Only A True Potterhead Can Match These Spell Descriptions To Their Incantations
- by Staci_M
- – on
- in Movies and TV
Most of us know and love Harry Potter from our childhoods. So many grew people grew up on the books that made so many lives magical, and then the movies that came along to accompany them. Even now, Harry Potter is everywhere, with new content still being released – the new movies along with a play to explain what happened after the books ended, a website called Pottermore with extensive content that even those books weren't big enough to provide, and new merchandise all over the place!
Growing up with Harry Potter over the last twenty years means that most people think they know the series really well. It's rare to come across someone who hasn't read the books, even rarer to come across someone who hasn't seen the movies, but although we might know what houses the main characters are in and who ended up marrying who, do we know everything about the wizarding world too? Let's see!
If we provide a spell description, who can match the correct incantation with the description? Most people won't know most of these, so let's see if you're a true Potterhead!
To make an object float, which of these charms was used?
One of the first spells we were introduced to in the Harry Potter world was the levitation charm, which was the first spell Harry and his friends learned when they began to attend classes. Hermione became particularly irritable when Ron failed to pronounce the spell right and then did a perfect demonstration of it in front of the whole class, but can you remember what the incantation was that Ron was pronouncing so badly as he tried to make the feather float?
If someone was in a great deal of pain, which of these curses had been placed on them?
The most horrifying three spells in the Harry Potter universe were the Unforgivable curses, the three spells that were absolutely illegal and to be used under no circumstances. Voldemort, however, employed the use of these curses regularly, and in particular used this one when he wanted to get information out of people. Harry himself felt this curse in book four and described it as the worst pain he's ever felt. People went mad from feeling this pain! But what was the incantation used?
When Hermione fixed Harry's glasses, which of these spells did she use?
Harry had very little money when he received his letter to Hogwarts and didn't seem to have the time to fix up his glasses before he left. He boarded the Hogwarts Express with sellotape wrapped around the bridge of his glasses to hold them together. When he met Hermione on the train in the movie, she performed a spell for him that made his glasses good as new again and told him she had been practicing this spell at home. But what was the spell?
Which of these spells was used to cast a protection spell against dementors?
Dementors were introduced to us when Harry was in his third year at Hogwarts. The guards of Azkaban prison, they were a very formidable force in the books and only brought to life and made more frightening in the movies. Harry, being traumatized from his past, had a particular weakness to these creatures and had to quickly learn how to defend himself. This involved learning a charm to conjure up a guardian of sorts, an animal unique to the caster, but what was the name of the charm?
Which of these spells was used to make an object smaller?
Some of the more simpler spells were introduced as time went on, such as the spells to make things bigger and smaller. They were introduced in a pretty grim way though – in both the book and movie, Mad-Eye Moody increased the size of spiders to show the effects of the Unforgivable curses very clearly on them. When he finally laid off the spiders and shrank it down to its original size, can you remember the name of the spell he used?
What was the counter spell used to negate the effect of other spells?
Just as there was an incantation for every spell, there was one counter spell that could stop them all. This came in useful many times, and Hermione was one who used it regularly – because of course she did. Who knew more spells than Hermione? One of her more memorable uses was when she cast it to stop a bludger attacking Harry in the second movie, but can you remember the actual words she had to speak to stop the bludger's magic?
What was the spell that Harry used to summon his broomstick during his fight against the dragon?
Harry had to fight a dragon for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, which was no easy feat considering the dragon was about fifty times the size of him. He decided to use the summoning charm to bring his broomstick to him, knowing that he was a skilled flier and could fly around the dragon to get to the golden egg and complete the task. This was the first time we were introduced to the summing charm – but can you remember the incantation?
What spell did Harry consistently use to disarm his opponents?
Harry developed a fondness for the disarming spell since it took the danger out of his opponents without him having to harm them. Despite the fact he didn't like harming people and that's understandable, some people took a dim view of this and thought it was a weak approach to people actively trying to off him – but in the end, this spell saved his life multiple times. He used it so many times, but can you remember the exact incantation required to cast it?
Which of these spells was used to have complete control over another person?
Another one of the Unforgivable curses was the one that could be used to gain complete control over a person. It was difficult to cast and the victim could break out of it if they had a strong mind, but once it was in place, someone could be made to do whatever the caster desired. It's no wonder this was illegal all through the books, as it's the most unnerving of the Unforgivables, but what word would you have said to cast it?
What was the healing spell?
With the amount of times Harry and his friends were always getting injured, it's no wonder that a healing spell was needed. Surprisingly, it wasn't introduced until book five when Tonks (or, in the movies, Luna) healed Harry's broken nose after he finally got off the train and got to Hogwarts. From then on, it was used a lot more times, and it's easy to see why – it was one of the most useful spells ever introduced! But what was the incantation?
What was the vanishing charm?
Vanishing is something that was used a lot in the Harry Potter world. There was a vanishing cabinet that played a huge role in Harry's sixth year, when Draco Malfoy repaired it to sneak Voldermort's Eaters into Hogwarts. But as well as the cabinet, there was also a charm that existed (and it was used prior to book six by Snape, so vanishing itself was introduced a lot earlier than the cabinet!). Can you remember the actual spell that was used for vanishing?
Which of these spells did Harry use to keep rain off his glasses when playing Quidditch?
In the movies, Harry put goggles on when it was raining heavily and he had to play a Quidditch match. In the books, however, he struggled – his job was to catch the tiny snitch but he wore glasses and, understandably, this was difficult. Hermione came to the rescue once again with a spell that repelled water from objects and used it on Harry's glasses so that although he might have been freezing, he at least had clear vision. But what was the incantation?
Which of these spells was used by Voldermort's Eaters to conjure the Dark Mark?
The start of Harry's fourth year saw the return of the Voldermort's Eaters, Lord Voldemort's loyal masked followers. One of the ways that they instilled fear was to conjure the Dark Mark and shine it in the sky, a symbol of Voldemort. It was a green skull with a serpent protruding from the mouth and was widely known in the wizarding world as a sign of true terror. But what incantation did the Voldermort's Eaters have to shout to cast the mark?
What dangerous spell, invented by Severus Snape, caused a person to become severely injured?
When Harry was in his sixth year, he came across a book written by the Half-Blood Prince who he later found out to be Severus Snape. In this book was an incantation written down which Harry later remembered and used on Draco Malfoy. It severely injured him to the point where Harry regretted using it even on Malfoy. It was an awful spell, and it's no wonder it was invented by someone as dark as Snape. Harry remembered the incantation from the book. Can you?
What was the spell used to start a fire?
Wizards needed fire as much as anyone else might. Whether it was for a campfire, a fire place so they could use the floo network or to use in a duel and cause harm to other people, fire was a tool that the wizards used often. Hermione amusingly used it in the books to set fire to Snape's cloak, believing it to be breaking the curse he was casting. But what incantation was spoken to create fire, regardless of the intended use?
What spell could be used to blast a hole through something in a matter of seconds?
Sometimes magic could be used very destructively in the wizarding world. We saw it multiple times – when the group of heroes were being chased through the Ministry of Magic in Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, for example, or when Hogwarts itself was falling apart. But if a wizard had wanted to blast through a door or wall and didn't want to take the time to go a much less destructive route, what incantation would they have spoken to cause that damage?
What spell did Hermione use to attack Ron with a flock of birds?
Hermione and Ron had a very up and down relationship for most of their time at school. They clearly had crushes on each other but frustratingly would do nothing about it. Eventually, Ron dated someone else – Lavender Brown, a girl in his year and house at school. Hermione was so angry about it that she charmed a flock of birds to attack him, which was both amusing and heart-breaking. But what spell did she use to attack Ron in this manner?
What spell was frequently used to slow down enemies?
The summoning charm wasn't the only useful spell that Harry learned in the Triwizard Tournament. He learned something to use on enemies in the maze, should monsters have come up against him – a jinx to knock an opponent back and slow them down, keeping them at bay. It was a spell that he practiced often and that came in useful many times, but can you remember the incantation he spoke during all those practice sessions to make it happen?
Which of these spells was the offing curse?
The last of all the Unforgivables was the offing curse. It was the curse to off both of Harry's parents and was noted as being a flash of green light. That flash of green light haunted Harry's dreams even before he knew it came from the offing curse, giving it a very notable visual. If an evil wizard wanted to cast this curse and off someone in the blink of an eye – and had both the skill and hatred to do it – what would they have to say?
What spell did Severus Snape invent that hung the victim by their ankles?
