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Alastor Moody: "Second problem: you’re under-age, which means you’ve still got the Trace on you."
Harry Potter: "‘I don’t –"
Alastor Moody: "The Trace, the Trace! The charm that detects magical activity around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about under-age magic! If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters."
— Alastor Moody explaining the Trace to Harry Potter[src]

The Trace (incantation unknown) was a charm which allowed the Ministry to know of magic cast in the vicinity of wizards and witches who were under seventeen years of age. When any magical activity was performed in the vicinity of the underage individual, the Improper Use of Magic Office within the Ministry of Magic was alerted to the spell that was used, and to the location of the caster and the time it was cast. The charm allowed the Ministry to track underage magic, which was banned under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. The Trace automatically broke upon a wizard or witch's seventeenth birthday; Remus Lupin and Ron Weasley each claimed that it was impossible for the Trace to continue to function on a person over the age of seventeen, and that it could not be placed on an adult.[1]

Implementation and use[]

"The Trace detects magical activity around underage witches and wizards, so the Ministry of Magic knows when underage magic is performed."
— Description[src]

It is unknown how a witch or wizard was imbued with the Trace, but it appeared to be universal with magical children. It did not need to be removed, but broke automatically upon their reaching adulthood.[1]

It is speculated that the Trace was placed on a magical child when they entered the Hogwarts Express, thus the reason it was used instead of a more efficient way of travel. This theory, however, does not explain how the Trace was cast upon people who didn't attend Hogwarts (as is speculated to be the case for Merope and Morfin Gaunt), since parents could elect that their children receive their magical education at home. However, since the Gaunt siblings never attended Hogwarts, and (theoretically) were never Traced, it is possible that when Bob Ogden came to visit the Gaunts in 1925, he was there for a breach in the International Statute of Secrecy, and not underage magic. This method was implemented by MACUSA; the British Ministry of Magic may have their own version of monitoring such violations.

The Ministry trusted magical parents to properly discipline their children if they performed magic, due to the fact that the parents' own magic would constantly interfere with the Trace. Children who grew up in the Muggle world, such as Harry Potter, were more closely monitored — any magic that was performed at or near 4 Privet Drive was assumed to have been caused by him because he was the only known magical person living in his neighbourhood. Thus, when the house-elf Dobby used magic at that location, the Ministry blamed Harry.[2]

Limitations[]

"The Trace cannot detect some forms of magical transport, including brooms, Thestrals and enchanted vehicles."
— Limitations[src]

Either the Trace was lifted or the Ministry did not monitor it when underage witches and wizards were attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, holidays not included, allowing students to perform magic freely. It appears that students could also use magic freely on the Hogwarts Express.

The Trace's effectiveness appeared to be somewhat inconsistent. Alastor Moody mentioned that any magic around an underage witch or wizard would activate the Trace,[1] and, as above-mentioned, the Ministry could erroneously attribute that magic to the underage individual. However, Arthur Weasley used magic around Harry at 4 Privet Drive in 1994 that was not blamed on him (which was possibly because Arthur arranged a Floo connection to the fireplace of Number 4, so the Ministry knew that an older wizard was present at the time).[3] It is also possible (though less likely) that the Ministry was alerted to this but recognised some aspect of the magic as belonging to an adult wizard.

Similarly, when the Advance Guard escorted Harry from Number 4, several spells and charms were cast; however, no Ministry warnings were sent.[4] Although it is probable, given Harry was already up on a charge of Misuse of Magic at the time, that the Order informed the Ministry they would be collecting Harry and that they might use magic around him.

Hermione Granger also admitted to successfully trying out "a few simple spells" just prior to her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,[5] but, apparently, she never received any notification that this was banned even though, as a Muggle-born witch, it is unlikely that there were any other wizards or witches in her vicinity who the Ministry could have believed cast the magic instead. However, this is probably because the Ministry did not monitor pre-Hogwarts students, because their magic was normally uncontrollable. This may, however, indicate that the Trace was actually put in place after students begin formal learning.

Curiously, when Harry was transported to the Little Hangleton graveyard and duelled Voldemort there was no indication the Ministry was aware of it.[6] It is possible that the Trace on Hogwarts students was lifted or not checked during the school year, or that the graveyard may have had powerful enchantments cast on it to suppress scrying and location magics, or the Trace in particular.

