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magic - Spell casting in the Harry Potter series


In the Harry Potter universe, magically inclined children are sent to school where they start learning how to cast spells and other magic related activities. It's clearly shown that the children have to learn how to do things.


But in The Halfblood Prince, Harry casts a spell without knowing what it does by just saying the word. I've never been able to understand how this is possible. This would imply that spells don't need understanding, you just need to utter the words (like in Eragon).


Does anyone have any canonic reference as to how this is possible? Or a likely explanation.



Answer



First of all, let me say that there seems to be 3 main traits to casting a spell. First the words and then secondly, the right wand motion. Lastly, concentration. If all 3 are achieved, the spell is cast. There are some spells where you have to know exactly what's going to happen, it's true (Think Accio, the summoning spell), but there are others where it doesn't seem to be as important (Like Lumos, the light spell)



Secondly, this is a pretty common trait among many skills. It's hard to learn the basics, but once you learn the basics, you can learn the advanced skills pretty easy. It's because Harry had been studying for so long that he was able to pick up new spells fairly easy.


Also, there are many examples of Harry learning new spells from books, and other wizards. In particular, take a look at Goblet of Fire. You'll see a lot of spell learning from books. Granted, there was somewhat of an idea as to what was going to happen, but... And, even if Harry doesn't know exactly what the spells will do from Half Blood Prince, he at least has an idea.


Lastly, there are many examples of wizards casting spells not realizing what they will do, especially underage wizards. Granted they just will it to happen, without words, but it still can happen.


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