The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter (44 page)

If you want to taste the best vol-au-vent, a French pastry mentioned in
Deathly Hallows,
go to France, where you’ll find them filled with escargot (snails) and other delicacies! Or, if you can’t go to France, at least go to a French restaurant in New Orleans. Invented by Antonin Carême, an early-twentieth -century French pastry chef, vol-au-vent is a difficult pastry to create, because it’s supposed to be extremely light and delicate. In fact, its name translates to "flight of the wind.”

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Caterwauling Charm:
This unusual charm (with an unknown incantation) alerts Death Eaters when someone is moving about in Hogsmeade after dark. To “caterwaul” is to make a loud howling noise, a term derived from the Dutch word
kater
, for tomcat, an animal that makes a loud screeching sound when prowling for female cats.

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Cave Inimicum!:
This incantation has nothing to do with protecting a cave, which one might expect. Instead, it’s derived from (no surprise!) Latin words (
cave
in this case is pronounced CAH-vay). From the Latin
caveo
, meaning guard against, beware of, or get security against, and
inimicum
, meaning hostile, harmful, enemy, or foe, this incantation guards against enemies.

•
Muffliato!:
This protective enchantment (first introduced in
Half-Blood Prince,
but not used extensively until
Deathly Hallows
), derives from an old use of the word “muffle,” in which a person’s head and face were wrapped up (in a muff—that is, soft fur or other material) to keep the person from seeing or speaking. The person’s voice—as well as any sound trying to reach the wrapped person’s ears—were, therefore, muffled. Likewise, this incantation muffles conversations so that others cannot overhear them.

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Protego Totalum!:
This incantation is an extension of the Shield Charm (which has the incantation
Protego!
—see Chapter 12), adding the Latin
totum,
which means entire or the whole of. Therefore, this charm shields, well, everything!

•
Repello Muggletum!:
This incantation is derived from the Latin
repello,
meaning drive back or repulse, the made-up word Muggle (referring to people without wizarding powers), and the Latin
tum,
meaning at the moment. In other words, repulse Muggles now!

•
Salvio Hexia!:
From the Latin
salvus,
meaning safe and undamaged, this is a general safety hex.

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The Taboo:
This curse is one of Rowling’s most creative, because it jinxes Voldemort’s name so that anyone using it immediately loses all of the previously mentioned protective enchantments. Of course, Harry Potter is one of the few wizards who ever uses Voldemort’s name (instead of calling him “You-Know-Who” or “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”), so this curse is an ingenious way for Voldemort to quickly find Harry. By definition, a
taboo
is a Polynesian word that refers to a sacred curse put on a person or object, rendering him (or her or it) untouchable or even unmentionable. Thus, Voldemort’s name becomes unmentionable; but when it is mentioned, it enacts a curse.

A kissing gate, like the one placed at the entrance to the Godric’s Hollow cemetery, is an entirely British concept—a gate that can’t accidentally be left open. One half of the gate swings back and forth, like any gate would. But the other half traps the swing side with two parallel walls of fencing. The swing side is stopped in one direction by one wall, and in the other direction by the other wall, so that it can swing only a few feet in either direction. One person at a time can pass through the gate by slithering sideways between the swing gate and either wall, but most farm animals can’t figure it out! This type of gate is common at the entrance to a graveyard, because it effectively keeps farm animals from wandering in and grazing on the cemetery grass.

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Confringo!
(
Blasting Curse
): From the Latin
confringo,
meaning to break into pieces, this curse explodes just about anything, including an entire room.

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Defodio!:
From the Latin
defodio,
meaning dig or bury, this incantation enlarges a passageway, blasting it apart, if necessary.

•
Deprimo!:
From the Latin
deprimo,
meaning to sink or keep down, this incantation blasts a hole into whatever is below you and lowers you quickly. This incantation is like
Descendo!

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Descendo!:
From the Latin
descendo,
meaning to descend or fall, this incantation causes something to lower.

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Duro!:
This rather frightening incantation turns cloth into stone— and may, in fact, turn anything into stone. Turning objects into stone has a long history in fairy tales, especially those involving trolls, and both Lewis’s
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
and Tolkien’s
The Lord of the Rings
include stone-turning. This spell is taken straight from the Latin
duro,
which means to make something hard, like steel.

•
Geminio!
(
Gemino Curse
): This curse makes many copies of an object—so many, in fact, that you might literally be squished to death if this happens in a small room. From the Latin
gemino,
meaning to double the force of, or repeat.

•
Glisseo!:
This ultra-fun incantation turns stairs into a slide or chute. From the French
glissade,
this is a ballet term that means glide or slide. It’s derived from
glisser,
an Old French word meaning to glide, which has the same root as the word “glacier.”

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Homenum revelio!:
From the Latin
homo,
meaning human being, and
revelo,
meaning reveal, it’s not a big surprise that this incantation tells the wizard whether a human is present. The Latin
ad hominem
literally means “argument against the man” and is a way of replaying to an argument or claim by attacking the person. This approach is today known as an
ad hominem
attack.

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Obscuro!:
Pulled directly from the Latin
obscuro,
meaning to conceal, obscure, or darken, this incantation puts a blindfold over someone’s eyes.

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Piertotum Locomotor!:
From the Latin
pietas,
meaning loyalty and dutifulness, and
totum,
meaning all of or entire, this intriguing incantation makes statues and suits of armor come to life and protect Hogwarts. Evoking this incantation means, “All you loyal ones,
move!
”

•
Protego Horribilis!:
From the Latin
protego,
meaning to protect or defend, and
horribilis,
meaning terrible, horrible, or monstrous, this incantation is used to guard Hogwarts against impending attackers (at least attackers who are terrible, horrible, and monstrous, which, let’s face it, most are).

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The Trace:
This charm finally reveals how underage wizarding activity is detected by Ministry officials. The English word trace is derived from the Latin
tractus,
which means dragging or pulling along. This is interesting, because that’s exactly what the Trace is doing: dragging or pulling along evidence of underage wizardry. The name also resonates with watchers of TV crime shows, who know that investigators always look for traces of the criminal—any mark or evidence left at the scene of the crime.