FaxModem1 wrote:Moving on from that, could Harry Potterverse magic be in a state of decline because every few generations or so there's some muckity muck who gets it in his/her head to conquer the Wizarding World and those who rise against that dark wizard usually are the most competent and most of them die in the battle, leaving only the meek and the hangers on, meaning that a lot of great Wizarding knowledge is lost, and whatever secrets or achievements they made won't be passed to the next generation? Would that make sense or just be silly?
Silly really. Knowledge is written down in the Wizarding World. They have books full of spells, books about spells, a spell patent system and an educational system dedicated to teaching magic.
Quite frankly, far from degrading, there's plenty of evidence magic is getting better.
Just look at the broomsticks in canon. Each year sees newer and better models coming out, each faster, more manoeuvrable and/or cheaper than the one before.
We know they have spell and potion patents (again implying innovation) and we know that a truly innovative spell can thrust someone high up in a market (the Horton-Keitch Braking Charm, for example, allowed the Comet Trading Company to go from a two man outfit to one of the market leaders).
We see the dates for the creation of multiple spells, we know that there can be multiple versions of a spell for one function (breaking charms, Horton-Keitch Braking Charm, unbreakable Braking Charm etc), each improving on the last, and the Ministry of Magic has an entire level (the Department of Mysteries) devoted to studying magic. This last is further backed up by the existence of books like 'Magical Theory' by Adalbert Waffling, 'A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry' and 'Important Modern Magical Discoveries'.
There are numerous other books implying innovation. 'A Guide to Medieval Sorcery' and 'An Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Charms'. Both imply that the magic of their respective time periods was sufficiently different from modern magic to be examinable, in the same way someone might write a book on the Eighteenth-Century art world. There are also periodicals like Transfiguration Today, Challenges in Charming and The Practical Potioneer, which apparently have a scholarly nature and it is considered an achievement to be published in.
The Harry Potter Wizarding World does have 'ancient powerful magic' (tm) but it's generally quite limited. Sacrifice magic (of the kind which saved Harry) needs not only a sacrifice but a true sacrifice, one where the victim had a chance to live but chose to die anyway. The potion which resurrected Voldermort likewise needed a strange set of ingredients (Bone of the father, flesh of a servant, Blood of a foe). It's magic of life, death, love, hate, sacrifice and symbolism. It might be powerful, sometimes, but it's not the kind of thing you want to rely on. Your unbeatable house shielding charm isn't much use if it stops working every new moon.