DADA-501 Lessons

I hope you all have spent time poring over your notes and preparing yourselves. The O.W.L. exam is almost upon you and you will need every ounce of your knowledge and ability in order to do well. As this is our last lesson of the year before your exam, I have decided that I want each of you to get a glimpse of the type of work we will be doing at the N.E.W.T. level, assuming you get the appropriate grade on your exam and are permitted to continue with my course. We will discuss that more at the end of class. For now, let us look at the last creature for the year - a creature that is shrouded in much mystery and has caused a lot of confusion for Muggles. As mentioned, this approach will reflect the type of work that will be done at the N.E.W.T. level, so do not be discouraged if it initially seems excessively complex.

Cockatrices - What Are They?
Cockatrices are very rare creatures in our community; they are so rare that they do not even appear in the most recent edition of Newt Scamander’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There is little historical record of cockatrices appearing, with the only notable appearance being during the 1792 Tri-Wizard Tournament, during which the creature broke free and injured the heads of all three participating schools. That said, we do have some information that we can work with to identify, and protect ourselves from, a cockatrice

First, the cockatrice is a creature with the general appearance of a large snake, similar to the creature known as the Basilisk (for those familiar with it), with wings on its back. Two of its most distinguishable characteristics are its deathly gaze and its ability to breath fire. The cockatrice, when fully grown, can range from a few feet to many yards long; they also have the unique ability to slither faster than most serpents, which makes them very difficult to capture and far more dangerous than most creatures we have covered; they can be on you before you’ve had a chance to draw your wand.

These creatures can use their wings to fly, but they will not fly higher than they need to, usually as an attack mechanism, launching themselves at their target and usually while breathing fire at them. This is, of course, assuming that their deadly gaze hasn’t already caused death. Similar to the Basilisk, looking into the eyes of this creature can cause instant death. It is this exact similarity, along with the serpent-like features, that have many Muggle myths and lore using the cockatrice and the Basilisk interchangeably. Therefore, it is important that we differentiate these two creatures.

Differentiating from a Basilisk
As previously mentioned, the cockatrice looks extremely similar to a Basilisk. However, being able to tell the difference between these two creatures will drastically affect your decision about how you approach defending yourself against it. Now, this is a picture of a Basilisk:

Hopefully, none of you will ever be faced with one of these creatures, as breeding them is illegal and considered an act of Dark magic. However, it is important to know what one looks like, because this is almost exactly what a cockatrice looks like. There are a few characteristics that make these creatures different. You will need to be able to identify each of these in order to determine whether the creature you face is a Basilisk or a cockatrice.

The first, most obvious characteristic is the wings on the creatures back. Cockatrices have wings that are almost invisible on its back - you will not notice them until the creature starts flapping them if it flies at you. These wings are absent on the back of a Basilisk, as the Basilisk is standardly a terrestrial creature (though it has been known to have aquatic capabilities); cockatrices, on the other hand, have the ability to go aerial if the need arises. They can fly as fast as they can slither, so them taking flight is not a point in your favor.

The second, less obvious, difference is the presence of an osteoderm in a cockatrice. The osteoderm is a layer of tough bone deposits that form a kind of protective armor on certain reptiles. It is not present on all scaly creatures, and the Basilisk is one of these creatures that does not have an osteoderm. This is why it is possible to slay a Basilisk with a sword, but it would be impossible to use that same sword to slay a cockatrice. You may, at this point, be asking how you can identify if the creature has an osteoderm or not. The osteoderm will look like this:

When fully developed, the osteoderm will appear to be small bumps that protrude slightly from the creature. If you are faced with either a fully grown Basilisk or a fully grown cockatrice, try to get a look at the scales of the creature; if there are bumps, there is an osteoderm and you are looking at a cockatrice. If there are no bumps, no osteoderm is present and it is a Basilisk. Observing the creature long enough may be difficult, as it is tough to get close enough to the creature to see the osteoderm and, worse, difficult to stand still long enough; either of these creatures will keep you moving and, in most instances, you will be keeping your eyes averted.

The reason you will be keeping your eyes averted is because looking into the eyes of these creatures directly will cause instant death. However, it is how these gazes affect the individual that helps differentiate the creature. The gaze of a Basilisk is less deadly, causing instant death if seen directly, but will only petrify you if you see its reflection. The cockatrice’s gaze, on the other hand, is deadly even by reflection. There is no way to look into the eyes of a cockatrice and survive.

