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"Just interdepartmental memos. We used to use owls, but the mess was unbelievable... droppings all over the desks..."
— Arthur Weasley explains the memos[src]

Interdepartmental memos were a method of communication between departments at the British Ministry of Magic.[1]

History[]

P1250325

An interdepartmental memo

As late as 1927,[2] the Ministry employed owls for this purpose, but discontinued use because they left droppings everywhere, which was somewhat disconcerting for Ministry workers.[1]

These memos travelled in the lifts, and left when their levels came. One of these memos informed Arthur Weasley of the regurgitating toilet discovered in Bethnal Green.[1]

During the 1990s, they usually took the form of purple paper aeroplanes, with "Ministry of Magic" stamped along the side, magically enchanted to fly independently to their destination.[1]

FlockofInterdepartmentalMemosWU

Interdepartmental memos in the form of Foundables

During the 2010s, when the Calamity occurred and the British Ministry of Magic took the lead in the global effort to combat it, memo aeroplane use went up by 411%, instigating an unprecedented parchment shortage at the Ministry offices. Sage Bragnam also noticed that some of the memos had started to behave erratically, with Sage believing that they were afraid of becoming Foundables. He approached a Calamity Investigator working for the Statute of Secrecy Task Force for help, with the investigator determining that the memos weren't sentient and that their erratic behaviour was actually the result of a mix-up with their routing spell.[3]

Also, some memos were captured by the Calamity and began to appear around the world as Foundables. Members of the Statute of Secrecy Task Force were tasked with returning them to the Ministry of Magic.[3]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

See also[]

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