![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynSomewhere in the Ministry of Magic, there is a division that is not spoken of. Not part of the Department of Mysteries, because it isn't a research group, but under the wing of Magical Law Enforcement, they exist. There is no slang term for them - the people of the Department of Mysteries are called Invisibles, but these people have no popular name. To get one, they would have to be known. They're drawn mostly from the ranks of those applying to work for the ministry who check off 'undecided' or 'wherever the job openings are' on their forms. Their job is one of those that has to be done, but that no one ever thinks about.
Needed? Oh, yes, they're needed. Known? Only indirectly. Every wizard who's ever let off a spell at the wrong time in the wrong place has felt their influence, whether he knows it or not. Every underage witch who accidentally blew up the cat's litterbox in a fit of annoyance has been touched by their work.
They're the Monitors. They devise the spells that keep watch over England, the incantations and standing rituals that subtly keep track of every square meter of Muggle space through which a wizard moves. Their job is to detect inappropriate magic, peg the specific spell being used, and track it back to its location, then notify the appropriate authorities. Concern for the privacy of individual wizards and witches meant that the Ministry barred them from implementing protocols that would allow them to peg the individual caster, or from keeping watch on magic used in wizarding homes. Whether the Monitors watch the Tracking Spells in crystal balls or scrying bowls themselves, or have automatic notification incantations in place, varies from place to place. But their work is indubitably felt throughout England... and no one outside their little part of the Ministry even knows they're there.
Needed? Oh, yes, they're needed. Known? Only indirectly. Every wizard who's ever let off a spell at the wrong time in the wrong place has felt their influence, whether he knows it or not. Every underage witch who accidentally blew up the cat's litterbox in a fit of annoyance has been touched by their work.
They're the Monitors. They devise the spells that keep watch over England, the incantations and standing rituals that subtly keep track of every square meter of Muggle space through which a wizard moves. Their job is to detect inappropriate magic, peg the specific spell being used, and track it back to its location, then notify the appropriate authorities. Concern for the privacy of individual wizards and witches meant that the Ministry barred them from implementing protocols that would allow them to peg the individual caster, or from keeping watch on magic used in wizarding homes. Whether the Monitors watch the Tracking Spells in crystal balls or scrying bowls themselves, or have automatic notification incantations in place, varies from place to place. But their work is indubitably felt throughout England... and no one outside their little part of the Ministry even knows they're there.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-11-08 10:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-08 10:36 am (UTC)I'm going to go eat a bagel, do some data entry, and work on my *!(&) November bargain before I embarrass myself further.