Year 1 Defense Against the Dark Arts Notes
written by Gavin Potter-Malfoy
Actually helpful for DADA-101. I will also put in lesson 3-9's notes when I get to them.
Last Updated
05/31/21
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Lesson 2
Chapter 2
Spell Blocks
Spell: The Verdimillious Charm (offensive version)
Incantation: Verdimillious (vur-duh-MILL-ee-us)
Wand Movement: A forward slash the ends pointing at the target
Concentration: Low - focus on the effect
Willpower: Low
Effect: Green sparks will shoot out of the wand and fly towards the target and sting them
Spell: The Verdimillious Charm (illumination version)
Incantation: Verdimillious (vur-duh-MILL-ee-us)
Wand Movement: A circular motion above your head aimed at nothing
Concentration: Low - focus on the effect
Willpower: Low - More willpower can slightly extend the duration of the light
Effect: Green sparks will fly upward and explode, filling the area with green light and reveal
objects hidden by Dark magic
Spell: The Revealing Charm
Incantation: Aparecium (AH-par-EH-see-um)
Wand Movement: Tap the target object
Concentration: Low - focus on the effect
Willpower: Low - Can use more willpower to “charge” the spell and make it last longer
Effect: Nothing if there is no hidden text. If there is hidden text, the words will glow purple for a
few seconds before looking normal. The message will conceal itself after about five minutes.
Notes:
the components are concentration, willpower, wand movement, and incantation
Concentration - This concept is actually an interesting one. This is the only term that has an interchangeable equivalent. Through the course of your studies, you will encounter people who refer to this as “focus.” These terms mean the same thing. The only time that listings will be consistent is in official spellbooks or spell blocks. Do not be confused. Both terms refer to the mental process that goes into channeling your magic on a specific target to accomplish an effect. When casting a spell, the spell needs to be instructed. This is partially done through the incantation, but it is primarily done by thinking specifically of what you want the spell to do and what you want the effect to affect.
Willpower - Willpower is a component that seems relatively simple, but takes time to train properly. In the simplest terms, willpower is the magical force you exert to make the spell happen. Some spells will require little to no willpower and the use of the incantation and proper wand movement will be enough. However, most spells require at least some level of willpower - you have to want the spell to work and be willing to make it happen. Think of willpower in terms of physical force. If you want to push a desk across the floor, you need to exert physical effort; in the same way, you need to exert mental effort if you want a spell to work.
Wand Movement - This is probably the second most familiar component of spellcasting to you. When you think of casting a spell, you probably think of someone saying words (the incantation) and waving their wand or their hand. The wand movement is a way to help witches and wizards channel their magical energy and draw on the energy both within and around them. Some wand movements will be simple - in Defense Against the Dark Arts you will often find that they are easier since many of the spells in this course need to be cast quickly; however, they can also become extremely complex. As you progress through your education, you will find that you will be able to cast spells without performing the specific wand movement. This requires a great deal of concentration and none of you are to experiment with it until such time that you are taught how.
Incantation - Then we come to the funny words that you are so used to hearing. Despite the ideology that the words can be random or you can just make things up, incantations are extremely important to the process of spellcasting. While accents are acceptable, it is important that you, to the best of your ability, say the incantation with the appropriate pronunciation. I will endeavor to provide the approved and tested pronunciation for each spell in this course the same way that I did the last lesson for the Wand-Lighting and Wand-Extinguishing Charms. The way these pronunciations are written out has everything to do with phonetics. I will not bore you with the nuances of phonetics here (though if you are curious, I highly recommend looking into it). It may seem like it is not important, or that slight alteration to the pronunciation, when written out phonetically, will not make a difference, but the phonetics are important because they have been reviewed many times by professionals, both magical and Muggle, who have determined how to write out the words we say to represent how they are said. In particular, pay attention to capitalization; this represents where you should be placing emphasis.
Spell: The Verdimillious Charm (offensive version)
Incantation: Verdimillious (vur-duh-MILL-ee-us)
Wand Movement: A forward slash the ends pointing at the target
Concentration: Low - focus on the effect
Willpower: Low
Effect: Green sparks will shoot out of the wand and fly towards the target and sting them
Spell: The Verdimillious Charm (illumination version)
Incantation: Verdimillious (vur-duh-MILL-ee-us)
Wand Movement: A circular motion above your head aimed at nothing
Concentration: Low - focus on the effect
Willpower: Low - More willpower can slightly extend the duration of the light
Effect: Green sparks will fly upward and explode, filling the area with green light and reveal
objects hidden by Dark magic
Spell: The Revealing Charm
Incantation: Aparecium (AH-par-EH-see-um)
Wand Movement: Tap the target object
Concentration: Low - focus on the effect
Willpower: Low - Can use more willpower to “charge” the spell and make it last longer
Effect: Nothing if there is no hidden text. If there is hidden text, the words will glow purple for a
few seconds before looking normal. The message will conceal itself after about five minutes.
Notes:
the components are concentration, willpower, wand movement, and incantation
Concentration - This concept is actually an interesting one. This is the only term that has an interchangeable equivalent. Through the course of your studies, you will encounter people who refer to this as “focus.” These terms mean the same thing. The only time that listings will be consistent is in official spellbooks or spell blocks. Do not be confused. Both terms refer to the mental process that goes into channeling your magic on a specific target to accomplish an effect. When casting a spell, the spell needs to be instructed. This is partially done through the incantation, but it is primarily done by thinking specifically of what you want the spell to do and what you want the effect to affect.
Willpower - Willpower is a component that seems relatively simple, but takes time to train properly. In the simplest terms, willpower is the magical force you exert to make the spell happen. Some spells will require little to no willpower and the use of the incantation and proper wand movement will be enough. However, most spells require at least some level of willpower - you have to want the spell to work and be willing to make it happen. Think of willpower in terms of physical force. If you want to push a desk across the floor, you need to exert physical effort; in the same way, you need to exert mental effort if you want a spell to work.
Wand Movement - This is probably the second most familiar component of spellcasting to you. When you think of casting a spell, you probably think of someone saying words (the incantation) and waving their wand or their hand. The wand movement is a way to help witches and wizards channel their magical energy and draw on the energy both within and around them. Some wand movements will be simple - in Defense Against the Dark Arts you will often find that they are easier since many of the spells in this course need to be cast quickly; however, they can also become extremely complex. As you progress through your education, you will find that you will be able to cast spells without performing the specific wand movement. This requires a great deal of concentration and none of you are to experiment with it until such time that you are taught how.
Incantation - Then we come to the funny words that you are so used to hearing. Despite the ideology that the words can be random or you can just make things up, incantations are extremely important to the process of spellcasting. While accents are acceptable, it is important that you, to the best of your ability, say the incantation with the appropriate pronunciation. I will endeavor to provide the approved and tested pronunciation for each spell in this course the same way that I did the last lesson for the Wand-Lighting and Wand-Extinguishing Charms. The way these pronunciations are written out has everything to do with phonetics. I will not bore you with the nuances of phonetics here (though if you are curious, I highly recommend looking into it). It may seem like it is not important, or that slight alteration to the pronunciation, when written out phonetically, will not make a difference, but the phonetics are important because they have been reviewed many times by professionals, both magical and Muggle, who have determined how to write out the words we say to represent how they are said. In particular, pay attention to capitalization; this represents where you should be placing emphasis.
