CHRM-601 Lessons

Welcome back to another year of Charms classes! I am delighted to see this many students back in the classroom, willing to work on N.E.W.T. level charms theory. First of all, I want to congratulate you all on your O.W.L. results, and obtaining an Exceeds Expectation or Outstanding in Charms class! I am very happy about your results, and I look forward to working with you more in the next two years. As you surely know by now, I am Professor Lavinia Laurel, and I will be instructing you this year. If you have a question, please drop me an owl, or feel free to contact one of the Charms PAs.

Course Policies

I assume that this information is superfluous for most of you, but I want to remind you of our usual rules with respect to classroom conduct and academic honesty. This ought to be nothing new for any of you, as these rules have not changed in the five years you have attended Hogwarts so far. Nevertheless, let me recap them for you:

Classroom conduct ought to be self-explanatory. Disrespect will not be tolerated; neither will cursing, harassing, or any other age-inappropriate behaviour. Any assignment that includes such topics will be given a failing grade, and will not be allowed a retake.

Though I am sure you have heard this multiple times in every class already, I want to remind you of the importance of academic honesty. Plagiarism is considered a serious offense in all kinds of schools, and Hogwarts is no exception. This includes copying and pasting the original lesson text, even for short answers. If you are caught plagiarising, we will make a note of it and you will receive 1% on your assignment. You will not be able to retake it.

Speaking of short answers, I want to remind you all that you are to answer all questions in complete sentences. Many of you have lost points because you have not presented information correctly. This is especially disappointing if you otherwise had the information correct, both for yourself and for us graders. Please remember that answering in only keywords does not suffice.

If you are unsure about anything related to the course, please drop me an owl. I can only help if I know that there is a problem. You can contact me via owl, post on my profile, or facebook message.

Assignments and Course Aims

As you are approaching your N.E.W.T.s - I know, it is scary to think about these now that you are only just about to start your Sixth Year -we will cover more theoretical aspects of charms  and more complex spells than you have learned so far. Our plan for this year is the following, dealing with Advanced Charm Theory and Practicality:

As you can see, our schedule is packed, so without further ado, let us start with today’s topics!

Careers in Charming

I am sure that most of you have at least a vague idea of what you would like to do after finishing your education at Hogwarts, but by the looks on some of your faces right now, there are certainly some of you who are still searching for an idea of what to do after school. As charms is a broad branch of magic, you will see it as a prerequisite for many career choices - both those that you expect and those you may not. To give you an overview about which opportunities may arise for you after finishing your N.E.W.T.s, as well as inform you about the grades that you will need to achieve to obtain those opportunities, I have invited a couple of guests to speak to you today. They are all working in different fields that require top marks on your Charms N.E.W.T., and you will have some time at the end of class to talk to them and ask more specific questions if there are aspects of their career in which you are interested. We will start with Miss Evangeline Walter and Mister Mortimer McFarlane from the Committee on Experimental Charms. Miss Walter, Mr. McFarlane, the floor is yours!

Thank you for that warm welcome, and hello everyone! My name is Evangeline Walter and both Mr. McFarlane and I are working on the Department on Experimental Magic, though in different groups. I am working as a spell inventor, or spell crafter, myself. That means creating new spells, of all different kinds! I work in the General Charms Group - we are divided into certain fields of magic depending on which kinds of spells we specialise in. To name a few, there is a transfiguration group, a group researching counter-spells, and another one which deals with healing spells. There are many more, but those are the most well-known. Obviously, not all of these groups specialise in charms, but the transfiguration and charms groups are rather close simply because there is a huge overlap when it comes to the application of charms and transfigurations. There are other groups that focus on various types of potions, too. So, what does a spell crafter do the entire day? I reckon you all imagine me trying to create spells and actually doing wand-based work most days, don’t you? The opposite is true, in fact. Creating spells is a dangerous process, and requires a lot of research. Most of that research is theoretical only, as backfiring experimental charms are quite dangerous and often lethal. This danger is actually the reason why we often rely on old spells that work perfectly fine, and why new spells are not released regularly: crafting spells is a long process, and discoveries are not made every day. In fact, I have been working in this department for seven years already, and so far, only one spell of mine has been fully approved, while a second one is in the testing phase right now. Mr. McFarlane will tell you more about this, I am sure.

