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Quote:Bob Schroeck wrote:
Nah, Doug has a closer and much more visible toad-shaped target.
True; I was being greedy in my desire for punishing justice to be meted out.
Quote:"Yes! Defenestrate him in the great tradition of our country! Justice to all traitors!"
"Don't defenestrate him! Throw him out the window! Justice is too good for him!"
-- Walt Kelly
By the way, my earlier line about the "Secret Sorcery Service" caused me to think some more about the Wizarding World's equivalent of spy organizations, and I came up with the "fun with acronyms" contribution Wizarding Institute for Clandestine Control of Activities. I shouldn't have given up my day job.
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Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
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Quote:DHBirr wrote:By the way, my earlier line about the "Secret Sorcery Service" caused me to think some more about the Wizarding World's equivalent of spy organizations, and I came up with the "fun with acronyms" contribution Wizarding Institute for Clandestine Control of Activities. I shouldn't have given up my day job.
the Ministry Against General Evil? 8)
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"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin
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Timote Wrote:Quote:DHBirr wrote:By the way, my earlier line about the "Secret Sorcery Service" caused me to think some more about the Wizarding World's equivalent of spy organizations, and I came up with the "fun with acronyms" contribution Wizarding Institute for Clandestine Control of Activities. I shouldn't have given up my day job.
the Ministry Against General Evil? 8) "I'm with the Central Agency Supporting Terror Eradication Responsibly."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Don't forget "Wizards Against Natural Disasters".
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Magical Enforcement Response Liaison and Information Network. Its subordinate unit, at least in the UK, is the British Emergency Armed Reaction Division.
You didn't think those wizards in the books were swearing by a bit of facial hair, did you?
Edit:
Quote:Don't forget "Wizards Against Natural Disasters".
As I said once (seven years ago almost to the day): "Wand. James Wand." And when I looked that earlier reference up, I discovered I'd said he was SSS, rather than it being an American agency.
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And then of course there's the Wizarding Intelligence and Troubleshooting Critical Hotline.
A special Floo office staffed by gorgeous, competant, brilliant young agents who are there specifically to come to the rescue of Aurors and other agents who get in to trouble over their heads....
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
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Special Hermetic Intelligence, Enchantment, and Legerdemain Division.
It's so influential, most wizards don't even think to dodge spells.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
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Quote:Bluemage wrote:
Special Hermetic Intelligence, Enchantment, and Legerdemain Division.
It's so influential, most wizards don't even think to dodge spells.
And now I'm suddenly envisioning "Mad-Eye" Fury...
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
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Son, I am disappoint.
...at myself, for not thinking of that first.
(When ME Fury refers to his 'one good eye', which one is he talking about?)
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
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So, the last portion of Goblet of Fire has gone up on Pottermore, with some new bits of info from JK Rowling. Here are the highlights:
Originally, Harry and Ron were going to crash into the lake in book 2, which is when the merpeople would have been introduced. They would have played a larger role in the later books, which would likely have been linked to the idea she had "that the lake might lead to other places." This idea was alluded to in GoF, with Durmstrang's ship traveling through the lake, but nothing more came of this.
Owls find the people they have mail for via "the mystical association between the name and the human who bears it". Owls "appear to be able to make such a connection between the name and its possessor that enables them to trace the witch or wizard concerned wherever he or she may be. An owl does not need to know an address, although witches and wizards generally add the place to the envelope on the off-chance that the owl is intercepted and the letter falls into other hands." That entry goes on to note that there are numerous spells that can restrict or block the Owl Post, and lists a few variations. Also, virtually all owls either belong to their country's postal service, or to individual wizards or witches.
Pensieves are both rare, and rarely used, as most wizards are wary of the possibility of others being able to access their memories without their consent. Additionally, while it is possible to use a pensieve to sort and organize one's thoughts and memories, it is extremely difficult to do so, far above and beyond the difficulty involved in recreating memories. Also, their rarity is exacerbated thanks to the long running tradition of burying a wizard's pensieve with its owner, along with all the memories it contains. The Hogwarts pensieve is a rare exception to this, as it belongs to the school, and contains the life experiences donated by most of the prior headmasters and headmistresses, in the form of memories. A variant form of Saxon runes are carved into the Hogwarts Pensieve, indicating its age exceeds that of the school. According to legend, the pensieve was discovered by the Founders , half buried in the land that they decided to build the school upon.
Finally, the last new segment was on the subject of illness and disabilities. Apparently, injuries and illnesses are divided into two categories: mundane and magical. Wizards can shrug off, or be easily healed from any harm that derives from a mundane source. Some example given include long falls, scorpion stings that could kill a muggle, and the flu. Damage done by a magical source, however, cannot be "overridden" by magic, so must be treated with the same seriousness that muggles would treat mundane injuries or diseases. The entry mentions both Lockhart and Neville's parents as examples of the difficulty in repairing damage done via magic, along with Luna's mother, Pandora, who died "when one of her experimental spells went wrong" . Moody is also mentioned, and it is stated that he lost his original eye and leg in a wizards' battle. (And yes, it does say battle, not duel.) There are also references to several magical diseases, such as Dragon Pox (originally contracted from Peruvian Vipertooths), and a note that injuries from magical beasts count as magical as well. . It isn't explicitly stated, but this appears to be the logic behind why Pomfrey could have easily healed Harry's broken arm, but instead had to use a more difficult (for Harry) method, as Lockhart had vanished the bones.
Rowling also states that "Remus Lupin's affliction was a conscious reference to blood-borne diseases such as the HIV infection, with the attendant stigma."
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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Quote:Also, virtually all owls either belong to their country's postal service, or to individual wizards or witches.
I knew the spotted owl thing wasn't our fault. I expect an apology, Sierra Club.
Quote:A variant form of Saxon runes are carved into the Hogwarts Pensieve,
indicating its age exceeds that of the school. According to legend, the
pensieve was discovered by the Founders , half buried in the land that
they decided to build the school upon.
Probably buried by Rory Williams to keep it from the clutches of the great warrior wizard, Ragnar Loðbrok.
-- ∇×V
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And with Pandora Lovegood yet another anonymous background figure from the books gains a name. How long until she definitively josses "Dan and Emma Granger", do you think?
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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The thing with using owls is that they naturally leave audit trails as they fly, so you can always tell where your package has been....
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
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This past weekend, the entries for Order of the Phoenix went up on Pottermore. The new stuff includes mini-bios for Umbridge and Trelawney, the history entries for Azkaban and the position of the Minister for Magic, a creature entry for Thestrals, and a bit on Wizarding culture in the form of an entry on "Naming Seers", who are responsible for the oddly appropriate names that some characters have.
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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I really have to get around to visiting and registering at Pottermore one of these evenings... I wonder if there's something useful in Umbridge's bio; I just wrote a scene involving her for chapter 4, and if I can add new canon somewhere it'd be cool...
-- Bob
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Well, here's her entry:
Quote:Birthday: 26th AugustWand: Birch and dragon heartstring, eight inches longHogwarts house: SlytherinSpecial abilities: Her punishment quill is of her own inventionParentage: Muggle mother, wizard fatherFamily: Unmarried, no childrenHobbies: Collecting the 'Frolicsome Feline' ornamental plate range, adding flounces to fabric and frills to stationary objects, inventing instruments of torture
Dolores Jane Umbridge was the eldest child and only daughter of Orford Umbridge, a wizard, and Ellen Cracknell, a Muggle, who also had a Squib son. Dolores’s parents were unhappily married, and Dolores secretly despised both of them: Orford for his lack of ambition (he had never been promoted, and worked in the Department of Magical Maintenance at the Ministry of Magic), and her mother, Ellen, for her flightiness, untidiness, and Muggle lineage. Both Orford and his daughter blamed Ellen for Dolores's brother's lack of magical ability, with the result that when Dolores was fifteen, the family split down the middle, Orford and Dolores remaining together, and Ellen vanishing back into the Muggle world with her son. Dolores never saw her mother or brother again, never spoke of either of them, and henceforth pretended to all she met that she was a pure-blood. An accomplished witch, Dolores joined the Ministry of Magic directly after she left Hogwarts, taking a job as a lowly intern in the Improper Use of Magic Office. Even at seventeen, Dolores was judgemental, prejudiced and sadistic, although her conscientious attitude, her saccharine manner towards her superiors, and the ruthlessness and stealth with which she took credit for other people's work soon gained her advancement. Before she was thirty, Dolores had been promoted to Head of the office, and it was but a short step from there to ever more senior positions in the management of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. By this time, she had persuaded her father to take early retirement, and by making him a small financial allowance, she ensured that he dropped quietly out of sight. Whenever she was asked (usually by workmates who did not like her) 'are you related to that Umbridge who used to mop the floors here?' she would smile her sweetest, laugh, and deny any connection whatsoever, claiming that her deceased father had been a distinguished member of the Wizengamot. Nasty things tended to happen to people who asked about Orford, or anything that Dolores did not like talking about, and people who wanted to remain on her good side pretended to believe her version of her ancestry.
In spite of her best efforts to secure the affections of one of her superiors (she never cared particularly which of them it was, but knew that her own status and security would be advanced with a powerful husband), Dolores never succeeded in marrying. While they valued her hard work and ambition, those who got to know her best found it difficult to like her very much. After a glass of sweet sherry, Dolores was always prone to spout very uncharitable views, and even those who were anti-Muggle found themselves shocked by some of Dolores's suggestions, behind closed doors, of the treatment that the non-magical community deserved.
As she grew older and harder, and rose higher within the Ministry, Dolores's taste in little girlish accessories grew more and more pronounced; her office became a place of frills and furbelows, and she liked anything decorated with kittens (though found the real thing inconveniently messy). As the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge became increasingly anxious and paranoid that Albus Dumbledore had ambitions to supersede him, Dolores managed to claw her way to the very heart of power, by stoking both Fudge's vanity and his fears, and presenting herself as one of the few he could trust.
Dolores's appointment as Inquisitor at Hogwarts gave full scope, for the first time in her life, for her prejudices and her cruelty. She had not enjoyed her time at school, where she had been overlooked for all positions of responsibility, and she relished the chance to return and wield power over those who had not (as she saw it) given her her due.
Dolores has what amounts to a phobia of beings that are not quite, or wholly, human. Her distaste for the half-giant Hagrid, and her terror of centaurs, reveal a terror of the unknown and the wild. She is an immensely controlling person, and all who challenge her authority and world-view must, in her opinion, be punished. She actively enjoys subjugating and humiliating others, and except in their declared allegiances, there is little to choose between her and Bellatrix Lestrange.
Dolores's time at Hogwarts ended disastrously, because she overreached the remit Fudge had given her, stepping outside the bounds of her own authority, carried away with a fanatical sense of self-purpose. Shaken but unrepentant after a catastrophic end to her Hogwarts career, she returned to a Ministry which had been plunged into turmoil due to the return of Lord Voldemort.
In the change of regimes that followed Fudge's forced resignation, Dolores was able to slip back into her former position at the Ministry. The new Minister, Rufus Scrimgeour, had more immediate problems pressing in on him than Dolores Umbridge. Scrimgeour was later punished for this oversight, because the fact that the Ministry had never punished Dolores for her many abuses of power seemed to Harry Potter to reveal both its complacency and its carelessness. Harry considered Dolores's continuing employment, and the lack of any repercussions for her behaviour at Hogwarts, a sign of the Ministry's essential corruption, and refused to cooperate with the new Minister because of it (Dolores is the only person, other than Lord Voldemort, to leave a permanent physical scar on Harry, having forced him to cut the words 'I must not tell lies' on the back of his own hand during detention).
Dolores was soon enjoying life at the Ministry more than ever. When the Ministry was taken over by the puppet Minister Pius Thicknesse, and infiltrated by the Dark Lord's followers, Dolores was in her true element at last. Correctly judged, by senior Death Eaters, to have much more in common with them than she ever had with Albus Dumbledore, she not only retained her post but was given extra authority, becoming Head of the Muggle-born Registration Commission, which was in effect a kangaroo court that imprisoned all Muggle-borns on the basis that they had ‘stolen’ their wands and their magic.
It was as she sat in judgement of another innocent woman that Harry Potter finally attacked Dolores in the very heart of the Ministry, and stole from her the Horcrux she had unwittingly been wearing.
With the fall of Lord Voldemort, Dolores Umbridge was put on trial for her enthusiastic co-operation with his regime, and convicted of the torture, imprisonment and deaths of several people (some of the innocent Muggle-borns she sentenced to Azkaban did not survive their ordeal).
So, she's a bit more magically competent than fanon usually makes her out to be, having invented that torture quill. Plus, depending on how exactly you interpret that statement of there being little difference between her and Bellatrix Lestrange apart from their declared allegiances, well...
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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Wow. I have a scene written from her POV for chapter 4 in which I thought I was extrapolating a bit excessively, but I was scarily on the mark in many ways...
And who would have guessed that she invented the torture quill...
Thanks for the repost!
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Not just the quill. Note the last entry in her list of hobbies.
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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I did, but I was mostly referring to the fanon "blood quill" which in fics so frequently is used to sign magical contracts in blood. No fic author that I know of ever suspected that it was not just her personal toy but her personal creation.
-- Bob
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I don't think anyone thought of her (or wanted to think of her) as being that competent.
Anyway, would you like me to toss up any of the other new entries?
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"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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Sure, though I don't know what's there that might be useful to ask for.
In the mean time, well, I'll post that Umbridge scene as a teaser.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
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Well, I found the entry on the history of the Ministers for Magic to be quite interesting (one of them, a Lestrange, tried to shut down the Department of Mysteries), as well as the entry on Azkaban (which also includes a bit of info on Dementors).
Here's both: (sorry about the formatting)
Quote:The Ministry of Magic was formally established in 1707 with the appointment of the very first man to hold the title 'Minister for Magic', Ulick Gamp.* The Minister for Magic is democratically elected, although there have been times of crisis in which the post has simply been offered to an individual without a public vote (Albus Dumbledore was made such an offer, and turned it down repeatedly). There is no fixed limit to a Minister's term of office, but he or she is obliged to hold regular elections at a maximum interval of seven years. Ministers for Magic tend to last much longer than Muggle ministers. Generally speaking, and despite many a moan and grumble, their community is behind them in a way that is rarely seen in the Muggle world. This is perhaps due to a feeling, on the part of wizards, that unless they are seen to manage themselves competently, the Muggles might try to interfere.
The Muggle Prime Minister has no part in appointing the Minister for Magic, whose election is a matter only for the magical community themselves. All matters relating to the magical community in Britain are managed solely by the Minister for Magic, and he has sole jurisdiction over his Ministry. Emergency visits to the Muggle Prime Minister by the Minister for Magic are announced by a portrait of Ulick Gamp (first Minister for Magic) that hangs in the Muggle Prime Minister's study in number 10 Downing Street.
No Muggle Prime Minister has ever set foot in the Ministry of Magic, for reasons most succinctly summed up by ex-Minister Dugald McPhail (term of office 1858-1865): 'their puir wee braines couldnae cope wi' it.'
[table]Minister Term of Office | Ulick Gamp | 1707 - 1718 | Previously head of the Wizengamot, Gamp had the onerous job of policing a fractious and frightened community adjusting to the imposition of the International Statute of Secrecy. His greatest legacy was to found the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
| [/table][table]| Damocles Rowle | 1718 - 1726 | Rowle was elected on a platform of being 'tough on Muggles'. Censured by the International Confederation of Wizards, he was eventually forced to step down.
| [/table][table]| Perseus Parkinson | 1726 - 1733 | Attempted to pass a bill making it illegal to marry a Muggle. Misread the public mood; the wizarding community, tired of anti-Muggle sentiment and wanting peace, voted him out at the first opportunity.
| [/table][table]| Eldritch Diggory | 1733 - 1747 | Popular Minister who first established an Auror recruitment programme. Died in office (dragon pox).
| [/table][table]| Albert Boot | 1747 - 1752 | Likeable, but inept. Resigned after a mismanaged goblin rebellion.
| [/table][table]| Basil Flack | 1752 - 1752 | Shortest serving Minister. Lasted two months; resigned after the goblins joined forces with werewolves.
| [/table][table]| Hesphaestus Gore | 1752 - 1770 | Gore was one of the earliest Aurors. Successfully put down a number of revolts by magical beings, although historians feel his refusal to contemplate rehabilitation programmes for werewolves ultimately led to more attacks. Renovated and reinforced the prison of Azkaban.
| [/table][table]| Maximilian Crowdy | 1770 - 1781 | Father of nine Crowdy was a charismatic leader who routed out several extremist pure-blood groups planning Muggle attacks. His mysterious death in office has been the subject of numerous books and conspiracy theories.
| [/table][table]| Porteus Knatchbull | 1781 - 1789 | Was called in confidentially in 1782 by the Muggle Prime Minister of the day, Lord North, to see whether he could help with King George III's emerging mental instability. Word leaked out that Lord North believed in wizards, and he was forced to resign after a motion of no confidence.
| [/table][table]| Unctuous Osbert | 1789 - 1798 | Widely seen as too much influenced by pure-bloods of wealth and status.
| [/table][table]| Artemisia Lufkin | 1798 - 1811 | First female Minister for Magic. Established Department of International Magical Co-operation and lobbied hard and successfully to have a Quidditch World Cup tournament held in Britain during her term.
| [/table][table]| Grogan Stump | 1811 - 1819 | Very popular Minister for Magic, a passionate Quidditch fan (Tutshill Tornados), established Department of Magical Games and Sports and managed to steer through legislation on magical beasts and beings that had long been a source of contention.
| [/table][table]| Josephina Flint | 1819 - 1827 | Revealed an unhealthy anti-Muggle bias in office; disliked new Muggle technology such as the telegraph, which she claimed interfered with proper wand function.
| [/table][table]| Ottaline Gambol | 1827 - 1835 | A much more forward-looking Minister, Gambol established committees to investigate Muggle brainpower which seemed, during this period of the British Empire, to be greater than some wizards had credited.
| [/table][table]| Radolphus Lestrange | 1835 - 1841 | Reactionary who attempted to close down the Department of Mysteries, which ignored him. Eventually resigned due to ill health, which was widely rumoured to be inability to cope with the strains of office.
| [/table][table]| Hortensia Milliphutt | 1841 - 1849 | Introduced more legislation than any other sitting Minister, much of it useful, but some wearisome (hat pointiness and so on), which ultimately resulted in her political downfall.
| [/table][table]| Evangeline Orpington | 1849 - 1855 | A good friend of Queen Victoria's, who never realised she was a witch, let alone Minister for Magic. Orpington is believed to have intervened magically (and illegally) in the Crimean War.
| [/table][table]| Priscilla Dupont | 1855 - 1858 | Conceived an irrational loathing of the Muggle Prime Minister Lord Palmerston, to an extent that caused such trouble (coins turning to frogspawn in his coat pockets, etc.) that she was forced to step down. Ironically, Palmerston was forced to resign by the Muggles two days later.
| [/table][table]| Dugald McPhail | 1858 - 1865 | A safe pair of hands. While the Muggle parliament underwent a period of marked upheaval, the Ministry of Magic knew a period of welcome calm.
| [/table][table]| Faris "Spout-hole" Spavin | 1865 - 1903 | Longest-ever serving Minister for Magic, and also the most long-winded, he survived an 'assassination attempt' (kicking) from a centaur who resented the punchline of Spavin's infamous 'a centaur, a ghost and a dwarf walk into a bar' joke. Attended Queen Victoria's funeral in an admiral's hat and spats, at which point the Wizengamot suggested gently that it was time he move aside (Spavin was 147 when he left office).
| [/table][table]| Venusia Crickerly | 1903 - 1912 | Second ex-Auror to take office and considered both competent and likeable, Crickerly died in a freak gardening accident (mandrake related).
| [/table][table]| Archer Evermonde | 1912 - 1923 | In post during the Muggle First World War, Evermonde passed emergency legislation forbidding witches and wizards to get involved, lest they risk mass infractions of the International Statute of Secrecy. Thousands defied him, aiding Muggles where they could.
| [/table][table]| Lorcan McLaird | 1923 - 1925 | A gifted wizard, but an unlikely politician, McLaird was an exceptionally taciturn man who preferred to communicate in monosyllables and expressive puffs of smoke that he produced through the end of his wand. Forced from office out of sheer irritation at his eccentricities.
