List of spells in Harry Potter

In the magical world of the Harry Potter series of novels, many spells are used by the characters. Usually a wand is used for casting spells, although some may be performed without a wand.

Spoiler warning : Plot or ending details follow.

The Dark Arts

While most magic is neutral, the Dark Arts are evil in nature. Students learn Defence Against the Dark Arts to protect themselves from Dark wizards (unless they are being taught by Dolores Umbridge .) Draco Malfoy claims that in Durmstrang , they teach the dark arts themselves and not merely defense against dark magic.

Spells

Spells in the series seem to be enacted mostly by speaking a few words, typically in a modified form of Latin , and gesturing with a wand . Certain wizards can perform some of them without speaking the incantation. Certain spells are also known as charms , curses , hexes , and jinxes .

External link: Harry Potter Lexicon of Spells ( http://www.hp-lexicon.org/magic/spells.html )

Alohomora

This spell is used to open a locked door or window . Pointing a wand at a door and saying " Alohomora " will unlock the door. This spell can also open doors which have been magically sealed with the Colloportus spell. Doors can be magically sealed so that Alohomora can't open them, such as the door in the flying key room in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone .

Full Body-Bind

This spell is used to temporarily make the victim be frozen in a position much like a soldier at attention. Its incantation is "Petrificus Totalus", "Petrificus" of course coming from the English word "petrify", which comes from the latin word "petra", meaning "stone"; "Totalus" contains "tota" (Latin), meaning "whole, full".

Colloportus

This spell can magically lock a door, preventing its opening for a presumably limited amount of time. It is easily countered by Alohomora , however. The word is a combination of "colligere" (L.) - "bind together" - and "portus", which means "door".

Immobulus

This spell is used to freeze an object in place. This spell is used by Hermione in the movie version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to stop the pixies in Gilderoy Lockhart 's Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and by Remus Lupin in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to freeze the Whomping Willow . "Immobilis" means "immobile" in Latin.

The Fidelius Charm

This charm enables secret information to be hidden within a single living soul of someone known as a Secret-keeper . The information is then irretrievable until and unless the Secret-keeper chooses to reveal it; not even those who know the secret can reveal it to others. It originates from the Latin word "fidelis", which means "faithful" or "trusting".

So far, there have been only two uses of the Fidelius Charm in the Harry Potter series. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , it is explained that when Harry was an infant, he and his parents, Lily and James , were hidden from Voldemort by this charm. They initially selected Sirius Black to be their Secret-keeper, but Black recommended that they choose Peter Pettigrew instead. When they did, Pettigrew betrayed them to Voldemort. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , the charm is used to hide the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix ; Albus Dumbledore is the Secret-keeper, and is apparently able to use a letter to reveal the information. This implies that a direct, personal act is not required to bring a new person into the secret.

Expecto Patronum

This spell conjures a Patronus, a silvery phantom shape, usually that of an animal, which is the embodiment of the positive thoughts of the caster. A Patronus will drive away Dementors . Harry conjures a stag as his Patronus, while Hermione Granger conjures an otter and Cho Chang conjures a swan . In order to work, the person must concentrate on a happy memory, which is especially difficult in the presence of a Dementor. Literally translated "expecto patronum", which is Latin, means "I expect a guardian"

Lumos

This spell creates a narrow beam of light that shines from the wand's tip, like a torch . In fact the Latin word "lumen" means "light".

Nox

This spell turns off the light which is activated by the Lumos spell . Nox is Latin and means "Night".

Wingardium Leviosa

To cause something to levitate, someone points their wand at what they want to levitate and says "Wingardium Leviosa" and it will rise into the air. When First Years learn this at Hogwarts , they practice with feathers . "Wingardium" is a combination of the English word "wing" and the Latin word "arduus" - "steep" - and "Leviosa", which contains the Latin word "levare", meaning "ease, lift, pick up".

