Magic Harry Potter: Encyclopedia II - Magic Harry Potter - The Wizarding World

Magic Harry Potter - The Wizarding World

The wizarding society exists as a shadow society to the Muggle world and works as hard as it can to keep its existence a secret, save for all but a few Muggles, such as those who are related to witches and wizards, or important Muggles such as the Prime Minister. To most magical people the Muggle world is unknown, and their attempts to disguise themselves as Muggles often have mostly humorous results. Muggle Studies at Hogwarts is considered a soft option. Most things of magical nature are hidden or otherwise obscured from Muggles; others (such as Dementors) simply cannot be detected by them visibly, but they do feel the effects of them.

The Muggle Prime Minister is first alerted to the existence on the evening after his election, when the Minister of Magic uses the Floo network to appear in his (or her) fireplace. Thereafter, he is only visited by what the Prime Minister in book 6 called the Other Minister in the event of danger to Muggles, such as the occasion when Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. On occasions like this, the Prime Minister is given advance notice of the visit by a portrait of an ugly wizard, who tells him. The portrait can never be removed from the wall.

The terms "wizard" and "witch" are used in magical society more or less the same way the terms "man" and "woman" are used in the Muggle world. The technological development of the wizarding world is far behind that of the Muggle one. This is partly due to the fact that magic greatly lessens the need for it, and partly due to magic's tendency to cause interference with electrical equipment.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Wizarding World", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki