Transcription
MIRANDA GOSHAWK
Property of Hogwarts School LibraryNameDue DateA warning: If you rip, tear, shred, bend, fold, deface,disfigure, smear, smudge, throw, drop, or in any othermanner damage, mistreat, or show lack of respecttowards this book, the consequences will be as awful asit is within my power to make them.Irma Pince, Hogwarts Librarian
MIRANDA GOSHAWK
CONTENTSForewordviiCHAPTER 1Levitation CharmWater-Making SpellUnlocking CharmWand-Lighting CharmConundrum 11561012CHAPTER 2Fire-Making SpellBird-Conjuring CharmRevealing CharmEngorgement & Shrinking CharmsConundrum 21518202325CHAPTER 3Gouging SpellDoubling CharmMending CharmScouring CharmBat-Bogey HexShield CharmConundrum 327293034363741v
CHAPTER 4Summoning CharmSevering CharmImpediment JinxHardening CharmConundrum 44348525354CHAPTER 5Disarming CharmReductor CurseStunning SpellPatronus CharmConundrum 55761636469Afterword71vi
FOREWORDIwas born into a poor family, the last of ninesisters. When I was a youngster, there was no basicspellbook to give a beginner witch like myself theclear and simple instructions that would have mademagic a much less mysterious process. I struggled tounderstand the complicated instructions in the oldfashioned textbooks I was given at school.Back at home, I was at the mercy of my older sisters’mischievous attempts to give me the wrong incantationfor every spell I attempted. Hand-me-down robes aremerely embarrassing, hand-me-down spells can bedangerous.When I grew up, I quickly realised that the help Ihad craved simply did not exist – and so I created thebook you are holding now: the Book of Spells. I couldnot be prouder that this simple school textbook is nowbeing used in schools for magic all over the world andhas been translated into 72 languages includingGobbledygook and Mermish.I also had a few special editions printed for my dearsisters, which unfortunately contained a few misprintsthat led to quite a few comical mishaps! But Romilda’svii
tail has vanished now and we're all friends again.The Book of Spells will enable you to perform arange of basic and not-so-basic spells that will enhance,protect and enliven your life.At the end of each chapter, you will find aCONUNDRUM, a little poem with a hidden messageconcerning those characteristics and habits that makewitches and wizards truly great. Each conundrum tellsthe story of a witch or wizard who did not possess thenecessary traits, and paid the price. (names have beenchanged to protect the inadequate).The solution to all the conundrums can be foundwhen you have mastered every spell in this book (butby that time, you may not need the solution at all).Good luck, stay safe and make good magic!Miranda Goshawkviii
CHAPTER 1In this chapter we’ll learn four spells ideal fordeveloping your wand skills. Each new spell is sureto be useful throughout your wizarding career,whether you’re making objects fly, or lighting your wayin dark places.LEVITATION CHARMThe Levitation Charm is one of the first spells learnt byany young witch or wizard. With the charm a witch orwizard can make things fly with the flick of a wand. Thecharm is an excellent test of your magical skill, wandcontrol and above all, patience.The Levitation Charm was invented in 1544 bywarlock Jarleth Hobart, who mistakenly believed thathe had at last succeeded in doing what wizardkind hadso far failed to do, and learnt to fly.Hobart invited a large crowd of wizards, includingthe Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, to witness hismaiden flight. On the 16th of July 1544, Hobartclimbed onto the roof of the local church and, afterseveral speeches and a rousing performance of the1
national anthem, leapt into mid-air.At first, Hobart appeared to have succeeded. Hehung in mid-air for nearly three minutes, until thecrowd grew impatient to see him move somewhere. Inresponse to their catcalls, Hobart began to performvigorous swimming movements which had no effect.Mistakenly believing that he was being hampered by hisheavy boots and robes, he took them off and tossedthem away. Upon removal of these items, Hobartdropped ten feet, and it became painfully clear to thosewatching from below that, far from weighing himdown, they had been helping to keep him airborne.Infuriated by the increasing laughter of theonlookers, Hobart continued to strip, until finally, onremoval of his underpants, he plummeted to the earthcompletely naked, breaking sixteen bones and earninghimself a fine for what the Chief Warlock described as‘outrageous silliness’.Humiliated, Hobart returned home and continuedhis work. He eventually realised that he had invented aspell that would lift objects into the air and could causethem to hover for varying lengths of time, dependingon their weight, and the skill of the spellcaster. Smallanimals and even children might be levitated, but onceairborne, they had no control over their direction of2
