Harry learned what he needed to during his school years - which was said to be more than Krum knew in Durmstrang, but that could just be because Krum applied himself to quiditch rather than magic.

Id like to think he was good enough to be Head Auror because of his own merits as we know he's a competent dueler as seen with how he took down quite a few death eaters with his own dueling skills, but we also know his reputation probably gets him a lot of stuff in life, too.

So while I think he's skilled enough at that, I dont think he'd be able to go toe-to-toe with Voldemort or Dumbledore in a normal duel.

Also, Elder Wand imo just amplifies the power behind the spell.

 

Durmstrang teaches Dark Arts and Krum was in his final year. I always found it strange why Krum never used any Dark Arts.

Harry and Ron never took their NEWT's but became Aurors. I can understand why they would accept Harry but Ron?

Besides with his fame he could become Minister of Magic if he wanted to.

 

Krum used the Conjunctivitis Curse in the first task; curse is a term 'reserved for the worst kinds of dark magic'.

 

Or he's friend with the Minister of Magic and also famous for defeating Voldemort (not out of skill). Fame can get you a looooong way.

 

I'm not sure about that. In GOF Sirius says he would have suggested Harry to use the Conjunctivitis Curse. I don't think Sirius would tell Harry to learn a Dark Arts spell. Though it would have been cool if Crouch Jr taught some Dark Arts to Harry.

 

Remember there's more to being an Auror than fighting. Harry's a decent dueler, but by far his greatest skill is his unnatural ability to ferret out information, find out secrets, make leaps of deduction than defy logic yet are uncannily accurate, etc.

 

That's a direct quote from Rowling. Read it here. Jinx, Hex and Curse; they are all terms referring to the dark arts, just of different levels. Jinxes are minor and annoying, Hexes are worse and Curses and the worse of the worst. The rating is based upon how much harm they do.

To expand, I really think fanon's got the wrong end of the stick when it comes the dark arts. Hogwarts doesn't teach them (which is why Harry learns his jinxes, hexes and curses through extra-curricular study) but there doesn't seem to be any great stigma attached to used the dark arts against non-people. No one gaspes when Harry used the Reductor Curse against a hedge for example. We're told that using an Unforgivable Curses 'on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban'. Never just casting them in general.

 

Aren't Aurors only called when Dark Wizards are involved. Small crimes are taken care by Hit Wizards or am I wrong?

 

Aurors are Dark wizard hunters, yes. Which is essentially the same as saying they deal with violent crime.

Non-violent crime appears to be the area of the various other Departments of the Ministry - e.g. Department for the Control of Magical Creatures handles creature offences, Arthur Weasley handles offenses regarding enchantment of Muggle objects, etc.

Hit Wizards are never defined. We only know that they are combat specialists. Maybe they're a subset of the Aurors (Auror, Hit Wizard class). Maybe they're like Aurors but only get the combat training and none of the training on investigation, stealth etc. Maybe they're the wizarding military. Who knows?

 

Thanks for making it clear for me. Though I'm a bit suprised Sirius would know Dark Arts. He hates Dark Arts and Dark Wizards worse than Ron.

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I'm not even sure Aurors are all they're said to be. Moody and Kingsley are compotent. Tonks comes across as mediocre and Dawlish is hopeless. Say an average Auror came across someone like Snape he/she would die. Though if they come across Dark Wizard like Malfoy Jr they could bring him down.

 

The Auror Office is just one of the many Offices which makes up the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, which is in turn just one of the seven departments which make up the Ministry of Magic. I've always been very against their common portrayal in fanfiction as magical 'cops'.

The Auror Office is tasked with hunting Dark Wizards. Other parts of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement deal with other things. The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol deals with petite crimes, Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office deals with bewitched muggle artefacts, the Improper Use of Magic Office deals with Underage Magic and the Statute of Secrecy, and so on. All deal with law enforcement and are part of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement but they all have their remits.

 

Do you think the Aurors are taught Dark Arts? Before Voldemort's fall Aurors were using unforgivables.

 

Well, they know the spells, and use them. Hell, they're taught at Hogwarts.

The same spells are used in Defence Against the Dark Arts as in the Dark Arts itself. The difference is the context in which they're used: aggressively or defensively. The tickling jinx and its counter are the same spell; the difference is that when used aggressively it's Dark Arts and when used defensively it's a counter-jinx.

This was a talking point in OotP, in the first DADA class: the book Umbridge assigned argued that, regardless of context, the spells were Dark Arts. This was the justification for them not being taught to children. Hermione disagreed, arguing that defensive use was justified. At which point Umbridge shut her down.

 

How would that compare to what someone like Snape and Bellatrix would know. Do they know just a bit more or on a completely another level?

How would you rank Death Eaters, The Order, Department of Magical Law Enforcement?

 

I would go

Death Eaters
Order
Law enforcement

The death eaters were driving The Order to the ground (Peter probably helped with that)
The order was the best of the best aurors combined with talented witches and wizards

However individually, Order and DE would have been roughly equal, in every tale it seems the Order members who died would be outnumbered 5-1 and take out 3 or so before getting killed off

Si individually, Order slightly higher/equal

As a unit, Death Eaters hands down.

As for Harry, he mastered the patronus in year three, a feat most adults couldnt do.

In terms of Defence against the dark arts and duelling you couldn't find anyone better, or thats what i get from the series. Not even Hermione could get an O or work the Patronus for a fair while.

Hermione=Intellectual
Harry=Physical

Harry would be a tier below Dumbledore and Voldemort, though probably considered the strongest wizard of HIS age.

 

I'm not sure if these things can be so easily ranked. I think there's significant variation within the ranks of both Death Eaters and Aurors.

Dawlish seems barely able to hold a wand; Kingsley was one of the three dueling Voldemort at the battle of Hogwarts (though admittedly, had Voldemort not been handicapped by Harry's protection spell Kingsley would have died several times over in that exchange).

Bellatrix seems able to take on several Aurors simultaneously; Crabbe and Goyle Sr. appear about as talented as their sons.

Edit: as for ranking individuals, I would put Harry Potter firmly in the middle of the scale. From another thread:

 

Where would you put Crouch Jr and Malfoy Jr in that?

 

Hard to say re: Crouch Jr. We didn't see much of him. But Voldemort's level of confidence in him might imply that he's quite skilled - maybe a 3 or 4.

Malfoy Jr, from what we see, seems to be about the same level as Ron.

 

Really? I've always assumed that Draco was actually more intelligent than Harry(at least academically), have we ever been told what his grades are?

 

We don't. All we know is that whatever they are, Lucius is disappointed in them.