In Harry Potter, Even The Most Brilliant Magic Failed Against The Ultimate Enemy
You can have all the powerful artifacts in the world, but what’s the point if you’re up against the deadliest and most frustrating enemy — the bureaucracy?
Summary:
- In Harry Potter, there are many ways to prove one’s innocence, including Veritaserum, Unbreakable Vows, and Pensieves.
- Despite that, the Ministry of Magic sentences innocent people to Azkaban or the Dementor’s Kiss on a regular basis.
- Every time Harry and his friends win a fight against the Ministry, it’s thanks to them breaking the law, not using advanced magic.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is vast and wondrous, with countless spectacular magical fears to admire and use for one’s benefit… But ultimately, no fancy toy or useful artifact can prevent you from falling victim to the Ministry of Magic. Almost everything fails to defeat the bureaucracy throughout the series!
What’s Presumption Of Innocence, Again?..
In the Wizarding World, courts are obnoxiously flawed by design: despite consisting of experienced wizards, none of them even pretend to want to fight for justice. Time and time again, innocent people are imprisoned or even sentenced to the Dementor’s Kiss for the crimes they didn’t commit, and no one tries to prevent it.
Perhaps, it’s difficult to establish the truth in the Wizarding World? Oh, let’s see.
There is Veritaserum, the Truth Potion that makes a suspect answer any questions truthfully. There is a magical method that allows to rewatch memories called the Pensive. There is the Unbreakable Vow, after all, that can force suspects to tell the truth even if they can somehow bypass the previous two methods!
And yet, Sirius Black gets sentenced for the crime he didn’t commit twice, and Stan Shunpike gets imprisoned in Rufus Scrimgeour’s feverish attempts to prove himself.
In Harry Potter, Only Crime Can Fight Bureaucracy
The only examples of the Ministry of Magic taking the L for their mistakes in Harry Potter are all crime-fueled. Starting from the use of the Time-Turners on Harry and Hermione’s part after Sirius Black and Buckbeak’s untimely demise in The Prisoner of Azkaban, this trend continues until the finale of the saga, unsurprisingly.
When the Ministry’s bureaucrats deny Voldemort’s return and make Harry and Dumbledore’s lives a living hell through Umbridge and the Daily Prophet, what changes the situation? A series of break-and-entries by Harry and his friends.
When the Ministry begins operating under Voldemort’s command, what does it take to eventually fix the situation and save the Wizarding World from its tyranny? A series of crimes including but not limited to breaks-and-entries, thefts, and murders.
We’re not sure if there’s a lesson there and if there is, we advise you against learning it, just in case. But what’s obvious is that in the Wizarding World, with all its wonderful magical items and techniques, the only way to defeat crooked authorities is by directly confronting them. No potions, artifacts, and magical feats can help.