Right you are, Evangeline. My name is Mortimer McFarlane, and I am a part of the Supervision Squad of the Department on Experimental Magic, more commonly known as the Committee on Experimental Charms. This means that I am responsible both for the testing and approval of any new spells that are developed. Evangeline has neglected to mention the history of the Committee, which is why I want to give you a short overview on who we are and what we do. Originally founded by Balfour Blane in 1598, our job is to oversee both the development and the use of new spells. While the Committee’s name indicates that it is only charms that we are dealing with, it is, in fact, a case of inaccurate use of terms that has now been widely accepted. We oversee the creation of all kinds of spells, including, but not limited to, charms, transfigurations, and curses. The most striking thing in terms of our history is that we are one of the oldest departments in the Ministry, as our committee predates the establishment of the Ministry of Magic. Yes, Eva, I’ll get to the point. Anyway, after a spell has been created, it is by no means safe to use. We run a series of extensive tests before the public may receive any information on the spell to make sure that the backfires are not too severe and that it is, in fact, safe to use. After the testing process, some paperwork follows as the spell is formally approved. Depending on the risks and hazards assessment, it is either released to the public and published in magazines such as our department’s paper, CEC Collaboration, or it is classified for restricted use by those with approval by the Ministry of Magic. The paperwork is surprisingly quick, yet the testing process may take up to seven months. This may seem like an excessive amount of time, but just taking a look at some spectacular backfires of unapproved spells that we have encountered in the last couple of years… trust me, you do not want that to happen to you. Negative interactions with ambient magic or even simple backfires have cost the lives of many witches and wizards, and I hope that you will never be among this list of fatalities. Anyway, back to the topic of the Committee on Experimental Charms. You have different jobs that are offered in this department, which can be divided into the categories of research and law, the committee falling into the latter. With spell crafters, you are required to achieve top grades, especially in the area in which you are specialising. Evangeline, for example, needed advanced training in charms to get into the General Charms Group - which required her to get Outstanding grades in her N.E.W.T.s in all spell-based subjects. Additionally, you are required to have a N.E.W.T. in subjects which further your understanding in the area that you will be working in. Some sub-departments require knowledge of runes, at the very least. If you are interested in pursuing a career with us, please come and ask me for further details. Supervising and testing has slightly less strict requirements, though they are rather similar. When I was hired, I needed Outstandings in Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense. The exact requirements may have changed, I am not in charge of hiring people, but it ought to give you an idea of the grades you will have to achieve.  Outside of that, you only need a sufficient number of N.E.W.T.s, the exact subjects are unspecified.

Thank you very much for this presentation, and for agreeing to stay for a bit longer to answer any questions that the students may have. I am certain that some of you will want to talk to the two of them, but I ask you to wait and write down your questions for now, as we have other guests who will present their professions first. Mrs. Floyd, you’re on!

Good day, class. I am glad to have been offered this opportunity to speak to you all today. My name is Isolde Floyd, and I work in the research department of Nimbus. Originally, one of our product designers was meant to be speaking with you today, but he has come down with a case of the flu. Instead, I will give you a short overview on how a company as big as Nimbus operates, and talk about charms research in the field.

Naturally, before a broomstick can be enchanted, it is necessary to decide on which spells you need. Other aspects that need to be considered are the marketing, the material, as well as the actual enchantment process. I must admit that I am not familiar with these aspects, and will guide you through the process of research only. Naturally, the types of spells that are necessary to make a broomstick fly are self-explanatory. What needs to be researched, however, is which exact spells ought to be used, and where to put one’s focus. Is it more important for the broomstick to have great maneuverability, or is speed the most important feature? The research process is a long one, which, when combined with the many steps of testing and reworking the original plans, makes the creation of new broomsticks very lengthy indeed. In fact, research is not solely a theoretical venture, but does include basic knowledge of enchanting as well as product testing, both in the laboratory and in the field. I would go as far as claiming that research is the most important aspect in the process of product creation, because it is our job to work on making everything function as smoothly as possible. As soon as one new model is released, we immediately begin working on the next one, as there are always new techniques to try.

Given the high responsibility and multitude of different areas that you are working with, charms research, especially in companies as big as Nimbus, requires the highest of qualifications. The last graduates that we hired needed to have at least seven N.E.W.T.s, all of them Outstanding, and they needed to cover Charms, Runes, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology. The latter might be surprising at first, but you ought to consider the material we are working with. To ensure the best possible quality, our researchers are required to recognise their materials, as well as to incorporate their knowledge of them in order to ensure our brand’s superiority. It is highly recommended that you study Magical Transportation as well, as, naturally, this course is closely connected to what we are do. In the last few years, everyone who has been hired at Nimbus did take this course, and so should you if you are considering a career in this industry.

