CHRM-501 Lessons

Good afternoon my dear and wonderful students! I am very excited for today’s lesson, so please hurry to your seats so we can get started!

First thing’s first: your assignments were much better last week than the first week we were together. I am very proud of all of you and am looking forward to seeing how you all grow by the end of the year. If the improvement between weeks one and two was any indication, you will all be leaps and bounds further in your educations by the end of this year! As ever I am always available to answer your questions through owl post. And now, on to the fun stuff!

Last week we discussed protecting our homes from Muggles. We learned spells like the Muggle-Repelling Charm and the Hidden Homes Spell. Let’s review quickly, shall we? The Muggle-Repelling Charm confuses Muggles when they get near the target area and the Hidden Homes Spell disguises an area to look like there is no dwelling there and also alerts the caster to intruders. While the Muggle-Repelling Charm will have no effect on magic folk, the Hidden Homes Spell is relevant this week as it can be used to protect against magic folk as well. This week we will also be exploring a few more spells that can be used to protect your homes against other witches and wizards.

There are many ways that we travel in the magical world. The one that I am sure most of you are most looking forward to learning is Apparition! Now, Apparition is the magical act of turning in place and disappearing, then reappearing in a desired location. It is the fastest way to travel from place to place, but not always the safest or the easiest. Many of you are aware that you cannot Disapparate or Apparate into and out of Hogwarts. This is because of two spells placed on the castle: the Anti-Disapparition Charm and the Anti-Apparition Charm. The Anti-Apparition Charm prevents people from Apparating into an area while the Anti-Disapparition Jinx prevents one from disapparating from an area. While the Anti-Disapparition Jinx can be helpful to trap an intruder, our goal in class is to prevent intruders in the first place, so our focus will be on the Anti-Apparition Charm.

This charm protects the home by preventing unwanted visitors from appearing out of thin air into your living room. Please keep in mind it is considered poor etiquette to ever invade another witch or wizard’s home without their permission, and even with permission one should generally apparate into the garden, not the home. However, an intruder is typically not concerned with etiquette, so we must guard against them.

Incantation: Potest Intoir (poh-TEST eent-WAHR)
Wand Movement: A wave across the area to be guarded.
Willpower: Strong; Must be stronger than the will of those trying to get in.
Concentration: Strong; Must imagine an impenetrable wall around the area to be guarded.
Category: Static

The incantation for this spell comes from Latin and means “cannot enter,” literally describing the inability for the intruder to enter the guarded area. Does anything seem familiar about the willpower and concentration? Exactly! They are similar to last week, and for similar reasons. Now, you may be wondering what will happen if someone tries to Apparate into an area where this charm has been cast. If one were to try this, they will be splinched. Splinching occurs when not all of the body moves together through the world around it. One could leave behind an ear, an arm, or even their head. Splinching is very serious and very, very painful. Prior to the regulation of student transportation and the inception of the Hogwarts Express, students would often try to Apparate to the Hogwarts Grounds. This was disastrous for these students and the school, unfortunately, and was part of the reason that the Hogwarts Express was created.

The next spell we will discuss is another used at Hogwarts. It is always in place on campus, but was strengthened during the Final Battle of the Second Wizarding War in order to further protect the school. We are starting to see a bit of a theme here, are we not? Now, this spell is called the Hex Deflection Charm. Its purpose is to protect the area in question from any hexes cast upon it. The strength and duration of this spell rely on the willpower and concentration applied. The amount and strength of the hexes it can withstand depends on these things as well. Please keep in mind that this will not protect you from very dark curses, such as the Unforgivables.

Incantation: Salvio Hexia (SAL-vee-oh HEK-see-uh)
Wand Movement: Broad sweep of the wand diagonally to the left
Willpower: Strong; More willpower will create a barrier that holds against stronger hexes for a longer time.
Concentration: Strong; Keep the area in question in mind.
Category: Static

Casting hexes at an area protected with the Hex Deflection Charm will result in the hexes being absorbed by the barrier surrounding the area. Multiple people can combine their power to cover larger areas with this spell, or to create a stronger barrier. This can be done with multiple people standing in a circle at the perimeter of the area to be guarded. They can then cast the spell as normal, which will result in their spells and barriers combining. This occurred during the Final Battle we discussed previously. This combination of power can be used with many of the protective enchantments we will learn in order to make them stronger and help them to last longer.

The final concept we will be discussing in class today is making a building Unplottable. An Unplottable location cannot be located on a map and can be made not to be seen. This is intended and deliberate concealment in order to keep an area protected from intruders. Wizard prisons, schools, and dangerous animal habitats are all Unplottable. Dangerous animal habitats you may ask? But what could that mean! The most well-known Unplottable animal habitat is the Isle of Drear. This island is the native home to the very dangerous Quintaped. These carnivorous creatures only live on this island and have a taste for human flesh, therefore the island where they live cannot be found by humans for their safety. Smaller locations can also be Unplottable. I am sure many of you have heard of the Chamber of Secrets? This small location within Hogwarts is Unplottable as well. That means that a map of Hogwarts, such as the infamous Marauders Map, would not include the Chamber of Secrets on it.

I will not be instructing you on how tomake a location Unplottable, as it is magic so advanced that it is not typically taught in school, but I want you to be aware of the process to make your home Unplottable. Because making a place Unplottable is such a large undertaking, it can only be done on permanent buildings and only by groups of wizards, typically four to seven depending on the skill level of those involved as well as the size of the location. The group will stand equidistantly along the outside perimeter of the area to be made Unplottable and cast the spell in tandem multiple times. Many times, the group must rotate positions and repeat the casting once or twice in order to get the spell to take. It is such a complex spell that very few try to use it on their homes. Often it isn’t worth the trouble when other enchantments can be used instead. You will rarely find a single family home that is Unplottable.

That concludes our lesson for the day! All you have to complete this week is a worksheet in order to give you a little extra time to study for next week’s midterm. Good luck and have a fantastic rest of your week!

Image credit: HP Wiki