What is an auror in Harry Potter?

Gabriela Silva
Brendan Gleeson as Alastor Moody in Harry Potter

The world of Harry Potter has quite a few titles and names for wizards and muggles – but the question is what exactly is an auror and what do they do?

Throughout the Harry Potter franchise, fans always learn more and more about the wizarding world. Beyond muggles and wizards, there are half-bloods and even squibs born without any magical abilities.

Beyond the muggle world exists a world most will never know full of different jobs, positions, lifestyles, and even creatures. After all, the wizarding world has its own laws, government, law enforcement, and criminals you don’t want to mess with.

Among them are aurors that do play an important role in the functionality of the wizard government. Here’s everything to know about what an auror is in Harry Potter.

What does an auror do in Harry Potter?

An auror is a highly trained witch or wizard who works as law enforcement for a wizarding body of government, like the Ministry of Magic. They also investigate crimes related to Dark Arts.

Per the Harry Potter Wiki, an auror goes through intensive and difficult training that not many can accomplish, thus leading to very few being able to pass as applicants. Aurors are a worldwide title with each country having their specific training. For example, the Britain sector deals with signs of the Dark Arts being used.

In the United States, aurors deal with an array of magical crimes from flamboyant or dangerous use of magic. But how does one become an auror? Like any real job, a witch or wizard needs to have the right credentials to be accepted. They would need at least a minimum of five N.E.W.T.s in challenging subjects. This can include Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and others.

They basically have to get the highest scores in those subjects to be considered for auror training. Aurors can be described as the equivalent of muggle police or detectives. They investigate serious crimes of magic, cases, and apprehend anyone who uses the Dark Arts. Their duties are to maintain order in the wizarding community.

Throughout the Harry Potter franchise, both Harry and Ron often spoke of their desire to become aurors. It’s seen as a cool and respectable job despite its dangers. Some of the most noted Aurors are Neville Longbottom’s parents and Alastor Moody. Other Aurors in the franchise include Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Hesphaestus Gore, and Percival Graves.

By the end of the movie franchise, Harry also becomes an auror and fulfills his lifelong dream of helping fight the dark forces and protect the wizarding world. Neville was also briefly an auror and so was Ron.

You can learn more about the Harry Potter world, like why Snape killed Dumbledore to how many Horcruxes exist in the franchise.

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About The Author

Gabriela is a Senior TV and Movies Writer for Dexerto covering Netflix, Disney+, K-Dramas and everything in between. She has a bachelor's degree in Journalism from Fordham, and was previously a TV Writer for Showbiz Cheatsheet and List Witer for Screenrant. You can contact Gabriela at gabriela.silva@dexerto.com