in practice it is a fully-fledged government on its own, exercising full jurisdiction (and in some cases, a brutal dictatorship) over its own community. It is in no way part of Her Majesty's Government and exercises only the most minimal liaison with it, in cases of special emergencies, or when a new Prime Minister is elected.

The Ministry keeps in touch with the Muggle Prime Minister of the United Kingdom through the help of a portrait in the Downing Street office. The portrait is fixed to the wall with a Permanent Sticking Charm so no Muggles will be able to remove it, and the subject of the painting will notify the Muggle Prime Minister of the Minister for Magic's impending arrivals.The British Crown, including the Prime Minister and the Monarch, are in full knowledge of the Ministry.



However, after the Fall of the Ministry of Magic into the hands of Lord Voldemort and Pius Thicknesse became minister as Voldemort's puppet, a new era of Wizard-Muggle relations was brought on that was more in line with Death Eater ideology. These actions included the installment of the "Magic is Might" statue in the Ministry Atrium to replace the Fountain of Magical Brethren, which depicts a witch and wizard on top of a throne made from the bodies of crude-looking Muggles.

While prejudiced depictions of Muggles were taught by professors Amycus and Alecto Carrow at Hogwarts School under its new headmaster, Severus Snape, the Ministry began claiming that Muggle-borns "stole" their magic from "real" witches and wizards. The Muggle-Born Registration Commission, headed by Dolores Umbridge, was set up to persecute and imprison Muggle-borns. Furthermore, the Snatchers organization was formed in an attempt to round up any Muggle-borns or blood traitors on the run. People with known connections to the Order of the Phoenix or sympathies for Muggles, such as Arthur Weasley, were put under surveillance, and a reward for the capture of Harry Potter, known to the Ministry as "Undesirable No. 1", was offered.

Presumably, after Voldemort's defeat and Kingsley Shacklebolt's installation of Minister for Magic, the cruel, prejudiced measures imposed under the Death Eater regime towards Muggles (such as the Muggle-Born Registration Commission) were abolished and the Ministry went on communicating with the Muggle Prime Minister when necessary.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
 * Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7

Notes and references
Ministère de la Magie Ministerstwo Magii Министерство магии Taikaministeriö Ministerie van Toverkunst