(no subject)

[sab]

Potter, comma, Harry questions. For anyone who knows things about the HP universe (and also for people who read OotP rather than listened to it on cd, and therefore know how to spell "Whizzing Gamot" (?)):

What do we know about wizard politics? What sort of power does the Ministry of Magic really have? Are they answerable to any authority that we know of? (Mostly trying to find out if I'd be screwing with canon if I invented a kind of International Senate or Parliament that's got more power than the Ministry)

What *is* the Whizzing Gamot? (Wizingamot?) And please how to spell, please?

What does N.E.W.T. stand for? Are they taken exclusively in the seventh year? Am I right that the seventh is the final year at Hogwarts? Do we know anything about wizarding higher education? Wizard grad school programs?

ALSO: any correct spellings of any characters from OotP that are still alive at the end of that book (and are likely to be in the subsequent books) much appreciated. This whole listening on cd thing is really screwing with my brain. I don't even watch *TV* without captions. When I was driving I was wishing I had captions running across the inside of my windshield. You know, like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.

Comments

[tangleofthorns.livejournal.com]

the Wizengamot (!) is the wizard court that holds hearings into things like improper use of magic.

the Ministry appears to pretty much be the government of the Wizarding World.

The seventh year is the final year at Hogwarts. I forget what NEWT stands for. you can probably find the rest of this out at the harry potter lexicon.

[tangleofthorns.livejournal.com]

correcting myself: The Ministry governs wizarding in Britain only.

[quasiradiant.livejournal.com]

Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, in fact.

[tarysande.livejournal.com]

There's not really any discussion about other countries' politics, really. Not that I can think of. The Ministry basically acts as a mirror to the British political system, I think. When Sirius escapes Azkaban, Fudge contacts the British Prime Minister, so there is some connection between the wizarding world and the muggle world at the very top of the government.

NEWTs are taken in 7th and final year. Not everyone has to take them (only if you want to go on to do some upper-level jobs) I don't think there has been specific mention of 'wizarding grad schools' as it were, although when Harry says he wants to be an Auror, he's told it will involve more study.

What names (phonetically?) are you afraid of spelling incorrectly?

[christhetoken.livejournal.com]

Post-graduate work appears to be apprentice based, since the elder Weasley went off to study dragons. I also got the impression that Aurors have additional training, but it is very likely in an FBI academy style enviroment.

Fudge's call to the PM was a courtousy call, from what I was able to gather. I don't think there's a formal connection between the two. As far as international government, there hasn't been a mention of an overarching UN like structure, but there do seem to be rather a lot of international guilds and associations.