In
J.K. Rowling 's ''
Harry Potter '' series of novels the 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 job of the Minister for Magic seems to include executive, legislative and judicial functions. (See more below.) 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 airplanes 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 that notifies the Prime Minister of the Minister For Magic's time of arrival. To enter the ministry, 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 .
In the ''
Harry Potter '' series of novels by
J. K. Rowling , the (original
British editions and the
Film series) or '''Minister of Magic''' (
U.S. editions) is the head of the Ministry of Magic.
The current Minister for Magic of
Britain is
Rufus Scrimgeour
Rufus Scrimgeour 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
Grogan Stump , who settled the Beings vs. Beasts classification problem, and
Artemisia Lufkin , the first witch to be elected to the post. Below the Minister are various undersecretaries (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. When Tom Marvolo Riddle, now
Lord Voldemort , was a senior student at Hogwarts, he was widely predicted to become Minister for Magic someday. Riddle refused all offers of assistance to find work at the Ministry, however.
One of the most popular Ministers ever was Grogan Stump (1770-1884), who was appointed to the post in 1811. The first witch to ever become Minister was Artemisia Lufkin.
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.''
- - Office of the Minister for Magic (presumed)
- - Courtrooms (stairway access only)
The (disguised
Telephone Box ) transports visitors from ground level to the Atrium on floor B8.
More than twenty 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.
Arguably the most important of the various departments, this one is a combination of police and justice facilities. Located on the second level of the Ministry of Magic, it includes the headquarters of the
Auror s, a team of elite dark wizard hunters. It also includes 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 Artifacts Office which regulates the use of magic on
Muggle objects and recovers those which have been bewitched; and the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects Office (which is headed by
Arthur Weasley ). Finally, there is the
Wizengamot , a sort of wizarding supreme court. The department was once headed by
Barty Crouch . The former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, prior to her brutal death at the hand of
Lord Voldemort was
Amelia Bones .
The most relaxed department (posters for favorite
Quidditch teams are found tacked to the wall in its entrance corridor, although it should be noted that some Aurors have also tacked up similar posters in their cubicles) deals with such sports-related pastimes as organizing the
Quidditch World Cup and the
Triwizard Tournament .
Ludovic "Ludo" Bagman used to be the Head of Department here, but his
Gambling problem forced him to flee from Goblin creditors. The current head of the department is unknown. The department is located on the seventh level of the Ministry of Magic, and includes:
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:
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 blew up his
Aunt Marge like a balloon. The squad probably had to contact
Obliviator Headquarters to get an obliviator on the scene to modify Marge's memory.
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:
It is divided into three divisions ("Being", "Beast" and "Spirit") and contains liaison offices for
Goblin s and
Centaur s, though the centaurs, being isolationists, have never interacted with the
Centaur Liaison Office since its creation. Thus, "being sent to the Centaur Office" has become a
Euphemism at the Ministry for
Firing . For further detail on the distinctions between these divisions, see
Magical Beasts (Harry Potter) .
In Chapter 7 of ''
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix '', we learn that the department is located on the fourth level of the Ministry of Magic.
''Offices:''
The
British International Confederation of Wizards is based here, as are offices that regulate international magical law. This is where
Percy Weasley began to climb the ladder of success, and where
Barty Crouch , Sr. spent his final days in the Ministry.
Headquarters on the fifth level of the Ministry of Magic include:
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 and
Time , among other things, and record prophecies whenever they are made. 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.
Its name could be a reference to the
Eleusinian Mysteries of
Ancient Greece . It shares with those rites a preoccupation with immortality and the cycle of time.
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 (These "brains" seem to be controlled by some sort of creature that uses them to strangle its victims). Probably used to study the mind.
- 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. Probably used to study gravity and possibly other forces of nature.
- 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. Probably used to study death. Called the "Death Chamber" by Dumbledore. It was through this archway that Sirius Black , Harry Potter 's Godfather, fell to his apparent demise in '' Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix .'' Possibly the archway is a one-way path to the land of the dead.
- 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. Probably used to study time.
- The Future Chamber - A giant, cavernous room with over a hundred rows of shelves, where prophecies are kept, noted as the Hall of Prophecy in a news article in The Half-Blood Prince . 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 . Probably used to study prophecies and the future.
- The Love Chamber - A room behind a door that remains locked at all times and which cannot be unlocked by either the '''', 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 . A
Death Eater (who was revealed in ''
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince '' to be
Snape ) overheard the first part of the prediction. 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 he had to get his hands on Trelawney's prophecy, now stored in the Department of Mysteries. The trouble was that only he or Harry Potter could take them from the Department of Mysteries. As Lord Voldemort was not about to walk into the Ministry of Magic, 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 and
Sirius Black fell through the Veil and is presumed dead. When
Cornelius Fudge saw Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic, he was forced to acknowledge that he was wrong in denying that Voldemort had indeed returned.
Unfortunately, in ''
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince '', the heroes see the situation has largely not improved with the Ministry of Magic seemingly more concerned with keeping a public image of diligence than actually opposing Voldemort with proper vigor. For instance, they arrest
Stan Shunpike who is likely guilty of no more than idle boasting and attempt to persuade Potter to join the ministry for propaganda purposes. When he refuses,
Rufus Scrimgeour , who has replaced Fudge as the Minister of Magic, accuses him of being "Dumbledore's man through and through," a characteristic Harry proudly adopts for himself.
