Let's say magical cores are real and that magic is some kind of expendable energy, generated by wizards, which fuels spells.

I've written elsewhere about how under this view, even an average wizard would need to have access to vastly more energy than a nuclear bomb, given the amount of energy required even by basic transfiguration. But let's lean into that.

Let's say that that each wizard has a magical biology which includes an extra-dimensional space containing a star, the energetic output of which is available to that wizard to fuel spells. Different wizards have different star types, resulting in different amounts of energy available to them. This energy is not fully available until adulthood but magical potential is fixed at birth, and is entirely independent of magical knowledge/skill.

So, who has what amount of energy? To avoid annoying numbers, let's define the energetic output of the Sun (3.8 x 10^26 Joules) as 1 Sol.

Here's my proposal for a "canon-like" universe.

Canon Power Scale

0.1 Sols - Merope Gaunt

0.25 Sols - Lavender Brown

0.5 Sols - Average Adult Wizard

0.7 Sols - Molly Weasley

1 Sol - Average Ministry Official

1.2 Sols - Hermione Granger

1.4 Sols - Dawlish

1.5 Sols - Remus Lupin

1.7 Sols - Ron Weasley

1.8 Sols - Draco Malfoy

1.9 Sols - Tonks

2 Sols - Average Auror

2.2 Sols - Lucius Malfoy

3.5 Sols - Severus Snape

4 Sols - Kingsley Shacklebolt

4.5 Sols - James Potter

6.5 Sols - Sirius Black

7 Sols - Bellatrix Lestrange

13 Sols - Lily Potter

27 Sols - Grindelwald

30 Sols - Dumbledore

32 Sols - Voldemort/Harry

A few explanatory notes:

- Snape is so low because in this world power is decoupled from knowledge/skill. And in canon, Snape never really shows any great show of power - his significant edge over Harry in duelling in HBP, for example, derives from his dominance of mind magic and non-verbal magic. Snape being inherently weaker than James and Sirius also contributes nicely to his resentment of them.

- Lily has been given such high power because a) her pre-Hogwarts magical experimentation, and b) her high magical power can be used to justify why her sacrifice resulted in such a potent magical protection for Harry, as compared to other wizarding mothers who have died for their children.

- I generally view Sirius as the most powerful of the Marauders because of the way that he is viewed in PoA, with even Dumbledore not taking the threat of Sirius lightly.

- Harry given the same magical power as Voldemort because he is said to be Voldemort's equal, plus his proven ability to resist Voldemort's magic in the form of the Imperius and Priori Incantatem.

Taking it further

But here's a fun completely AU idea: a world where wizards can transfer magical power between each other, so magic is used as the wizarding world's currency, and old wizarding families have accumulated generations of stored magical power. Other means to magical power would be possible - you could say that Dumbledore had gained access to a huge amount of magical power through going on a quest in his youth to obtain a phoenix, for example - but the wizarding world would be dominated by the old families with their huge pools of inherited magical wealth.

 

2020 is getting to Taure. Someone do a wellness check on him.

 

I just love ranking things.

Speaking of, what do think of the "power ratio" I established?

Dumbledore able to beat 15 Aurors. An average Auror able to beat 2 Ministry Officials. A Ministry Official able to beat 2 regular wizards.

So, assuming a transitive property, it would take 30 average Ministry officials to take Dumbledore down, or 60 ordinary wizards.

 

Truly, Shitpost Sunday is the greatest of all days.

This heavily reminds me of Pact by Wildbow.

 

There seems to be one major assumption that you're basing this on, which is that magical energy functions the same as normal energy. If it operates differently, then they don't need an extra dimensional space with a star in it. It could be described as orbs of energy inside the wizard, with the size of the orb determining their total power. Golf ball, tennis ball, shot put, bowling ball, football, basketball. There's a different ranking for you.

 

Cue the mandatory HBP quote:

"I do not think you will count, Harry: You are underaged and un-qualified. Voldemort would never have expected a sixteen-year-old to reach this place: I think it unlikely that your powers will register compared to mine."

 

Cue the mandatory HBP quote in context:

The boat simply counts the number of adult wizards crossing.