movement.Hobart consequently made a second announcement,and another, even larger crowd, assembled to watch hisnew demonstration, hoping for another hearty laugh athis expense.The new demonstration was initially much moresuccessful than the first. Hobart showed the onlookershow he could lift a variety of objects ranging from smallrocks all the way up to fallen trees. Unfortunately, thecheers of the crowd went to Hobart’s head and hedecided, for a finale, to Levitate the Chief’s hat. It wasonly then that he, and indeed the crowd, realised thatthe Chief wore a wig. Hobart only survived theresulting duel by Levitating the Chief’s robes over hishead and running for it.IncantationThe magic words for the Levitation Charm are‘Wingardium Leviosa’. Be sure to make the ‘gar’ niceand long.GestureThis spell is all in the wrist. Keep your wand hand looseand perform a nice, smooth swish and flick movement(see Fig. A).3
Fig. ANotesThere are many variations of this spell – the HoverCharm, the Rocket Charm and the Floating Charm, toname but a few, but this remains the original and best.This charm ought not to be seen as a ‘joke’ spell. Itcan be most useful in duels and can lift physicalobstacles, and can even Levitate small creatures (thoughthis is likely to confuse any poor animal and is certainlynot to be encouraged).4
WATER-MAKING SPELLThe Water-Making Spell conjures clean, drinkable waterfrom the end of the wand. Thus, with the WaterMaking Spell the trained wizard is never without asource of water, whether they’re refilling their goblet atdinner, or managing a minor eyebrow fire after acarelessly-cast Fire-Making Spell.IncantationThe incantation for conjuring water is ‘Aguamenti’. Besure to say it clearly when casting the spell.Fig. BGestureCasting Aguamenti requires a smooth wave movementfrom left to right with your wand (see Fig. B).5
UNLOCKING CHARMThere are many ways to pass through locked doors inthe magical world (see the Fire-Making Spell, theGouging Spell and the Reductor Curse), where youwish to enter or depart discreetly, however, theUnlocking Charm is your best friend.The famous Unlocking Charm was introduced toBritain in the early 1600s by a wizard thief called EldonElsrickle, who had fled from Britain to Africa, hopingto escape punishment for a series of robberies.Elsrickle sneaked back into the country, heavilydisguised and possessed of two treasures. The first wasa baby monster called a Nundu, a terrifying leopard-likecreature which, when full-grown, could devour wholecrowds of men in a single gulp. However, the cub couldbe subdued with a simple Stunning Spell, and Elsrickleintended to use it to guard his house when he was notthere.Elsrickle’s second treasure was the charm that hehad learnt from an ancient African sorcerer:‘Alohomora’, otherwise known as the UnlockingCharm, or The Thief’s Friend.Elsrickle immediately resumed his career of villainy,and no house in London, whether Muggle or wizardowned, was safe. Elsrickle was soon taking home6
priceless jewels, paintings and antiques to the housewhich was occupied by his Nundu.Soon, the Spectral Thief of Old London Town wasmaking front page news in both the wizarding andMuggle worlds. Nobody could understand how thecriminal was getting in and out of houses withoutbreaking windows or using ladders.Once in a while, Elsrickle would be surprised in thehome of a fellow wizard. Whenever this happened, thecunning fellow offered to trade his fabulous new charmfor his freedom. His deal was accepted so many timesthat soon there were a great number of so-called‘Spectral Thieves’ operating in the capital.Elsrickle was confident that he would never beburgled, however, because he made sure that everyoneknew he owned an ever-growing Nundu. He put it tosleep each morning through the keyhole of his door,before entering the house, and woke it up in the sameway when he left at night.Then came the fateful day when Blagdon Blay, awizard who had been burgled 19 times in two weeks,succeeded in inventing an Anti-Alohomora Charm. In asingle night, the wizarding doors of London were sealedshut, and task-forces were dispatched to protect Mugglehouses, too.7
On the last day of his life, Elsrickle returned homeafter being unable to commit a single burglary all night.Tired, frustrated and angry, he completely forgot aboutputting his Nundu to sleep through the keyhole beforehe entered the house. The last word he ever spoke,before being pounced upon and eaten was‘Alohomora’.Fig. CIncantationTo unlock doors with just a wave of the wand, speakthe incantation ‘Alohomora’.8