Not all of Snape's invention were very harmful, thankfully – although this one did end up being pretty humiliating. The marauders used it during their time at school with Snape, a non-verbal spell that would hang him upside down by his ankle. They used this to bully him, and Harry accidentally used it on Ron when he was flicking his wand and thinking about the incantation, yanking him out of bed in the middle of the night. But what WAS the incantation?
Which of these spells was used to counter a boggart, as seen in Harry's third year at Hogwarts?
An enemy that Harry encounters in his third year Defence Against The Dark Arts lessons is something called a boggart. This monster could change shape at will and took the shape of the person's worst fear – which is a scary idea! Luckily there was a spell to counter this, which required somehow making the worst fear amusing and then saying the incantation to warp the boggart into that image. But what had to be said to make that happen?
Which of these was the memory charm incantation?
Memory charms were introduced in Harry's second year when he came across Gilderoy Lockhart, who had been using them to steal the identities of other wizards. They took on a much sadder theme when Hermione erased the memories of her parents and sent them off to Australia to keep them safe. Memory charms were extremely powerful, but could be broken if the victim tried hard enough. What was the incantation that the caster would have to say to cast them in the first place?
What spell was used to turn any item into a portkey?
Apparition and disapparition were useful methods of leaving one place and appearing another in the wizarding world, because it meant that teleportation was pretty much a real thing – lucky them! But the licenses for these could only be achieved at seventeen, so for mass travel and for those underage, portkeys served the same purpose – an object just had to have a spell cast on it. What spell was used to turn a regular, everyday object into a portkey?
What spell was used to knock an object aside?
In the games, one spell was extremely popular when Harry came up against obstacles. This spell was introduced on all platforms and was a constant theme through just about every game. Sometimes objects had to be moved out of the way or sometimes moved to a certain place so that Harry could jump on them and reach higher objects. Anyone who played these games as a child has the spell on the tip of their tongues right now! Can you remember what it was?
What spell made anything it came into contact with explode?
So the spell that knocked holes in walls has already been asked about, but what about the spell that would make anything explode? Another destructive spell, but this one could be used on anything and was used more to cause distracting explosions than to blast through solid objects. This was used in battles, because it didn't have to be as precise as a spell that had to be cast on someone else, and it could still do some major damage. Do you remember the incantation?
Which of these spells did Hermione use on Neville to immobilize him?
Hermione marked her place in the Harry Potter world as a force to be reckoned with when the trio came up against Neville Longbottom in their first year. They wanted to sneak out and although it was for a noble cause, Neville didn't know this and tried to stop them. Desperate by any means to get past him, Hermione used a full body petrifying charm which froze Neville solid until someone found him. But what were the words she said to do this?
What is the curse that Hermione was hit with that made her teeth grow at an alarming rate?
In the books, Hermione's Yule Ball transformation was much more drastic. Right before the ball, she was hit accidentally by a teeth enlargement charm and had to go to the hospital wing to have it corrected. Lucky for her, this ended up working in her favor since her teeth could be reduced to even smaller than they were before and this happened to be one of her insecurities! But what was the actual spell used that missed its intended target and hit Hermione instead?
Which of these spells could be used to conjure water?
Although it wasn't possible to conjure food in the Harry Potter world using magic – magic could be used to prepare food, but not to actually summon it out of nowhere – it was possible to fill a goblet or cup with water if the wizard knew the right incantation. Harry attempted to use this in the cave with Dumbledore, but the cave was unfortunately cursed not to allow it. In any other place though, this incantation would have successfully conjured water...
Which of these incantations caused a person to dance uncontrollably?
Harry and Draco Malfoy's duel was in both the books and the movies, but the books had a spell used that the movies did not – possibly because it would have looked ridiculous on-screen! Malfoy used a curse on Harry that caused him to dance uncontrollably, his legs moving until he fell over and someone had to remove the curse from him so he could stop. What was the name of the spell that Malfoy spoke to make this happen?
What spell could a witch or wizard use to unlock doors?
Hermione was a character who wasn't going to be stopped by something as silly as a locked door! From pouring over books, she learned a charm that could get through pretty much any locked door and demonstrated this when the trio went after the sorcerer's stone in their first year, using it to enter the third floor corridor where Lucky was hiding. The charm was used again in future to varying degrees of success. Can you remember exactly what the incantation was?