 

Harry grimaced. He knew what he had to do to defeat Voledmort.

Grasping his wand tightly, he ejaculated with the force of 32 suns, expelling a torrent of blinding white.

 

I love this. Straightforward extrapolation of HP wizardry energy output is incredibly funny. Taure is the genius of the fandom.

Harry cast a stupefy at Voldemort, backed by the burning star inside of him. Voldemort cast AK at him. Harry felt their stars clash between them, and realized with dawning fear that their stars were drawing closer in the extradimensional space they dwelled in.. Never had two wizards been linked soul-to-soul! They both felt the moment when the two stars became irreversibly close, the moment of sheer energy from their collision and the strangest sensation as their magic began to pull. The Death Eaters looked around in bewilderment as their spells began to fail. Harry and Voldemort's soul had turned into a black hole, and began to suck the magic out of the world. Magic ended with a giant suck!

 

If that is the case, the sentence "I think it unlikely that your powers will register compared to mine" is certainly a strange way to phrase it. It sounds more like there is some kind of power meter involved.

 

I take the completely opposite view. If there was a power meter, it would be extremely strange to say that Harry's powers would not register at all compared to Dumbledore's. They might be very small in comparison, but they would still register.

To say that Harry's powers don't register at all is to say that the spell is completely ignoring him. Which is what Dumbledore says: he is underage, so the spell doesn't count him. The spell is only seeing Dumbledore, so the spell measuring the amount of magical power crossing the lake reads "1 wizard" (which it allows to cross), not "2 wizards" (which it prohibits from crossing).

 

Then "I think it unlikely that your powers will register" would suffice. Why compare them to Dumbledore's, if they are irrelevant, no matter how strong?

Granted, to me it just reads like JKR didn't care much about mechanics and she just botched the dialogue.

Regarding magic quantification, there's also the "you need about half a dozen wizards at a time to overcome a dragon" quote. If it said 6 wizards exactly, then maybe some arithmancy could be involved, but "about half a dozen" suggests some kind of additive property.

 

So, in our AU: do they know the exact measurements of someone's magical core power?

How do they conduct these measurements / at what age? Could you imagine the social structure of Hogwarts from something like knowing for a fact that your classmate is stronger than you and there's shit all you can do about it...

Or if there's no way to really measure it, is magical core strength just an unconfirmed theory in this world?

 

To build on the above:

If measurements exist are they final or do they change with age?
Are they known to the general public or very well hidden?
If they're known wouldn't the old families assassinate or assimilate those who show great power?

 

In the same way as viewing any other star, I suppose: you need to look at the wizard in question through a telescope.

 

Probably look at them through a backwards telescope, seeing as they’re rather close to you really.

 

Monocle-shaped magic scouters sensors. And its invention and construction is what gives the Malfoy family such wealth and prestige.
Until a certain Potter spawn discovered the technique of "concealing your ki magic".

For the mandatory HOP boat scene:

The automatic scouter sensor installed on the boat will read Dumbledore's massive ki magic core and promptly explode, and Harry will sneak on board undetected.

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Additional jumbled and random thoughts:

- Don't give a numerical value on magical core powers. Keep using sizes, especially whimsical ones for comparison.

- Some people will have a magical core that isn't spherical. Somehow. They don't have unique powers or anything. Magical scholars can't explain it, either.

- Wizards kept comparing the sizes of their magical cores.
-Young Hermione will find it annoying.
-Teenage Hermione will be utterly furious when told that the magic cores of witches and muggleborns are smaller than wizards and purebloods.
-Old Hermione finds it absolutely hilarious and makes dick jokes that embarrass her grandkids.

 

Well, discussing total power levels before "magical exhaustion" is one thing (or "input"), but shouldn't throughput/output levels be relevant as well? In this system, are some wizards sprinters and some marathon runners or do they all use magic at the same rate?

Perhaps this could even be tied into other elements of canon like proclivity for charms or transfiguration being related to certain "bands" of throughput being more suited for different branches of magic and wands being in tune with the amount of energy the wizard or witch naturally channels?

 

I get the muggleborns part but there isn't really any indication that witches would have a smaller magical core.
I mean there isn't any indication that magical cores exists either but still.