Subdepartments: None
Specialties: Determined by area of study
Members of this department are called "Unspeakables." They work on secret experiments relating to the nature of magic and reality. They are the keepers of prophecy, the ones who study strange and unidentified objects that other departments may come across, those who try to peer through the veil between life and death. Basically these are the scientists of the ministry structure, relentlessly and quietly pursuing the truth. In light of the current Dark Wizardry crisis, some members of the Ministry are urging that this department's budget be cut, however the Unspeakables argue that their work is just as important as that of the other departments in these troubling times. They are one of the few departments that isn't generally subject to Crouch's control, instead keeping their work within themselves. Records deemed 'Classified' by that department are exactly that, unavailable even to Crouch without express permission by the Head Unspeakable (and even then the records would closely resemble a CIA 'black file').
To an outsider, the list of those employed by the Department of Mysteries reads like a checklist of the freakish and weird of wizarding society. While 'normal' is a loosely applied term in the best of cases in the wizarding world, Unspeakables embody the very essence of 'strange', and due to the sheer inexplicable nature of their work, even the most sociable member of the department is regarded as 'a bit off'.
NEWT Requirements:
Required: Any 5 NEWTS with high marks.
The Department of Mysteries completes the triumvirate of protection established for the benefit of upholding the balance between the Muggle and Wizarding worlds. While the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes (MAC) is the first line of defense, protecting the delicate boundary between the Muggle and Wizard worlds, and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (MLE) being the instrument of order and justice within the magical world, the Department of Mysteries ensures that the Fabric, the foundation of the Source where all of wizardkind harvests its gifts, remains intact and untampered with. This can range from all kinds of duties, from keeping otherworldly entities at bay, to interpreting prophecies, to delving deep into the untapped powers of the human mind capable of wielding magic, to even the greatest mystery of the Universe - the afterlife. It can be said that no one knows what goes on in the Department of Mysteries because what does go on covers a broad range of subjects that goes beyond the wand and the will, the very basic tenets of spellcasting.
The Department of Mysteries is akin to a cross between the workings of the CIA (or some kind of paranormal MI-6, if you prefer analogy to the British counterpart) and the X-Files, as paranormal investigations do fall under its jurisdiction. Almost every casefile that passes through these halls are classified, and even the most influential members of the Ministry are prohibited to have access to them. In a sense, the Department of Mysteries is the most independent department and also the most removed from the workings, the politics, and the structure of the rest of the Ministry (some say even their funding is outsourced to a private corporation, but no one really knows if that is true or not), a position that is necessary in order to give Unspeakables the necessary freedom to do their work.
The organizational structure of the Department of Mysteries is similar to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the fact that its member categories are based on duties. The DOM's classifications are divided into three: Field Agents, Case Research/Field Support, and Research, Development, Experiments and the enigmatic Watchers.
A. Field Agents
The emphasis of the Department of Mysteries is mostly discovery, research, and experimentation, so actual field agents are few and far in between. Field agent selection is rigorous due to the inherent dangers of tapping into the unknown in an uncontrolled environment, not to mention the fact that most of the DOMs workload is assessed and analyzed in-house (ie. In the Ministry itself). However, the presence of field agents is quite necessary for its workings - the Department of Mysteries' workload has to actually get TO the Ministry confines somehow as most of the phenomena studied occur outside of the building, and oftentimes even outside of London or Great Britain as a whole. These are the members who see the most travel, and the most physical action.
B. Case Research/Field Support
These are the members that work closely with the field agents. They provide long distance or on-site support depending on the surrounding circumstances and the level of need. While they are trained like the field agents in physical combat, their training is less rigorous and is usually completed within nine months' time (as opposed to field agents who get a full year or more, at the supervising Unspeakable's discretion). When the field agents need them on-site, they are given Apparition coordinates to provide backup.
C. Research, Development, and Experiments
These members are mostly confined in the Ministry building to do their work, and also those who get the least amount of physical field training. While they get some, their training period is mostly limited to about three to six months depending on the supervising Unspeakable's discretion. Usually by the time three months is over, the supervisor can usually tell who is cut out for field work and who is cut out for research.
Researchers are often given a wide variety of duties as well. There are virtually no cold cases in the archives because most of them are unsolved. It is the researchers' job to continue updating these cases by comparing past cases, library or archives research, and experiments on the phenomenon described. They are also subject to regular and almost invasive background checks to ensure content security.
D. The Watchers
The Watchers are the branch of the Department of Mysteries dedicated to maintaining its security. A sort of internal affairs division, they are given leave by the Head Unspeakable to close up Mysteries leaks by any means necessary. In general this is through discouragement, deterrance, discipline efforts against employees up to and including termination, and mild oblivation efforts. There are whispers that there are darker methods still, but nobody has been able to verify them. Much of what they do is audit work, paperwork, but the Unspeakable who sees a particular Watcher quietly standing on their street corner might well have cause to start sweating. The Watchers may also attach themselves to any case, without explanation.
E. Clearance
Members of the Department of Mysteries are given access to its files and archives based on a Clearance system dependent upon rank, seniority, and need. The clearance levels are as follows:
C6 -- Full clearance. This is the clearance level of the Head Unspeakable.
C5 -- Has almost total and complete access to everything the department has to offer.
C4 -- High Clearance. This person can get into most of the files, very little is classified. At this clearance level and above an employee may grant C1 temporary clearance.
C3 -- Moderate Clearance. This person has clearance largely on a case by case basis only, dependent on what he or she is working on.
C2 -- Trainee level clearance. You receive the information your boss gives you and no more.