| [/table][table]| Hector Fawley | 1925 - 1939 | Undoubtedly voted in because of his marked difference to McLaird, the ebullient and flamboyant Fawley did not take sufficiently seriously the threat presented to the world wizarding community by Gellert Grindelwald. He paid with his job.
| [/table][table]| Leonard Spencer-Moon | 1939 - 1948 | A sound Minister who rose through the ranks from being tea-boy in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Oversaw a great period of international wizarding and Muggle conflict. Enjoyed a good working relationship with Winston Churchill.
| [/table][table]| Wilhelmina Tuft | 1948 - 1959 | Cheery witch who presided over a period of welcome peace and prosperity. Died in office after discovering, too late, her allergy to Alihotsy-flavoured fudge.
| [/table][table]| Ignatius Tuft | 1959 - 1962 | Son of the above. A hard-liner who capitalised on his mother's popularity to gain election. Promised to institute a controversial and dangerous Dementor breeding program and was forced from office.
| [/table][table]| Nobby Leach | 1962 - 1968 | First Muggle-born Minister for Magic, his appointment caused consternation among the old (pure-blood) guard, many of whom resigned government posts in protest. Has always denied having anything to do with England's 1966 World Cup Win. Left office after contracting mysterious illness (conspiracy theories abound).
| [/table][table]| Eugenia Jenkins | 1968 - 1975 | Jenkins dealt competently with pure-blood riots during Squib Rights marches in the late sixties, but was soon confronted with the first rise of Lord Voldemort. Jenkins was soon ousted from office as inadequate to the challenge.
| [/table][table]| Harold Minchum | 1975 - 1980 | Seen as a hard-liner, he placed even more Dementors around Azkaban, but was unable to contain what looked like Voldemort's unstoppable rise to power.
| [/table][table]| Millicent Bagnold | 1980 - 1990 | A highly able Minister. Had to answer to the International Confederation of Wizards for the number of breaches of the International Statute of Secrecy on the day and night following Harry Potter's survival of Lord Voldemort's attack. Acquitted herself magnificently with the now infamous words: 'I assert our inalienable right to party', which drew cheers from all present.
| [/table][table]| Cornelius Fudge | 1990 - 1996 | A career politician overly-fond of the old guard. Persistent denial of the continuing threat of Lord Voldemort ultimately cost him his job.
| [/table][table]| Rufus Scrimgeour | 1996 - 1997 | The third ex-Auror to gain office, Scrimgeour died in office at the hands of Lord Voldemort.
| [/table][table]| Pius Thicknesse | 1997 - 1998 | Omitted from most official records, as he was under the Imperius Curse for his entire term of office, and unconscious of anything that he was doing.
| [/table][table]| Kingsley Shacklebolt | 1998 - present | Oversaw the capture of Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters following the death of Lord Voldemort. Initially named as ‘caretaker Minister’, Shacklebolt was subsequently elected to the office.
| [/table]* Prior to 1707, the Wizards' Council was the longest serving (though not the only) body to govern the magical community in Britain. After the imposition of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692, however, the wizarding community needed a more highly structured, organised and more complex governing structure than they had hitherto used, to support, regulate and communicate with a community in hiding. Only witches and wizards who enjoyed the title of 'Minister for Magic' are included in this entry.
Quote:Azkaban has existed since the fifteenth century and was not originally a prison at all. The island in the North Sea upon which the first fortress was built never appeared on any map, Muggle or wizarding, and is believed to have been created, or enlarged, by magical means.
The fortress upon it was originally home to a little-known sorcerer who called himself Ekrizdis. Evidently extremely powerful, but of unknown nationality, Ekrizdis, who is believed to have been insane, was a practitioner of the worst kinds of Dark Arts. Alone in the middle of the ocean, he lured, tortured and killed Muggle sailors, apparently for pleasure, and only when he died, and the concealment charms he had cast faded away, did the Ministry of Magic realise that either island or building existed. Those who entered to investigate refused afterwards to talk of what they had found inside, but the least frightening part of it was that the place was infested with Dementors.
