u/Brian_Gay

Not sure if this has been raised before, but I was wondering if there is a satisfying explanation for the following problem

We know that Harry’s trace can be triggered by someone using magic in his vicinity - Dobby famously dobbing Harry in to it in book 2

We know Harry is in trouble already for using magic outside school in book 5

We know the order of the phoenix are not working with the ministry at that same point in time, so they wouldn’t have informed the ministry that wizards other than Harry were going to be visiting privet drive to collect Harry

So I am wondering, when the order turned up to privet drive in book 5 to collect Harry, Tonks tried to help Harry pack by using a cleaning spell - why didn’t this trigger Harry’s trace?

A potential explanation you could pose is that other wizards can’t set off someone else’s trace …but we know that isn’t true because Tom riddles trace didn’t give him away when he attacked Morfin and killed his father/grandparents, his magic was attributed to Morfin

I can’t really think of any reasonable explanation for this unless I’m missing something?