Another inconsistency is that when Tom Riddle was sixteen, he murdered his father and grandparents with the Killing Curse and then modified his uncle Morfin Gaunt's memory so that he would confess to the crime. While Dumbledore explained how Riddle's magic in the Gaunt Shack would go unnoticed, no explanation was given as to how three uses of the Killing Curse by a sixteen-year old in a Muggle home were overlooked.[7] It is also possible that due to his uncle being in residence there, the Ministry may have felt the magic was not used by Riddle. Although it seems more likely, given Riddle's powerful nature, he devised a way to block or even dispel the Trace, since the Ministry had no records of being aware of his presence in the area at the time, or of his later secret creation of at least one Horcrux while he was of school age. It should be noted, however, that with the Ministry's patchy history on this front, it is possible his presence in the area was never cross-referenced with the murders (since by the Ministry's knowledge, Riddle was supposed to be at his orphanage, and the Ministry did not have any knowledge of his heritage and connections with Gaunt and the pure-muggle Riddle household) or was deemed irrelevant, and that it was unknown precisely when or where Riddle created his early Horcruxes. The fact that Morfin confessed, under the influence of his false memory, made it much easier for the Ministry to simply place him into custody without bothering to investigate.[7]

Another example was the Seven Potters event in 1997, when Harry Potter was closely monitored by the Ministry. The Order of the Phoenix was reluctant to use any magic means to transfer Potter from his home, fearing the Trace would notify the Ministry and then the Death Eaters immediately if they use side-along Apparition.[1] However, they had no reservations about hiding Harry Potter in the Burrow,[1][8] although Harry still had the Trace on him, and any magic performed nearby would alert Death Eaters in theory, and this was very hard to prevent in an all-wizard family. This might indicate that the Trace was not simply ignored by the Ministry if underage magic was performed in all-wizard environments, but completely untraceable in such places. It is also possible that the Order believed Ginny's presence would mask Harry's as she was also still underage at the time, meaning that the Ministry would be aware of magic being used in the Burrow regardless of where Harry was.

Also, the fact that the Ministry generally ignored when magic was used by underage wizards and witches of wizarding families, expecting their parents to discipline them, essentially made it useless at monitoring their use of magic. It could be argued, as a result of this, that children born into wizarding households had more legal "wiggle-room" when breaking the restriction for underage wizardry than half-bloods living with all Muggle relations (like Harry) and Muggle-borns.

The Trace also could not distinguish house-elf magic from wizard magic.[2]

Known Trace activations[]

Etymology[]

Trace, as the English word meaning a path, refers to how a person's magic is "traced" to his or her location.

Behind the scenes[]

  • In the film versions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hermione casts the Oculus Reparo spell on Harry's glasses in the former while aboard the Hogwarts Express and in the latter in public in Diagon Alley (the second use does not occur in the novel, with an older character casting the spell). In neither case is it indicated that Hermione is warned or punished. It is possible the Trace (in the film continuity) does not apply to magic use on the train - which could be seen as an extension of the school - or in the "Muggle-free" environment of Diagon Alley. Alternately, it is possible the use of some mundane, harmless spells such as Oculus Reparo may be overlooked (as opposed to more major violations such as the Hover Charm or the Patronus charm). However, when used on the train, there were some adult wizards and many Hogwarts students (some of whom are seventh years and already turned 17), and in the case of Diagon Alley, it was an all-wizard location, and almost everybody was of age.
  • At the beginning of the third film, we see Harry in his room at Privet Drive, utilising Lumos Maxima without any warnings from the Ministry. In the book, however, we find him writing an essay with a torch to be able to see.
  • In the fourth Harry Potter book, the Weasleys broke out of the Dursleys' fireplace by using magic, and Mr Weasley used magic to return Dudley's tongue to its original size. In the case of the fireplace they cannot be said to be inside the house yet, and in the case of the tongue spell, Harry was not in the house at that point.
    • As Mr Weasley was a Ministry official, it is possible he informed the Ministry of his presence at the Dursley household, and any magic that would be performed would be attributed to him.
  • In the fifth novel, Tonks used some household spells in Harry's room while helping him to pack his things. This, however, did not seem to have had any legal consequences. However, Harry was already in so much trouble that they probably did not notice that.
    • As mentioned before, it is also likely that the Ministry knew the Order would be at Harry's home.
  • When he was first accused of using underage magic in 1992, Harry only received a warning, but no punishment for this. When he was accused for the second time three years later, the implications were much more severe, resulting in his near expulsion from Hogwarts and subsequent trial. This discrepancy is not explained.
    • It is likely that by the second time, Harry was considered a repeat offender, so his case was deemed more serious. It may also be that using the Patronus Charm was considered more serious than using the Hover Charm (indeed, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge said during Harry's trial that the more impressive the magic, the worse the offence is[10]), that Harry was too young to be punished at 12, or that Fudge's Ministry wanted a reason to detain or expel him in 1995 due to his paranoia over Harry's conviction that Voldemort had returned.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 4 (The Seven Potters)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 2 (Dobby's Warning)
  3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 4 (Back to The Burrow)
  4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 3 (The Advance Guard)
  5. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 6 (The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters)
  6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 34 (Priori Incantatem)
  7. 7.0 7.1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 17 (A Sluggish Memory)
  8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 5 (Fallen Warrior)
  9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 2 (A Peck of Owls)
  10. 10.0 10.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 8 (The Hearing)
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