Aurors
Aurors are Ministry of Magic employees with one very important difference. The desk-bound gentle life of the Arthur Weasley types in the Ministry is a world away to them - they are out on the streets, in direct combat with the darkest of the Dark Wizards, more often than not in situations where the choice is to kill or be killed [GOF11].
To be precise, Aurors are a magical elite task force, a small but dedicated group of skilled witches and wizards devoted to the task of taking on and eliminating Dark Wizards wherever they are active [GOF11]. They are highly trained in areas such as stealth, disguise and combat [OOTP3], and the Auror forces are without doubt comprised of some of the most gifted witches and wizards of their generation (give or take the odd trigger-happy loony).
As such, it is inevitable that the main task of Aurors in the past 25 years has been the war against Voldemort. This began in the 1970s following his first rise to power. Up until this time, Aurors had been reasonably conservative in their approach, in that they did not shoot on sight and sought to bring criminals to book through the judicial system, with a stint in Azkaban as the normal punishment. It was the ultra-zealous Bartemius Crouch Snr who changed all this when he was head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the 1970s. Unhappy with his Aurors' lack of power against a team of Death Eaters who would murder without a second thought, he introduced a "Shoot to Kill" policy which allowed his forces to kill rather than apprehend Dark Wizards and also gave them the right to imprison suspects without trial [GOF27].
In the subsequent struggle against Voldemort and his supporters in the 70s and 80s, the Aurors used their additional powers with gusto. Rosier and Wilkes were both killed whilst resisting arrest, and several more suspected Death Eaters were imprisoned in Azkaban. Amongst them was Sirius Black, who was wrongly imprisoned without trial. The Aurors fought against the Death Eaters in a bloody and vicious battle, with both sides prepared to use any means necessary [GOF27].
A great triumph of the Auror force (albeit through their role as members of the Order of the Phoenix) was to apprehend a large number of Death Eaters following the battle at the Department of Mysteries in 1996. This was carried out by the Aurors Nymphadora Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt, and the ex-Auror Alastor Moody, with a little help from their friends. It was an important and hard-fought victory won only at a great price, as Sirius Black (restored to his position fighting on the side of good) was killed [OOTP25]. Kingsley and Tonks later lent their aid to the Hogwartians in the Battle of Hogwarts, though Tonks was killed there [DH36].
After defeating Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter realized his ambition to become an Auror, along with Ron Weasley [Bloomsbury Chat]. The pair helped revolutionize the Auror Department, and Harry became the department head in 2007 [JKR.com].
As Aurors are highly skilled, they are required to have achieved excellent results from Hogwarts (in both OWLs and NEWTs) before they can be considered for training. It then takes a further three years to become fully qualified [OOTP29]. However, Harry became an Auror at the age of 17, though this could possibly be because of his vast experience with fighting the Dark Arts, and not a general waiving of the requirement [JKR.com]
Known Aurors are:
Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody
Rufus Scrimgeour
Frank Longbottom
Alice Longbottom
Kingsley Shacklebolt
Nymphadora Tonks
Dawlish
Proudfoot
Savage
|
