But Taure, JK's explanation of roles would mean that the enchanted toilets case would go to Hit Wizards, not Aurors.

A thought just struck me, what if Hit Wizard is just a collective term for the non-elite members of the DMLE, ie the non-aurors. Its often suggested that Mr Weasley's department is part of DMLE, perhaps thats how the department works, different issues have sub depertments. For instance you might have a sub department dealing with sports related issues, crowd control at local Quidditch games etc.

There could basically be a sub-department that liases with almost every other department of the Ministry, Hit-Wizards who deal with people raising unlawful beasts, whilst the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures deals with the beasts themselves, Hit Wizards who deal with people experimenting with new spells without a license, I've already mentioned sports, Hit Wizards who deal with unlawful magical transportation, Hit Wizards who help deal with Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Hmmmm, that idea bears thinking on methinks.

 

I think JKR's explanation leaves it ambiguous on the toilet front actually.

I mean, usually investigation is done by the Aurors, but obviously this is beneath them, so Arthur Weasley was sent to investigate and fix the toilets. But as for the apprehending of the criminal himself, either an Auror or a Hit Wizard could do it.

 

It has to be Xiph. Imagine what our governments would be like if they had to employ about an eighth of the population.

 

They probably have dead-end, paper-pushing type jobs. That would be the natural result of having attended a school like Hogwarts, with its strong emphasis on conformity and obedience. The aggravating part is that the Hogwarts graduates haven't had enough training in logic or critical thinking to realise the depths of their ignorance.

 

Probably, forgetting about hit wizards altogether is the easiest solution, but if you really need to have them around, it only seems logical that they are a SWAT-like spec force who do the dirty work for the sophisticated and better trained aurors. Hm?

 

I always wrote it, them off as one of those mentioned but never expanded on half baked ideas
If they are demi-aurors why the hell are they called Hit Wizards?

 

I've always imagined a wizard-ly Hitman whenever hearing mention of hit wizards...

I can has leet wizard killer please?

 

I personally always thought James Bond style - more of a specialist in actually killing than anything else. Sanctioned to use the AK for example.

 

It probably works like this:

Hit Wizards deal with general magical crimes. So, they'd be the first called on a scene for most crimes. If the crimes turn out to involve a Dark wizard, that case then gets transferred up to the Aurors, who are better trained to deal with that. Think of Hitwizards as your general line grunts and "everyman" G.I.s in magical law enforcement, whereas the Aurors are more specialized and trained specifically to track and detain Dark Wizards.

 

Or maybe it's just a ranking system? Hit Wizard = Officer while Auror = Detective. not per say, but just an example...

 

Nice idea, but I've just tended to use Rowling's explanation that Hit Wizards are used for general crimes, while when the Dark Arts are involved, the Aurors are called in. It also seems that intra-departmental discipline between the two groups is rather... different, to say the least. From what we saw in OOTP, the Aurors seem a lot more lax in that area, compared to the rather hard-line approach that was implied about regular MLE.

In the fic I'm writing called 'Renegade Cause', I've decided to use Hit Wizards as members of the upper echelons of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (ie. the most skilled and highly trained, almost like a wizarding S.W.A.T team). The Auror Department may be part of MLE, but it has its own department head (Scrimgeour, as my story's set in Harry's fifth year) and offices separate from those of regular MLE (which is led by Amelia Bones).

In the matter of leadership, though, I'm still rather perplexed to whether in the political scheme of things the Aurors have more influence than the Hit Wizards. I mean, it certainly seems like that in the books, but maybe that was just because of the perspective.

What I've always found interesting is that it was Hit Wizards that arrested Sirius Black instead of Aurors, because it was fairly likely that Dark Magic was used in that catastrophe (hell, it was a spell that murdered twelve people, I'd be surprised if it wasn't Dark Magic).

 

I think it was a Reducto Curse into a gasline, but I'm probably confusing Canon with Fanon.

 

ok sorry about beating the dead horse here, but if you look at the British culture a little bit you might see where the term "hit wizard" and the persona came from.

The metropolitan police usually are unarmed, there are specially trained officers that form the armed response unit. They are not some kind of "swat" unit, but act in situations where the criminal may be armed, or where unarmed officers might be in danger. This is more than likely where JKR got the idea for the "hit wizards".

I think the problem is two fold. First is that JKR never really went into detail about the inner workings of the DMLE, and from what she has said has left many of us confused. The second and probbably the reason for this discussion, is the over estimation of the population of wizarding folk in the United Kingdom as a whole.

As in cannon there are no populations of wizards numbering in the thousands in one location, therefore the need for a "local" cop isn't needed at all.