DADA-301 Lessons

Welcome back, students. I hope you all have been brushing up on your manners and gathering a stock of sesame and ginger. Though it is unlikely that you will ever come across a kappa in your life, it is always best to be prepared for the unexpected. Now, we will be leaving Japan and traveling to another part of the world - Northern Europe, where the creatures we will study today are most prominent, though there have been known sightings of them around the world. Today, we will be learning about red caps.

Red Caps - What are They?
Red caps are short creatures, standing on average between three and four feet tall, that look like a cross between a dwarf and a goblin. Their natural skin color is green, though the color is usually dull due to the amount of time they spend buried in the dirt. This time spent in dirt is primarily because they live in holes in the ground and they are naturally drawn to areas that have experienced bloodshed: old castles, forts, and famous battlefields to name a few. On their head, they wear a cap that is constantly dyed red; the red coloring comes from the blood of their enemies that they smear on the cap, which is why the creatures are named as such. The other notable feature of a red cap is their red eyes.

Though red caps are drawn to locations where blood has been shed, they always ensure that they are not too far from a civilized location, or at minimum a place that is well frequented; the reason being that they will die if the blood on their cap becomes too dry. The anatomical reasons for this can be quite confusing, so to help clarify, I have brought in Professor Anne, one of our esteemed Care of Magical Creatures professors to help explain exactly why a red cap dies due to a cause not directly connected to their internal systems. Please give her a warm welcome!

Anatomy of a Red Cap
Hello all! Thank you to Professor Penrose for inviting me to speak to you all today. From what I understand, you are learning about red caps? Such violent creatures they are. As you have learned thus far, they wear hats on their head, which they smear with the blood of their kills. This is confusing to some. I would like to help explain this by making an analogy. As you learned last week, kappas must always have water in the hollow on their head or they will lose their strength. This is exactly what happens to red caps if their hats run dry. Under their hat, red caps also have a hollow, though it is much smaller than a kappa’s. Their hollow is about a fifth of the size of a kappa hollow. A red cap’s hollow is also filled with strange bumps, best referred to as warts. I am sure you are wondering how a hat falls into place in this scenario. Red caps keep a hat drenched in blood covering their hollow so that blood is constantly dripping into it. This blood is then absorbed by the warts, and gives the red cap its strength. Now, the red caps have to find a hat on their own, so not all of them have baseball style hats. They usually steal one from a human they attack. If we are to look at it all in a logical order, this is how it would flow:

1. Red cap is born and raised.
2. Red cap attacks a human and claims a hat.
3. Red cap smears blood on the hat and places it over its hollow.
4. With each kill, the red cap smears more and more blood on the hat.
5. The blood drips from the hat into the hollow, where it is absorbed by the warts.
6. This process continues to keep its strength as high as possible.

This is why simply removing the hat will not be effective in stopping a red cap. A red cap will simply obtain another hat if theirs has been taken or has gone missing. As Professor Penrose will discuss, there are much more suitable methods of defense against a red cap, none of which will require you to steal clothing from such a malevolent creature.

I hope this has added in your understanding of why red caps wear their cap, and how they gain and keep their strength. Thank you again to Professor Penrose for having me here today, and I bid you all good luck with the rest of the year!

Thank, Professor Anne for that wonderful explanation. It certainly makes it more clear why a red cap lives the way it does and how an external object can be so instrumental to the continued existence of the creature.

Before we continue, I must emphasize one fact. A red cap is, quite literally, wearing a cap. I am aware that the word “cap” is another name for “head,” but this is not applicable to the red cap. Their lives are tied to a hat that they wear, not necessarily the head on their shoulders... though I suppose their lives are connected to that, too. Now, we know what they are, but why are they considered Dark creatures?

Temper, Temper
As you may have already guessed, red caps are not the most friendly creatures in our world, which is why they are rated XXX by the Ministry of Magic. Though some people have reported encountering friendly red caps who gave good fortune to those they met, most red caps are malevolent. In fact, most red caps will attack on sight. They carry a variety of weapons that they always attempt to use to bludgeon the victim to death, even if bludgeoning is not the primary way that the weapon they wield is used. Some of the most common weapons that a red cap will carry are large bones, large sticks, and pike staffs that were left on the battlefield.

If you find yourself faced with an encounter with a red cap, do yourself a favor and do not try to run. red caps are fast creatures and it is nearly impossible to outrun them. Running away from them also excites them more, since they will see it as a hunt, which will make them even more vicious when they attack. It should be noted that red caps are less vicious during their mating season, since they are more focused on attacking each other to assert their dominance than they are with attacking innocent passersby. As previously mentioned, they will first attempt to bludgeon, but if bludgeoning does not work, they are not afraid to resort to the use of their sharp teeth and talon-like hands. If you are caught by a red cap, you will find that you are in serious trouble. That is not to say, though, that all is lost. There are several ways that you can defend yourself against a red cap, which I will explain here.

Dead in the Tracks
For the poor, unsuspecting Muggle who might happen across a red cap, there is very little they will be able to do, since red caps are so fast and vicious. As people with magic, we have much better odds surviving a red cap attack. There are several spells and hexes that can be used to stop a red cap. Some of the spells you have already learned, such as the Full Body-Bind Curse or the Leg-Locker Curse. These spells would be useful if faced with a single red cap, but you will find them inefficient when faced with multiple. The spell I will teach you, the Immobilization Charm, can be cast on several targets at once, making it an ideal defense for a group attack.

As the name suggests, the Immobilization Charm causes all targets under its effect to freeze in their tracks. For a short duration, the span of a few minutes at most, the targets will be completely immobile, giving you the perfect opportunity to escape the situation. The casting of this spell on multiple targets is not an easy feat, so I would not attempt it in a real situation until you are sure you have mastered it. The more targets you want to affect, the more concentration and willpower you will need to exert - you must be focused on each target individually that you want affected and you must be able to exert enough willpower to simultaneously affect them all. There are also other factors to consider, such as size and vitality. It is easier to immobilize a Cornish Pixie than it is to immobilize a fully grown mountain troll. At this point in your education, I would not expect most of you to be able to immobilize more than two small creatures, like a red cap, at a single time. By the end of this year, you may be capable of immobilizing three small creatures or one medium-sized creature, but only if you practice.

With concentration and willpower handled, we must address the incantation and the wand movement. The incantation for the Immobilization Charm is “Immobulus” (ih-MOH-byoo-luhs). While saying this, you must move your wand up and to the right, then down to the right, then up again, higher than before, then down again, followed by a swish to the left. When done properly, it will look like you have completed a mountain shaped movement.

The other option that is available as a defense against red caps is the use of the Beautification Potion. red caps have a very different sense of beauty than humans do and the use of the Beautification Potion, used by dumping the potion on the red cap directly, will cause the red cap to see themselves as repulsive and which will lead to them fleeing the scene. This process is extremely complex and the brewing of this potion to the strength necessary to be effective against a red cap requires years of practice and training. For more information about how the Beautification Potion works, and more information about the concept of beauty in general, I recommend you take Potions Year Four, where our esteemed Potions Master does an excellent job answering these questions.

Here is the spell block for the Immobilization Charm:

Spell Block

Spell: The Immobilization Charm
Incantation: Immobulus (ih-MOH-byoo-luhs)
Wand Movement: A mountain-like shaped motion that ends with a swoop underneath
Concentration: Moderate, on the target being frozen in its tracks
Willpower: Moderate - more or less will be needed dependent on size and vitality.

Which brings us to the end of our lesson today. Your assignments for today include the standard quiz and an essay.

Class dismissed.

Original lesson written by Professor Jericho Penrose

Image Source(s)
Red cap: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Red_Cap