Thank you, Mrs. Floyd, and I can imagine that it is an amazing feeling to see a product that you helped to develop on the market after all the work you put into it! Let us give a warm welcome to our last representative, Mister Dorian Courteney, a professional charmer from the Wright Company - that was the official term, wasn’t it?

Alrighty, stop giggling, I know that my job title does not sound as respectable as the others you have heard about today, but it actually is! Professional charming, also called enchanting or bewitching, depending on whom you ask, is the act of creating deeply charmed objects, that you all use in your daily life. The most well-known object that Isolde has just presented would be the broomstick, yet I must disappoint you - I am not in the business of enchanting brooms and I cannot help you with any trouble that you may have with yours. You will need to ask a professional specialising in those items for assistance.

I’m sure that all of you lads and lasses do know the objects we work on, though - has anyone heard of Bowman Wright already? I see that some of you have, so let’s not keep the others in the dark: The Wright Company is the sole British producer of snitches, named after their inventor, the famous metal charmer Bowman Wright, who lived in the 15th century. Following his amazing idea, the procedure for enchanting snitches has only been varied very slightly from the original, first non-living snitch - and this process is a closely guarded secret. We employees of the Wright Company have to take a vow of non-disclosure before we start our training on how to create a proper Golden Snitch. This training takes three months to complete, although the duration may vary depending on the object that you are learning to create, as a broomstick is more complex than an enchanted apron. .

Professor Virneburg told me that you have not discussed exactly how enchanting works yet, nor about theoretical aspects of spell-weaving. Is that correct? Regardless, you do know that there is always a Power Form, an Initiation Form, and multiple Effect Forms that are applied to enchanted objects. I can’t go into detail when it comes to the exact spells used on the snitch, but they allow for the flesh memory and the necessary movement, among others. The movement aspect is rather complicated, given that the snitch is imitating a bird’s flight. Many spells are involved, all of which are a closely guarded secret. Implementing all these forms takes a long time. There is not a high demand for snitches, thank Merlin, as it takes an experienced enchanter almost two days to complete the entire charmwork. One might believe that it gets a little repetitive after a while, yet the magic involved is extraordinarily complex and, despite working on snitches for almost 17 years already, I’ve yet to become bored of working with them.

You’ll need to find something that interests you though. I can’t imagine working on enchanting makeup mirrors, but to each their own! A necessary prerequisite for this type of career is that you are interested in how things work and are willing to study a bit more after your N.E.W.T.s, because the training is the most essential aspect for enchantment work. To qualify for enchanting snitches, you need a total of seven Outstanding N.E.W.T.s, including all spell-based subjects. It’s a fun job for sure!

Thank you, Dorian, that was most enlightening! Please do me a favour and don’t start enchanting everything around here, I still remember my inkwell fluttering around like a snitch when you last visited - and that is something I don’t want to happen again! Naturally, other professions require N.E.W.T.s in Charms as well, such as wand-making, healing, or joining the aurors. I am certain that there are some of you who are more interested in these other careers, or something completely different that I forgot to mention. Even if you are not interested in working in their professions yourself, I am sure that you will find that our group of professionals will be willing to answer all kinds of questions that you may have, and perhaps give you the name of a person to contact if you have any questions about another profession. There will be some communication mirrors set up at the end of the lesson to enable you to talk to some guests who were unfortunately unable to be here in person, but are nonetheless available to answer any questions you may have.

For now, I want to end this lesson by giving you a short preview on what we will be discussing next week, as it is a topic which has ties with all our current guests’ areas of expertise. We will be looking into flying unaided in human form, a feat which is still in the process of being researched and analysed, as well as focussing on other forms of moving both objects and beings, in ways that exceed the opportunities provided by Levitation. I ask you to read through your notes on those spells, as we will not be reviewing information you studied in your First Year - I will expect you to be able to pick out the differences and contrast next week’s spells with those you learned prior. Now it is time for you to talk to our guests a bit more on your own. I hope you all will have some interesting conversations. See you next week!

Professor Cassandra Virneburg

Image sources: here, here and here.