Many in authority thought Azkaban an evil place that was best destroyed. Others were afraid of what might happen to the Dementors infesting the building if they deprived them of their home. The creatures were already strong and impossible to kill; many feared a horrible revenge if they took away a habitat where they appeared to thrive. The very walls of the building seemed steeped in misery and pain, and the Dementors were determined to cling to it. Experts who had studied buildings built with and around Dark magic contended that Azkaban might wreak its own revenge upon anybody attempting to destroy it. The fortress was therefore left abandoned for many years, a home to continually breeding Dementors.
Once the International Statute of Secrecy had been imposed, the Ministry of Magic felt that the small wizarding prisons that existed up and down the country in various towns and villages posed a security risk, because attempts by incarcerated witches and wizards to break out often led to undesirable bangs, smells and light shows. A purpose-built prison, located on some remote Hebridean island, was preferred, and plans had been drawn up when Damocles Rowle became Minister for Magic.
Rowle was an authoritarian who had risen to power on an anti-Muggle agenda, capitalising on the anger felt by much of the wizarding community at being forced to go underground. Sadistic by nature, Rowle scrapped the plans for the new prison at once and insisted on using Azkaban. He claimed that the Dementors living there were an advantage: they could be harnessed as guards, saving the Ministry time, trouble and expense.
In spite of opposition from many wizards, among them experts on both Dementors and buildings with Azkaban’s kind of Dark history, Rowle carried out his plan and soon a steady trickle of prisoners had been placed there. None ever emerged. If they were not mad and dangerous before being placed in Azkaban, they swiftly became so.
Rowle was succeeded by Perseus Parkinson, who was likewise pro-Azkaban. By the time that Eldritch Diggory took over as Minister for Magic, the prison had been operating for fifteen years. There had been no breakouts and no breaches of security. The new prison seemed to be working well. It was only when Diggory went to visit that he realised exactly what conditions inside were like. Prisoners were mostly insane and a graveyard had been established to accommodate those that died of despair.
Back in London, Diggory established a committee to explore alternatives to Azkaban, or at least to remove the Dementors as guards. Experts explained to him that the only reason the Dementors were (mostly) confined to the island was that they were being provided with a constant supply of souls on which to feed. If deprived of prisoners, they were likely to abandon the prison and head for the mainland.
This advice notwithstanding, Diggory had been so horrified by what he had seen inside Azkaban that he pressed the committee to find alternatives. Before they could reach any decision, however, Diggory caught dragon pox and died. From that time until the advent of Kingsley Shacklebolt, no Minister ever seriously considered closing Azkaban. They turned a blind eye to the inhumane conditions inside the fortress, permitted it to be magically enlarged and expanded and rarely visited, due to the awful effects of entering a building populated by thousands of Dementors. Most justified their attitude by pointing to the prison’s perfect record at keeping prisoners locked up.
Nearly three centuries passed before that record was broken. A young man was successfully smuggled out of the prison when his visiting mother exchanged places with him, something that the blind and loveless Dementors could not detect and would have never expected. This escape was followed by another, still more ingenious and impressive, when Sirius Black managed to evade the Dementors single-handed.
The weakness of the prison was demonstrated amply over the next few years, when two mass breakouts occurred, both involving Death Eaters. By this time the Dementors had given their allegiance to Lord Voldemort, who could guarantee them scope and freedom hitherto un-tasted. Albus Dumbledore was one who had long disapproved of the use of Dementors as guards, not only because of the inhumane treatment of the prisoners in their power, but because he foresaw the possible shift in loyalties of such Dark creatures.
Under Kingsley Shacklebolt, Azkaban was purged of Dementors. While it remains in use as a prison, the guards are now Aurors, who are regularly rotated from the mainland. There has been no breakout since this new system was introduced.
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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Quote:Pius Thicknesse 1997 - 1998
Omitted from most official records, as he was under the Imperius Curse for his entire term of office, and unconscious of anything that he was doing.
As opposed to Fudge, who had no such excuse for being unconscious of anything he was doing...
And finally confirmation of Azkaban's location in the North Sea.
Thank you, Jorlem!
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Millicent Bagnold Wrote:Acquitted herself magnificently with the now
infamous words: 'I assert our inalienable right to party', which drew
cheers from all present. A right which, all too often, you gotta fight for.
-- ∇×V
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Hah! I missed that line, somehow.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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