Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery
"Dear Mr Potter,
We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a ― Mafalda Hopkirk's letter adressed to Harry Potter on 2 August , [source]
The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery is a bylaw of the Ministry of Magic, written in underage magic outside of school.
The Decree is enforced by the Improper Use of Magic Office in the Ministry of Magic. The restriction is for wizards and witches who are under the age of seventeen, upon which The Trace still operates. Even so, the Ministry does recognise that they may have to use magic in certain situations such as self-defence in a life-threatening situation.
In addition, young children below school age, or children who are not in possession of a wand, are mostly exempt from the rule since they usually have little or no control over the magic they perform. Overall, it appears the Ministry of Magic generally limits enforcement of the decree to situations where underage wizards perform magic in front of Muggles.
Known contents [ ]
"In the matter of Harry Potter, the law clearly states that magic can be used before Muggles in life-threatening situations." ― Albus Dumbledore at Harry Potter's Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore gave Harry Potter such an instruction if an attack was to eventuate, when he was 16 years old. Also, if an underage student unintentionally performed magic out of emotional stress, the Ministry may consider this to be accidental magic, and not punish said student, as Dumbledore noted that even the best of adult wizards cannot always control their emotions, and Fudge did somewhat take this into account when he spoke to Harry about it.
The use of objects already enchanted by someone else does not count as a violation, as stated by Ronald Weasley, at that time aged 12, when he and his brothers Fred and George, aged 14, used their father's flying Ford Anglia during the summer holidays.
Known breaches [ ]
Ron Weasley: "We can fly the car to Hogwarts!" Harry Potter: "But I thought –" Ron Weasley: "‘We’re stuck, right? And we’ve got to get to school, haven’t we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it’s a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy . ’" — Harry Potter and Ron Weasley while stuck at the barrier to | Offender | Crime | Date | Action taken | Notes |
|---|
| Lily Evans | Magic | Between 1971 and early January 1977 | Received a few warning letters | None of her warning letters were “too serious”. |
| Hermione Granger | "A few simple spells" | Summer of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley just prior to their first year at Hogwarts that she had successfully cast a few spells, but apparently, she received no notice or warning about this being banned. |
| Harry Potter | Illegal use of a Hover Charm | 31st July Dobby. |
| Harry Potter | Illegal use of the Inflating Charm on Marjorie Dursley | August 6th Sirius Black from Azkaban, and the need to keep Harry safe. Additionally, this was considered "accidental magic". |
| Harry Potter | Illegal use of the Patronus Charm in front of a Muggle | 2 August , Dolores Umbridge was the one who secretly orchestrated this incident as part of the Undetected/Ignored breaches [ ]
- Harry Potter performed the Tom Riddle, at age 16 during his summer vacation, used the Stunning Spell to incapacitate his Riddle House, the Killing Curse to murder his paternal family, and then to Bellatrix Lestrange trained her nephew Draco Malfoy in various fields of magic, which would most likely require Draco himself to use magic, during his summer vacation at age 16. Due to Draco being raised in a magical household, with both his mother and aunt being adult witches (albeit the latter being a wanted criminal), Draco's breaches could not be detected.
- When Harry Potter was caught in the Death Eaters, such as the Disarming and Azkabanbreakout a secret. However, this may be because the Ministry was currently assisting Harry Potter, and recognised that they were in a life-threatening situation, as well as the fact that the Ministry was not completely under Voldemort's regime at the time.
- Before Sirius Black defected from his family at age 16, he used the household being a magical family.
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