Is there a real reason that people so often write about Harry removing 'tracking charms' from his wand to do magic without the ministry noticing? I've always thought of ministry detection methods to be more along the lines of being able to detect magic because it gives off... I dunno.. magical radiation or something. I mean, in second year, they couldn't tell that it wasn't Harry's wand that levitated the pudding. So is there a canon reason for tracking charms being so commonly used in fics, besides being a convenient reason for Harry to be able to do magic anywhere?

 

JKR has never fully explained it. Is it the wand or is it the area hwere magic is being used? The only thing stopping the Weasley kids from using magic out of school is Molly....and if they did behind her back (like the twins) who's gonna know? I'll bet the reason that Harry was targeted is he lives in a Muggle home and the wards are probably set to be ultra sensitive to any kind of magic performed.

I say that ff authors use it as a plot device...JMO

 

I bet there are wards against ministry sensors, because it would be too easy to monitor all Britain for Unforgivables and other Dark Arts. If only Harry spent more time in library, sneaking in Restricted section... And of course I don't think that Tom Riddle was playing muggle in orphange in his 5-6-7 years.

 

Why do authors use it?

Simple. Because there's no fun reading a HP fanfic if he isn't doing magic. And for him to take charge over the summer, he has to be able to do magic, so this is the most logcal way to do it. Of course, there are other ways, but you'd end up having to flesh out your idea in a way that would add in a thousand words or so of useless filler, which is a waste of time.

The wand-tracking charms is an opinion that is already fleshed out in Fanon, so you don't have to explain it when you write it. It makes things easier for you, and since it is minor relative to the plot, unlike Griphook the Goblin-father or the time-turning-trunk-of-doom, it doesn't even register as a cliche.

 

Didn't Arthur Weasley perform magic in GOF, and Tonks in OOTP? Wouldn't that get tracked as being harry? I always assumed, up until HBP, that Dobby somehow disguised his magic to make it seem like Harry's (who had ministry trackers as he was underage) but HBP just confused me.

 

Maybe they simply masked their magic presence. JKR mentioned, when fans asked her why Ministry couldn't find Sirius simply tracking owl, that wizards can make themselves untraceable.

 

Arthur most likely informed the Ministry that he was picking Harry up to take him to stay with his family. Tonks probably did what you suggested though, whether this was her doing it or Dubledore or a more experianced wizard raising some wards s a another question though.

 

I agree with the people who said that the MoM simply has the ability to detect the magic that was performed at a location. Tonks and Arthur are ministry employees so they either informed them that they were picking Harry up. Or they discuissed their magical signature. The problem with tracking charms is that if they existed then the MoM would notice that the charms were gone once Harry gets back to Hogwarts, fics usually ignore this aspect.

 

So basically, if Harry were to be at the Weasley's or in Diagon Alley or something, he'd have no problem performing magic whenever he wanted? Excellent.

 

yes, but its against the rules, and if anyone see's him, he would have to go to yet another trial.

 

I think the witch or wizard being able to go untraceable would be the only thing that works. If they had specific wand signitures for everyone then the ministry would ba able to identify DE's after every raid. It probably is some passive form of magic once learned no ore effort is needed otherwise it would be a pain or somebody would forget and get caught. Of course could just be another plot hole JKR left in Half Baked Plot *shrugs*

 

I seem to remember that in the second or maybe third movie so did Hermione perform magic in Diagon Alley to fix harry's glasses...

 

I think that was after Harry got owned by the Floo in Borgin's. However, I wouldn't look to the movies for the best knowledge of the series... inaccuracies in favor of looking good and all.

It's just in case I feel like writing a story in which Harry needs to use magic without alerting authorities, so he does it in someone else's house or something.

 

They'll probably just have the trial for using the spell in front of Dudley. Or cut it out.

I like the idea that they can detect all magic, but not whose it is. That is why I will chose to pretend that Rowling did not say that crap about Sirius. Maybe they can mask that magic even happened.

 

I usually use the whole tracking-charms-on-wand idea, because I'm lazy. And I would completely believe the Ministry capable of putting those charms on all the wands Ollivander sells, just so they can keep an eye on the students.
Oh, and I'm lazy. Did I mention that?

I agree that it's more logical for the magic to be tracked to a certain place (the Quidditch World Cup had a kid waving with its mother's wand, I think), but its annoying to incorporate into a fic. How do you make sure they can't sense the magic being used?
And if they can sense that, why don't they notice when someone uses Dark Arts?
Or isn't there any difference at all between the so-called Light and Dark Magic?

And then it gets philosophical...

 

Magic is magic. Just like gas companies sell the same god-damn gas. (New telesales job - its the same gas, only cheaper!).

Dark magic is the destructive use of it. There should be no way to detect what type of magic bar some very complex arithmetic calculations.