Hitwizards’ Last Gasps? As DMU expands, Hitwizard Office’s future in question
By Barnabas Cuffe, Editor-in-Chief
LONDON - The future of the Hitwizard Office was once again brought to the table as Ministry officials convened today to discuss the DMLE’s response following the recent failure to apprehend an infamous werewolf within the Ministry’s own walls and the Azkaban breakout, which was orchestrated by Bellatrix Lestrange in April.
Ministers have called for an estimated date of dissolution as divisional lines continue to be crossed, leading to confusion across departments. With unlicensed use of magic a crime, DMU Regulators are responsible for apprehending perpetrators regardless of the degree of offense, rendering Hitwizards essentially redundant in this area. Since the DMU’s inception, the Regulator Office has been populated by Hitwizard and MLE officers, but as the pool of the former shrinks due to budgetary slashes and a cut in recruitment numbers, and the advent of trainees being accepted straight of Hogwarts this September, the question of the continuing need to fund and maintain the Hitwizard Office has never been more pertinent.
“There’s no point to Hitwizards these days,” explains Undersecretary Wight, who led with a similar line as a panelist on the National News Network debate just a few days ago. “Aurors have highly specialised skills which leave them uniquely able to deal with the few Dark threats left, but the role of the Hitwizard has now been taken over by Regulators, who have far more resources available to them by way of the Monitor Office. MLE officers deal with non-magical offenses. The only thing the Hitwizards are uniquely able to do anymore is capture werewolves.”
With Fenrir Greyback’s recent jaunt in and out of the Ministry of Magic, however, even that task has been called into question. The Werewolf Capture Unit is notorious for the high death rate of its employees, and with this recent blow, the viability of this subdivision of the Hitwizard Office -- already stretched, its numbers diminished by the exodus to the DMU -- is further threatened. While there have been repeated calls to ban magical werewolves from ever owning a wand, Greyback’s presence demands a specialised unit, and excising the WCU and reforming it as a task force in its own right, finally fully regulated by and accountable to the Beast Divison, may be an acceptable alternate, ridding its officers of duties now shouldered by the DMU.
Legislative debate on increased security measures begins in the Wizengamot on Wednesday the 21st of May, and it is expected that the fate of the Hitwizard Office will finally be outlined during these highly anticipated sessions.
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Barnabas Cuffe is the award-winning Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Prophet. He welcomes letters from his readership and is open to vibes every Tuesday and Thursday between 14:00 and 16:00.
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