I feel it is prudent to take a moment to quickly address how the gaze of a cockatrice works internally. As previously mentioned, the cockatrice’s gaze will kill you instantly, even in a reflection. This is because of the magical component of a cockatrice’s gaze; a component that is not weakened the same way a Basilisk’s gaze is. When you meet the gaze of a cockatrice, the magic that is projected through the look constricts the heart and causes it to stop pumping blood properly. Normally, this would take a longer time to kill, but because it is a magical effect, the effects are enhanced and sped up, so it becomes instantaneous.

Stopping a Cockatrice
Now that we have a clear idea of what a cockatrice is and what it is not, we can begin to address how you might stop a cockatrice. I say might because, even with the amount of magical knowledge you have amassed, there is next to no chance that you will be able to walk away from an encounter with a cockatrice. There is a reason that it was used as a task in a previous Tri-Wizard Tournament.

There are three aspects to consider: one is that you cannot look it in the eye, the second is that it is fast, and the third is that it breathes fires. These three characteristics, deadly as an individual characteristic, become even more deadly when lumped together. Here we will break them into their individual parts, and you will have an extra credit assignment to bring it all together (I will not be making any mandatory assignments this lesson, simply because you are so close to your O.W.L.s).

First, you cannot look a cockatrice in the eye. If you do, it will mean instant death. Even looking at a cockatrice’s gaze in a reflection will cause instant death, so no getting around the gaze with a mirror in this case. Their scales, with the osteoderm, make their body almost impossible to penetrate with swords and absolutely impossible to penetrate with spells. You could attack their head, but they usually move too fast to allow you to get close enough.The only known way to defeat a cockatrice is a get it to look at its own reflection. Its gaze is as deadly to itself as it is to humans, so somehow tricking it into looking at itself will kill it.

Second, the cockatrice is fast. To slow it down, there are two possible spells that can be used, both of which you have learned: the Impediment Jinx and the Immobilization Charm. Now, before you attempt to cast either of these spells on this creature, you must be aware that both will require a much greater amount of willpower than you could currently assert. You may be able to assert enough willpower by the end of your time here at Hogwarts, but even that is questionable. You also would have to apply a much greater amount of concentration because it is rare that the cockatrice will be still long enough; this makes it quite distracting and will easily break your concentration.

Third, the cockatrice can breathe fire. This should almost go without saying, but I think there some important facts that need addressing. The fire that a cockatrice can create will be extremely hot. It will melt most metals, which make metal cages ineffective. They also have the ability to breathe their fires within a range of 25 feet. This will keep most people at bay, assuming the cockatrice isn’t attacking you. The Freezing Charm, which we learned last year, is ineffective simply because the fire simply is too hot.

As noted, two of the three characteristics of of the cockatrice make it extremely deadly. Though it does not appear in Scamander’s work, this creature is rated XXXXX by the DRCMC, a rating that is mostly internally used, since the cockatrice is not an officially recognized creature. Your extra credit assignment will force you to consider how you might handle this creature. Be warned, if you complete this extra credit assignment, I will grade to the expectations I hold for my N.E.W.T. students.

O.W.L. Preparation
I hope that this type of exploration have given you a taste of what it will be like to be a N.E.W.T. student in Defense Against the Dark Arts. After this term, the creatures will be tougher and much of the information will be more theoretical. We will explore the areas of this field that few dare to breach. If you stick with this course, you will get a small taste of some of the Darkest aspects of our world and how we can protect ourselves against them. It will not be easy and will require serious work from you. Therefore, I highly suggest that students who do not earn a grade of at least an E on their O.W.L. examination seriously consider whether they are truly prepared for the work that will be coming. I wish you all the best of luck and will let you return to your notes for studying, or to complete the extra credit N.E.W.T. preparation essay.

And so I say for the last time this term, and the last time some of you may hear me say it.

Classis dimissa

Original lesson written by Professor Jericho Penrose

Note: Basilisk image was found through a Google Images search for “harry potter Basilisk.” The osteoderm image was found through a Google Images search for “osteoderm.”