The Summoning Charm

This spell can attract an object to the caster. The necessary incantation is "Accio" which is usually supplemented by the spell's target (for example, to summon a broom, one usually needs to say "Accio broom"). The wizard also needs to concentrate hard on the object he is trying to Summon. Pointing the wand at the object's general direction doesn't hurt, either. "Accio!" (from "accire") is Latin and means "I call/summon".

The opposite of the Summoning Charm is the Banishing Charm (incantation unknown) which is supposed to repel an object away from the caster.

Expelliarmus

This spell is used to disarm another wizard, typically by causing the victim's wand to fly out of reach. As demonstrated in the novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , simultaneous use of this spell by multiple people on a single wizard can be powerful enough to knock back the wizard himself.

The Memory Charm

A Memory Charm is a spell used to bury or perhaps alter the victim's memories of an event. The person who wants to modify someone's memory points his or her wand at the victim and utters the word " Obliviate ". "Oblivisci" (L.) means "forget". The spell is most often used against Muggles who have seen something of the wizarding world. The Ministry of Magic employees assigned to modifying the memories of Muggles are called Obliviators.

Gilderoy Lockhart was quite adept at performing memory charms and frequently modified others' memories in order to take credit for their accomplishments. The charm can be broken by powerful magic, as Lord Voldemort was able to torture Bertha Jorkins into remembering details that Barty Crouch had forced her to forget using the charm.

The spell was also used in Order of the Phoenix by the Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt to prevent Ravenclaw student Marietta Edgecombe from revealing the nature of the DA (Defence Association or Dumbledore's Army ) meetings to Dolores Umbridge .

The Unforgivable Curses

Use of these curses on a fellow human could land one a life sentence in Azkaban .

Imperius Curse

The Imperius Curse starts with the incantation "Imperio" and gives the wizard complete control over his victim. The experience of being controlled by this curse is described as a complete, wonderful release from any sense of responsibility or worry over one's actions, at the price of one's free will. It is possible for the victim to fight the curse, however; the series protagonist, Harry Potter , is shown to be better than average in shaking this curse off. "Imperare" (Lat.) means "order" or "command".

Cruciatus Curse

Associated with the incantation "Crucio", the Cruciatus Curse inflicts intense physical pain upon the victim. "Crucio" (Latin) means "I torture/crucify", originating from "crux" (genitive "crucis") (Latin), which means "cross". (In medical Latin in the names of the cruciate ligaments in the knee, "cruciatus" means "arranged in cross shape".)

Several Death Eaters, including Bellatrix Lestrange (and presumably Barty Crouch Jr. ), used this curse on Neville Longbottom 's parents in an attempt to get information on how Voldemort may be resurrected after his killing curse rebounded on him. They received no such information and were sent to Azkaban for their crimes, but the extensive torture drove Neville's parents insane.

Harry Potter himself attempted to use the curse on Bellatrix Lestrange during a climactic fight at the Ministry of Magic , but it did not have much effect — Lestrange reveals that the person performing the curse must genuinely desire to inflict pain, and that the "righteous anger" Harry was feeling at the time was insufficient. This may or may not be actually true, seeing that Lestrange had nothing to gain from informing Harry and that Harry hadn't had any opportunity to practice the curse (so he may not have applied it to maximum effectiveness). In any case, no-one but Lestrange saw him attempt to use it, and he has not suffered consequences as a result.

Avada Kedavra (The Killing Curse)

This curse, when performed properly, kills its victim instantaneously. When this curse is performed, a green light is emitted from the source wand. Avada Kedavra leaves no marks on the victim's body that might indicate a cause of death. The curse cannot ordinarily be blocked or countered, but it does require a certain amount of magical force behind it for it to work—merely saying the incantation is not enough. Arch-villain Lord Voldemort used this curse to dispose of his enemies, including Harry Potter 's parents. The only known survivor of the curse is Harry himself.

The phrase Avada Kedavra was probably invented by J.K. Rowling based on the traditional supposed magic spell abracadabra , but with an altered meaning because the part "-cadabra" happens to look like the Latin word cadaver , which means "corpse". The Latin word cadaver came from Latin cadere , "to fall".