death to capslock

How much power wizards have over both Muggles and each other seems wildly inconsistent. They can call up their counterparts in another country to make that country’s president “forget” an important scheduled call to another world leader — but when they have to arrange security for a major sporting event, they can’t get a handful of Muggles to take a vacation from their campground jobs and instead rely on a few overworked wizards to repeatedly Obliviate the Muggles. They detect any spells performed in Muggle areas instantly and send wizards to take the perpetrators into custody while they’re still laughing (Sirius), or send hypersonic owls with warning letters to underage wizards noting which spell was performed at what time, down to the minute—except when the spell is performed by a wizard younger than eleven, in which case they don’t even send Obliviators. Or when it’s Apparition (Dumbledore in Little Whinging, Mundungus in Little Whinging, Dumbledore and Harry into Buddleigh Babberton…), because no one notices people magically appearing or disappearing into thin air. Or when there’s a massive battle over suburban Surrey before the Death Eaters have taken over the Ministry. Or when the magic involves a charmed object. I’m sure we could find a lot more examples.

But the inconsistencies might make more sense if we look at wizarding control and surveillance as mostly smoke and mirrors. ( Read more... )