DADA-201 Lessons

Did you all have a good meditative experience since we last met? I know many of you are anxious to draw your wands and begin casting spells, but this meditation process is extremely important to your continued development in spellwork. This practice will not only help you in this course, but you will find that it improves your ability to concentrate for spellwork in your Charms and Transfiguration courses as well. However, I know many of you have been itching to get some practical offensive spells in your arsenal, so today that is our goal. Over the next three lessons, all the way to the midterm, I will be teaching you some offensive spells, including some counter-curses. Before you get too excited, there will be theory involved, since next lesson we have to talk in a little more detail about what qualifies as a “curse” and Lesson Five will delve into some details about counter-curses, but rest assured you will have plenty of opportunity to practice the spells I teach you.

Now, if your ink, quills, and parchment are ready, let’s begin.

Offensive Spells
To begin, we must first understand what qualifies as an offensive spell. This might seem like an obvious concept, but in reality it is much more complex. At its base, an offensive spell is a type of spell whose purpose is to cause harm or to distract your opponent through direct stimulation of the body. A spell used to cause a distraction in and of itself is not an offensive spell - some people will use the Fire-Making Charm to create a distraction, but this charm is not an offensive spell.

The second part of the definition of an offensive spell, as mentioned above, is that it must be cast with the intent to cause harm. Again, this definition is very loose; what was once considered harmful in the past (an example of which will be taught in this lesson) may no longer be considered harmful. In many cases, the categorization of a spell as an offensive spell is a matter of perspective. Do you believe that the spell will cause harm? Are you casting the spell with the intent to harm?

One final note before we dive into learning the spells. There will always be situations that arise where you will find it necessary to utilize the spells you are going to learn between now and the midterm. I must implore that, in all situations, you seek to find a peaceful resolution. It may be unavoidable, but it takes a lot to intentionally cause a person harm - it will affect you in ways you could never imagine. During practice, I will be supervising to ensure that all students are safe, but once you graduate, you will not have any guide except yourself. Only you can determine whether the use of these spells is appropriate. Do not use them unless absolutely necessary; do not harm unless you have no choice, whether it means to protect yourself or to protect those you care about. And do so as a last resort.

Now, onto the part I know you all have been waiting for. It is time to start learning how to cast some offensive spells.

The Tickling Charm
I am sure many of you are now a little confused. How is a Tickling Charm considered an offensive spell? Let me explain. First, it is a fairly easy spell to cast and, primarily, its goal is to cause an effect that would distract or harm an opponent in a dueling situation. Though the name of this spell is the Tickling Charm, it has several other effects, due to the fact that some people, biologically, are simply not ticklish.

Second, the use of this spell as an offensive spell actually has its roots in the medieval ages. Back in the time of knights, those who needed to be tortured were brought in to have the information drawn out of them. One of the ways that this was done was through tickling. That’s right, back in the medieval ages, tickling was used as a form of torture, since it caused people to squirm and beg for mercy, which usually ended when they promised to reveal the information that their captor wanted. This is, in fact, around the time that the Tickling Charm was invented - it satisfied a need that magical people had to torture their prisoner without being close enough to be in any danger.

Therefore, this spell is not a spell that is to be taken lightly. It may seem amusing, but can easily cause enough of a distraction to save your hide by giving you the time to properly cast this spell.

In order to cast the spell, you must consider all of the spellcasting components we talked about last year and which I know you learned about in-depth in your Charms class. To start, you need to concentrate on causing the target to feel a tickling sensation. Use your mind to direct your magic into that tickling sensation and making your intended target feel it.

The next thing to consider is the amount of willpower to put into this spell. Typically this spell requires a low amount of willpower, but more can be applied if you want the target to feel a stronger sensation.

The incantation for the Tickling Charm is “Rictusempra” (RICK-tuh-SEM-pra) and the wand movement is a series of seemingly squiggly lines moving your wand back and forth from left to right.

