Ministry of Magic
- The Minister for Magic is democratically elected.1
- Like the British Parliament, there is no fixed term.2
- Elections at least once every seven years.3
Wizengamot
- We know there are about 50 members at [Harry]’s trial,4 when it sits in a “full criminal trial”5 or in other words, “the full court.”6
- We do not know if “the full court” is the same as “the full Wizengamot,” it is possible that some subset is on a “Judicial Committee” or some-such.7
- We know that, at least when sitting as a court, [Mr. Weasley][Arthur] is not allowed in.8
- We know that, at least when sitting as a court, Mr. Malfoy is not allowed in.9
- It is strongly implied that the Malfoy family does in fact have a title from the Norman conquest.10
- We are told that a [Potter] “has twice sat on the Wizengamot”11
- Both of these have been at key times in Wizard/Non-Wizard relations.12 This suggests that members may not be elected.13
- There exists a “British Youth Representative to the Wizengamot”14
- We know that the Wizengamot has a Charter of Rights.15 This suggests, but does not prove, a legislative function.
- Able to at least suggest that a Minister leave office.16
Any number of stories, including [Not Normal][RNN1], which I have referenced as an example of interesting world building time and time again, fall into the trap of assuming that the Wizengamot is populated by those who either do or did hold titles of nobility. [Not Normal][RNN1] attempts to reconcile how this might work, but it ultimately fails the consistency check. Disregarding Mrs. Rowling’s date for the [Malfoy][] family’s introduction to England is relatively minor, but you also have to rewrite the [Potter] and [Black] histories. You are essentially ignoring all genealogical information not just from secondary canonical sources like [Pottermore], you are even ignoring some from the books. If the Wizengamot is based on noble titles, then [Harry]’s status as [Sirius]’ godson is insufficient to explain inheritance, [Harry] must also be biologically related to the Blacks. The problem is that there is no Euphemia Black in the [Black] tree, and no reasonable [Black] who might have married [Henry Potter][Henry].
[“Great Scott, Potter, This is War!”][GSP1] on the other hand assumes that membership is based on being an influential family back when our theoretical treaty of separation was negotiated.17 To make this story work, the author posited that while we may have records of the Potter family only as far back of as [Linfred the Potterer][Linfred], the family itself is much older.18 The primary problems with this are that it contradicts the origin story for the [Potters][Potter] and possibly others, and that it gives the [Malfoy] a seat in the “Full Wizengamot” that, per the above, they do not seem to have. A secondary problem with this is that it seems to ignore the [Peverell] family name, with the accompanying backstory for the Deathly Hallows. Lastly, it does not solve the problem of voting inheritance between the [Black] and [Potter] families (though this might be considered part of my statement that it contradicts the origin stories).
[Harry]: </Harrypedia/people/Potter/Harry James/>/ [Henry]: /Harrypedia/people/Potter/henry/ [Sirius]: </Harrypedia/people/Black/Sirius III/>/ [Arthur]: /Harrypedia/people/Weasley/Arthur/ [Linfred]: /Harrypedia/people/Potter/ [Black]: /Harrypedia/people/Black/ [Potter]: /Harrypedia/people/Potter/ [Peverell]: /Harrypedia/people/Peverell/ [Malfoy]: /Harrypedia/people/Malfoy/ [GSP1]: https://aaran-st-vines.fanficauthors.net/Great_Scott_Potter_This_is_War/index/ [Pottermore]: http://Pottermore.com/ [RNN1]: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7144149 [RNN2]: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7144149
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. “Ministers for Magic” Wizarding World Originally Published on Pottermore: 2015-08-10. Last Viewed: 2021-03-30↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. “Ministers for Magic” Wizarding World Originally Published on Pottermore: 2015-08-10. Last Viewed: 2021-03-30↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. “Ministers for Magic” Wizarding World Originally Published on Pottermore: 2015-08-10. Last Viewed: 2021-03-30↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Kindle Location 2063. Pottermore Limited. American Kindle Edition.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Kindle Locations 2235-2236. Pottermore Limited. American Kindle Edition.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Kindle Location 2271. Pottermore Limited. American Kindle Edition.↩︎
Find a reference to a fanfiction in which only some Wizengamot members make up the court. I know I read one in which it was a rotating subset.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Kindle Location 2049. Pottermore Limited. American Kindle Edition.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Kindle Location 2290-2291. Pottermore Limited. American Kindle Edition.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. “The Malfoy family” Wizarding World Originally Published on Pottermore: 2015-08-10. Last Viewed: 2021-03-30.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. “The Potter Family” Wizarding World Originally Published on Pottermore: 2015-09-21. Last Viewed: 2021-03-30.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. “The Potter Family” Wizarding World Originally Published on Pottermore: 2015-09-21. Last Viewed: 2021-03-30.↩︎
See my notes on the [Potter] family.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows p. 146. Pottermore Publishing. American Kindle Edition.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Kindle Location 2133. Pottermore Limited. American Kindle Edition.↩︎
Mrs. J. K. Rowling. “Ministers for Magic” Wizarding World Originally Published on Pottermore: 2015-08-10. Last Viewed: 2021-03-30↩︎
Aaran St Vines. [“Great Scott, Potter, This is War!”][GSP1] Posted: 2006-03-07. Updated: 2009-02-15. Last Viewed: 2021-10-07.↩︎
Aaran St Vines. [“Great Scott, Potter, This is War!”][GSP1] Chapter 15 - The Three-Thirty-Three Families Posted: 2007-04-29. Updated: 2009-02-15. Last Viewed: 2025-04-08.↩︎