C1 -- Temporary clearance. This is typically granted to interns, and members of other departments who might be called in to work on Mysteries cases. The clearance level ends when the assignment or case does.
Freedom to do the job to the best of an Unspeakable's ability is the main focus of the Department of Mysteries. Its organization is limited to the four classifications of Unspeakables and the Office of the Head Unspeakable. There aren't even any ranks based on merit or seniority, though orders on the field are usually given by the most senior and highest clearance member present more out of professional courtesy than anything else. However, since it is the most secret and classified of all departments, most of its protocols are geared towards ensuring the security and safety of the information collected within its halls, by field investigation or research and experimentation. Interested applicants are subjected to the most rigorous background checks available - so downright invasive that so far, no moles have been discovered or prosecuted in its ranks.
Background checks at an applicant level start from their birth records, automatically recorded in the big book of names in the Ministry, and then later to St. Mungo's for their birth and medical records that are usually confidential. Access is granted to these things upon the applicant's permission by signing a waiver form and securing a physical specimen of themselves during the application and interviewing process. The check starts from the very first instance they appeared on the 'radar' or 'grid' in the magical world, and continues on through their life: where they were admitted to school, whether they were homeschooled, who their friends were, school transcripts, OWLs and NEWT scores, as well as background interviews from Hogwarts' professors. An applicant is also required to perform a spell in the presence of the interviewing Unspeakable so he or she could record the applicant's magical signature (ie. The residue of a spellcaster's self in the aftermath of a spell and thus functions as an unforgeable, ironclad proof of identity). If accepted, this magical signature would be the basis of their later access to the files and archives of the DOM. If not accepted, the record would be preserved in the archives.
Once accepted into the training program, becoming an Unspeakable upon graduation is practically guaranteed. Getting through the application process is considered a large enough hurdle to leap, let alone making it through another program to get to the position of a full-fledged Unspeakable. Trainees begin with rigorous introduction to the ways to defeat Veritaserum. They are taught not to give out their name and position freely to those they do not trust. And of course breaking or revealing Department of Mysteries secrets can get you fired, or, it is whispered, worse than that.
Assessments cover a variety of subjects from the start: Physical tests, psychological tests, and magical abilities. Those selected from the application and interview process are then given these assessments as part of the admissions process to get into the actual training program. Once administered, the interested applicant is given correspondence as to when to come in to be bonded, and shortly afterwards, training commences.
The Physical and Magical training period varies at the discretion of the supervising Unspeakable. Usually within the first three months of training, the trainee supervisor would already know who is best suited for field, field support, or research. Those trainees most suited for research are usually pulled out of the class first within the first three to six months, handed over to other research Unspeakables, and continue their training with them to learn about the workings of the archives, experimental chambers, and so on until a full year has passed. This is the same for other classifications such as field support and field agents, except that training for field support members stops at nine months, and field agent training stops at one year. All trainees must have a full year of training, combat or otherwise, to graduate to full Unspeakable, but beyond that the actual graduation date is at the whim of the supervising Unspeakable.
The archives, lovingly called "The Vault" by other Unspeakables, are the DOM's major repository of information. Copies of prophecies from the Hall of Prophecy are recorded and stored here, as well as a large databank of magical signatures collected from past applicants and Unspeakables over the years. It also has a huge amount of information stored within - research treatises recorded and written within the halls of the DOM, paranormal investigations, recorded unexplained phenomenon, Fabric fluctuations recorded and going past centuries, etc. Almost all of the information stored within are considered works in progress, or active cases - one would be hard pressed to find a "cold" case within the Vault at all. All of the information within is deemed classified in some way. The Vault is also fitted by charmed, floating "query orbs" to help researchers access pertinent information faster, which also operate depending on the level of the querying Unspeakable's access. They look like transparent snitches. In a normal day where an Unspeakable isn't present inside, the Vault looks like an unremarkable, empty rectangular room with steel panels lining the walls.
The security clearance of an Unspeakable who wishes to gain access is determined at the door. The Unspeakable is required to cast a minor spell into the detectors. The magical signature is then collected by the detector, matched up into the databank, and the Vault actually shifts like a fold-up cube with many sides, giving the Unspeakable a view of a chamber with the files that he or she could access once he or she steps inside the vault. Naturally the higher your clearance is, the more files you can see and touch upon stepping inside. The Office of the Head Unspeakable has, of course, full access and when the Head Unspeakable steps inside after casting his spell, the full chamber can be viewed and all access within accessible, including the signatures databank, which cannot be reached by any other working Unspeakable.
When the situation calls for it, one may petition the Head Unspeakable for a temporary higher level of clearance. This is rarely ever granted; when it is, it is for very short periods of time only.
The Office of the Head Unspeakable is comprised of the Head Unspeakable and his chosen aides. They are usually former Unspeakables who had been in the Department for decades. Most of the correspondence and petitions to the Office, as well as annual reports and case updates, are forwarded to the secretary of the Office, who is, by function, the visible representative of the Head Unspeakable to the rest of his underlings. In other words, he is to the Head Unspeakable as Metatron is to God.
The identity of the Head Unspeakable is generally known to the department, though the same couldn't be said of his aides, who may very well be working with the other Unspeakables without them knowing of their elevated status. In very special cases, the Head Unspeakable may very well pick a trainee to personally train. The Head Unspeakable reports directly to the Minister of Magic, who then adds his or her report in his meetings with the Prime Minister of Britain if necessary.
The Office of the Head Unspeakable has full access to the Mysteries' Archives as well as its prized magical signatures databank which is the basis of most of the Department's security protocols. The Office also administers the bonding which keeps Department work secure inside the heads of the Unspeakables. It is the Head Unspeakable who administers the ritual.