When all of this is done, a silver light will shoot at your wand and hit the target and cause them to feel a tickling sensation. However, it is not entirely uncommon for a person to be seen blasted backwards. This is an occurrence that only occurs if a person happens to not be ticklish. Therefore, the spell recognizes that an effect still needs to occur and goes to its innate backup - blasting the target backwards.

The Jelly-Legs Jinx
This second spell is more easily recognized as the type of spell you would expect to learn when you hear you are learning offensive spells. Despite the multiple effects and general usefulness of the Tickling Charm, this spell typically is one that is more recognized as an offensive spell, despite its effect being a little less obvious. For all visible purposes, when the Jelly-Legs Jinx is successfully cast, your opponent’s legs will begin to jiggle uncontrollably, which usually is not visible to the caster or any spectator to a duel during which this spell is used. In fact, the only way that you will know for sure that the Jelly-Legs Jinx has been effective is if you notice your opponent becoming unsteady on their feet and they may even fall over because their legs can no longer support them.

One of the most interesting facts about this spell is that there is general disagreement about its classification. Some people refer to this spell as the Jelly-Legs Jinx while others will refer to it as the Jelly-Legs Curse. This makes it extremely confusing, but I tend to think of it as a jinx. To explain my reasoning, we first must remember how each one is classified. Jinxes are classified as minor Dark spells that are relatively harmless. Curses, on the other hand, cause extreme pain and discomfort. Despite the humiliation that a person might feel when they have fallen flat on their face, and any pain they might experience because of the fall, there really is no extreme or life-threatening danger that inherently comes from casting the spell. Therefore, despite the uncertainty of its classification, I tend to agree that the Jelly-Legs Jinx is, in fact, a jinx, since it really causes only minor harm.

Now, I will not keep you waiting any longer - let’s talk spellcasting. As usual, we will look at it in terms of the spellcasting components. This time, though, we will start with the obvious ones and work our way to directing the mind.

The incantation for the Jelly-Legs Jinx is “Locomotor Wibbly” (LOH-cah-MOH-tor WIH-blee) and the wand movement is a rapid squiggly motion that starts on the left and moves up, over to the right, and down. Imagine that you’re drawing squiggles on your target’s legs, but it doesn’t have to be directly aimed at them. The movement will suffice.

The willpower needed to be applied to this spell is dependent on how long you want the target’s legs to remain jiggly. If you apply a low willpower, they will be unstable for about ten seconds. However, with a stronger application of willpower, you can cause a person’s legs to be unsupportive for up to three minutes. By the end of this year, I would expect most of you to be able to cause the effect to last for about 30-45 seconds.

Finally, we come to concentration. For this component, you need to direct your mind to the jiggling of your target’s legs. Mentally visualize their legs becoming unstable beneath them, jiggling uncontrollably until they have no choice but to fall over.

If you have properly applied all of these components, you will see an orange light shoot out of your wand towards your target. When it hits them, unless they dodge, they will likely be able to remain standing for at least a few seconds; most people have a general balance that lets them remain standing, even when they are unsteady, but they will obviously be putting more focus on trying to remain on their feet than casting a spell, which is a benefit to you.

Spell Blocks

Spell: The Tickling Charm
Incantation: Rictusempra (RICK-tuh-SEM-pra)
Wand Movement: Squiggly lines moving your wand from left to right
Concentration: The target experiencing a tickling sensation
Willpower: Low (but more can be applied)

Spell: The Jelly-Legs Jinx
Incantation: Locomotor Wibbly (LOH-cah-MOH-tor WIH-blee)
Wand Movement: A rapid squiggle motion starting on the left, going up, curving to the right and then down.
Concentration: The target’s legs becoming jelly underneath them
Willpower: Low to high (dependent on intended duration)

Next class, you can look forward to your first exposure to casting curses. We will have some basic introductory information about curses and then go into how to cast them. Until then, you have a quiz and an extra credit essay.

Class dismissed!

Original lesson written by Professor Jericho Penrose