GestureThe spell requires a nice, sharp wand movement. Startat the bottom and go up, then diagonally down andthen across (see Fig. C).NotesPrior to the discovery of the Unlocking Charm, themost popular charm for the purpose was ‘Portaberto!’which usually splintered the lock from the door, andoccasionally left a smoking hole where the key shouldhave been. Even this was a substantial improvementover ‘Open Sesame!’, the previous most-popular spell,which saw doors wrenched from their hinges and torninto firewood.9
WAND-LIGHTING CHARMThis charm will light the end of your wand, providingillumination in darkness. The Wand-Lighting Charm issimple, but requires concentration. Take great care notto accidentally set your wand alight, as damage of thiskind can be permanent. If in any doubt about yourabilities you would do better to buy yourself a magiclantern.IncantationThe incantation to light one’s wand is ‘Lumos’.GestureThe gesture for Lumos is a nice, smooth upwards loop(see Fig. D).NotesThe discovery that wands themselves could be litoccurred relatively recently in wizarding history, at theend of the 18th century. Among those who claimed tohave invented this revolutionary spell was the Germanwarlock Garvin Lügner, who insisted that he hadinvented it as a side-effect of his discovery of InstantDarkness Powder. It transpired, however, that not onlywas Lügner lying about Lumos, his powder was only10
useful for slightly dimming the lights.The Wand-Lighting Charm was actually invented in1772 by Levina Monkstanley. An accomplished witchworking in the Department of Mysteries, Levinaastonished her colleagues one day by lighting the tip ofher wand to search for a dropped quill in a dustycorner. Prior to Levina’s discovery, all manner ofmagical lanterns, candles and light-creation spells hadbeen used with varying degrees of success, to penetratedarkness both natural and curse-related.Fig. D11
CONUNDRUM 1The Tale of a Lazy Little WitchWhen little Isadora Rose(A sweet young witch – that button nose!)Was bought a wand, she thought it grand;It shone so brightly in her hand!‘Now here’s an end to all my woes!’The charming girl told friends and foes.‘I’ll never, ever need to work!’(In truth, she’d always liked to shirk).‘If anybody makes me cross,My wand will show them who is boss,And if they go and treat me worseI’ll fix them with a single curse!And everything I want I’ll getWith this, my darling little pet!’With that, she waved her brand new wandAnd turned her black hair brassy blonde.12
But as the days and weeks went byThat lazy girl refused to tryTo master new spells; truth to tellShe didn’t do the old ones well:Her hair turned blonde but then fell outHer curses never had much cloutHer wand began to wilt, poor thing,As boredom took away its zing.And naturally she blamed the wandAnd threw it in the old duck pondBut you know better, you can seeWhat caused her mediocrity.What must you do, which she did not?What must you do, and do a lot?Answer this, and do it loadsOr I will turn you all to toads.13
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CHAPTER 2It’s time to move on to more complex magic. Inthis chapter we will cover a range of challenging –and at times dangerous – new spells. Keep yourwits about you in this chapter, and soon you’ll masternew magical skills, from revealing invisible ink, orconjuring flocks of birds from your wand, to the art ofmagical fire-making.FIRE-MAKING SPELLFrom lighting a warm hearth to igniting a Christmaspudding, the Fire-Making Spell is always useful aroundthe wizarding household.Spectacular though it is, students are warned thatirresponsible use of the Fire-Making Spell can haveserious consequences.Take one ill-fated performance of Malecrit’s classicwizarding play ‘Alas, I have Transfigured my Feet’.History does not record the names of the actors, whichis perhaps for the best, since by halfway through thefirst act the audience had taken to throwing pumpkins.Undeterred, the actor playing Crapaud began the15
famous foot-transfiguration scene. By this time, thespecial effects wizard hidden under the stage wasapparently as bored as the audience, and decided toreplace the traditional puff of yellow smoke with a hugeeruption of fire. The audience were suitably impressed,and their cheering only increased when the curtainscaught alight, and the effects wizard began vainly tryingto put out the flames, while dodging hexes from theplay’s Director.With the rest of the cast fleeing in panic, the actorplaying Crapaud
book you are holding now: the Book of Spells. I could not be prouder that this simple school textbook is now being used in schools for magic all over the world and has been translated into 72 languages including Gobbledygook and Mermish. I also had a few special editions printed for my dear sisters, which unfortunately contained a few misprints that led to quite a few comical mishaps! But .
