Lesson 3
The Ministry's Big Spatial Operations
We are here in the part of the class where we discuss the big spatial decisions and operations of the Ministry of Magic in keeping the secrecy of the wizarding society. One of their magical weapons is what we call unplottability. Unplottability is the deliberate concealment of several areas around the world, meaning, the places are magically hidden from plain sight or simply removed on maps.
Some of the known unplottable locations are:
Other big geographical decisions by the Ministry of Magic were the system of transport of the whole wizarding population in their everyday lives. Thousands of Ministry of Magic employees use the Floo Network and apparition to go to work. Those who commute to the place would use a telephone box or must be flushed in a toilet to go underground, the building of the Ministry itself.
One genius masterpiece of transport system decision was made by Ottaline Gambol sometime between 1819 and 1849. She proposed a daring and controversial method to solve the ages-long problem of transporting students to and from Hogwarts without the Muggles noticing. She saw the potential of the Muggle train technology to transport the students instead of using portkeys and other unregulated means of transportation. The Ministry used a hundred and sixty seven memory charms and the biggest concealment charm in Britain to acquire the locomotive. Poor Muggle workers felt like they missed something for a year. Of course, there was a resistance from pureblood families against the Muggle technology until the Ministry decreed that they go to school in a train or not go at all. This was decorated with the unique Platform 9 ¾, another magical implementation of wizard space to conceal the secret station.
There are many other large-scale spatial decisions the Ministry of Magic oversees in its course in history. We are now conscious of how serious these operations are in satisfying the great context of wizard space.
Sources:
Some of the known unplottable locations are:
- Schools of Magic like the Beauxbatons Academy, Durmstrang Institute and Hogwarts School – This is to protect the students from Muggles and from dark wizards. A part of this problem will be related later below on the part of movement from the students’ houses to the school. With thousands of students concentrating on a single location, one must be careful so as magic would not be discovered. It would also help to explain the location of Hogwarts as far from the center of the wizarding community in London.
- Several forests in Burkina Faso were made unplottable so as to help preserving inhabiting runespoors in the area. There is also the depletion of magical creatures and resources that might affect us in the future. A good example in this one is the respect the wizarding community gives to the habitats of herds of centaurs and groups of mermaids, the very essence of their XXXX rating given by the Ministry of Magic.
- Azkaban and the Isle of Drear are also unplottable areas due to the danger they pose to whoever might go in them. The geographic position of Azkaban is also a good example of a spatial decision of the Ministry of Magic, where they position it to a distance someone wouldn’t reach, and of course, by making it unplottable.
- Queerditch Marsh is unplottable to preserve its historic significance. Not just the place but the Ministry makes the effort of making a quidditch game unreachable by Muggles. This is done by making the place physically invisible to Muggles.
Other big geographical decisions by the Ministry of Magic were the system of transport of the whole wizarding population in their everyday lives. Thousands of Ministry of Magic employees use the Floo Network and apparition to go to work. Those who commute to the place would use a telephone box or must be flushed in a toilet to go underground, the building of the Ministry itself.
One genius masterpiece of transport system decision was made by Ottaline Gambol sometime between 1819 and 1849. She proposed a daring and controversial method to solve the ages-long problem of transporting students to and from Hogwarts without the Muggles noticing. She saw the potential of the Muggle train technology to transport the students instead of using portkeys and other unregulated means of transportation. The Ministry used a hundred and sixty seven memory charms and the biggest concealment charm in Britain to acquire the locomotive. Poor Muggle workers felt like they missed something for a year. Of course, there was a resistance from pureblood families against the Muggle technology until the Ministry decreed that they go to school in a train or not go at all. This was decorated with the unique Platform 9 ¾, another magical implementation of wizard space to conceal the secret station.
There are many other large-scale spatial decisions the Ministry of Magic oversees in its course in history. We are now conscious of how serious these operations are in satisfying the great context of wizard space.
Sources: