The Diggorys, by trast, embodied the warmth of a friendly, good-natured family. They had a f presence, like the kind neighbors who always waved hello.
The Weasleys, oher hand, had invited Alex to visit them before school began. Molly had subtly hihat she saw him as a “good match.” Alex suspected this artly because of his friendship with her brothers, the Prewetts, though he couldn’t deny her family’s love food food may have influenced her too. Arthur Weasley, who was fasated to learn that Alex was Muggle-born, eagerly chatted with him about Muggle life. W in the Office of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, Arthur’s job involved handling cases where wizards had ented everyday Muggle objects. But Alex had a feeling Arthur enjoyed experimenting with those objects himself.
The cheerful afternoon flew by, and as the guests said their goodbyes, the Longbottoms looked tent. Augusta, in particur, seemed pleased, often plimenting Alex’s cooking, which had added a special touch to the day.
Ohe gathering ended, Frank and Alice returo their demanding Auror duties. Retly, Death Eater attacks had increased, with Muggles, wizards, and even Aurors being targets. The Auror Office was stretched thin, struggling to respond to a seemingly endless wave of is. Many attacks happeoo quickly, often leaving Aurors arriving just moments too te.
Over te dinners, Alex found himself discussing the challenges of Auror work with Frank and Alice. They expihat the Ministry of Magic had a powerful dete spell c all of Britain, keeping watch ical activity. However, it had limits.
The Aurors were split into two teams: patrol teams, who watched over wizarding areas like Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, and a standby team at headquarters, ready to respond to any alerts. But the dete spell couldn’t identify who cast spells, so they had to rely on patterns and majical surges, like Unfivable Curses.
“Even here, if you cast a spell in the house, the Ministry ’t tell it’s you,” Frank expined. “They do, however, keep a closer wat areas where magic is on to caty trouble early. It’s their way of keeping underage wizards from ag up too much.”
“The problem is,” Alice added, “the Death Eaters know the system, so they often target weaker wizards with small spells. Those don’t trigger alerts. By the time the Ministry finds out, it’s already over.”
Alex could see the frustration in their faces. The Ministry’s inability to tradividual spells made it hard to catch Death Eaters i, especially sininistry insiders were secretly passing information to them. Frank expihat this was why the Order of the Phoeed—to work outside the Ministry’s trol and act more freely against threats.
Despite these efforts, the Aurors and the Order of the Phoenix often found themselves reag after the fact, like police forces in the Muggle world, who could only iigate crimes ohey’d already happened. Although wizards had many magical tools, the Ministry’s limits and internal corruption made it difficult to stay a step ahead of the Dark Lord.
Alex noticed that, by trast, the Death Eaters had a simple but effective unication system: the Dark Mark. This allowed the Dark Lord to summon or unicate with his followers instantly, giving them a clear coordination advahe Aurors had nothing like this, relying instead oronus Charm for messages—though only skilled wizards could cast it well.
“If wizards had something like an emergency charm or device they could trigger during an attack, it would make a big difference,” Alex suggested. “The Aurors would knht away, and help could get there faster.”
Aliodded. “That would bring dowack rate, and people would feel safer. But creating that kind of system would take time.”
Alex learhat the Ministry had a specialized Strike Team, a part of the Department of Magical Law Enfort. The Strike Team had more authority than regur Aurors and took on the most dangerous missions.
While some Aurors were also part of the Strike Team—like Mad-Eye Moody, who led one of the teams—others focused entirely on patrolling and iigations. To Alex, the Aurors were like regur police officers, while Strike Team members were more like a special forces unit, trained fh-risk situations.
Thinking ba what he’d learned, Alex couldn’t help but feel that the Aurors could be from better training in bat tactics. Many seemed to ck the anized approach he knew from his own experience, aiced their fighting style was often disanized, with spells going off in all dires and little teamwork.
Frank also mentioned another lesser-known role: the “free wizard.” Not an official position, it was more like a freence bounty huhese wizards didn’t get a sary but could collect bounties from the Ministry by capturing dark wizards or other wanted criminals. The Ministry issued a basic certificate, allowing hit wizards to make arrests abroad if they wanted. But without formal authority, free wizards had no legal prote and were stantly at risk, especially if they broke local magical ws while w.
“Sirius even applied for that certificate once,” Frank ughed. “Thought it was thrilling—until he realized it was more hassle than it was worth. He called it a ‘piece of useless part,’ sihe Ministry pays bouo anyone who catches criminals, certified or not.”
Curious about the idea of traveling and maybe earning a bit extra by capturing dark wizards abroad, Alex asked Frank how to apply for a “free wizard” certificate. Surprisingly, the process was fairly simple. As long as he had no criminal record, he could submit a request to the Department of Iional Magical Cooperation and receive the certificate.
This position had its roots in the Uates, where it was reized iionally, allowing wizards from various tries to help fight crime without too many bureaucratic barriers. However, if a hit wizard’s as caused damage, the local Ministry of Magic could arrest a them.
