This is something of an exaggeration. If all classes take place with two houses in attendance, then the maximum number of simultaneous classes is 14 (7 years x 2 classes). In reality the actual maximum is lower because 6th and 7th years have free periods.

The number of "primary" teaching staff is 11. Add to that Astronomy and Flying and you have 13. So you can achieve full coverage with only a small amount of fudging. Of course in real life teachers do not teach all the time, as they have planning time etc as well. But I guess Hogwarts teachers just work very hard

 

Got a two/three parter question here. Was Slytherin's locket ever said to be made out of Goblin Metal? Is Goblin Metal unbreakable?

I only ask because I was wondering why they had to open the locket to destroy it rather than just destroying the locket from the outside (which would also destroy the inside).

 

As to what it's made of, I'm 95% certain it's never stated, although given the general perception of Slytherin I'm not convinced he would have a locket made by goblins (I wouldn't say it's impossible either, mind).

As for opening it...I know that in the film they had a scene where they tried to destroy it from the outside and failed miserably. Again, I'm about 95% sure that happens in the book, but I could be wrong. IIRC, they do discuss Fiendfyre, but aren't willing to risk it?

 

In the book they tried non Horcrux destroying methods.

My question is why didn't they use the sword of Gryffindor (When they got it) on the outside of the locket rather than opening it first?

 

I'd put it down to "cause plot". Not everything has to be logical, least of all in HP. And we don't know that trying to sword the locket while closed wouldn't have turned it into a two stage boss, with the horcrux coming out to play anyway.

 

I am not sure if this had already been asked, but why is it that the summoning charm (accio) requires no aim(GoF: Harry's First task) while ,the disarming charm(expelliarmus) requires aim?

Is it mentioned anywhere in extended canon as to why this is possible?

 

The Disarming Charm travels through the air and impacts its target. The Summoning Charm does not. It makes the object in question come to the caster. There are lots of spells in HP that do not travel through their air - perhaps even the majority. It's only really combat type spells that travel.

Even then, though we definitely know that it is possible to miss, we don't really know what contributes towards aim. Personally I feel like it is unlikely to be a purely physical thing of how precisely you are pointing your wand at the target (especially because I don't really picture spells as coming out of the end of the wand like a bullet, but rather forming around the wand and caster).

 

I see "aiming" as I see everything else in regards to casting, in that it's a helper component. You don't *need* to say the incantation out loud to do the spell, but it certainly helps a lot. You don't *need* the wand movement to be perfect, but that also helps. So, I see aiming as part of the casting process, maybe as part of the wand movement itself, or maybe it's a separate component in which you're simply controlling where you want the spell to go. For the summoning charm, you already know where you want to spell to go, namely yourself, and the object in question, so aiming isn't part of it.

 

Not sure if this was brought up in canon, but can there be such a thing as magical natural disasters? Like a split in the earth that stitches back up after it’s done having quakes, or a tropical storm which happens every Tuesday or something. Without it being the effect of a curse/spells.

 

In canon, it is only living things which seem to have the potential to use magic. Non-living things can be affected by magic (enchanting, transfiguration, charms...). Granted, wands seem to fall into a bit of a grey area here, with what happened with Harry's wand in moving from Privet Drive in DH. I suppose this was due to the highly magic nature of the core.

Ghosts should also be an interesting grey area. Is it mentioned whether ghosts (especially poltergeists) could access any magic in canon?

We are not shown any other case of magic being used by things. I suppose what you say could occur, but then it would have been enchanted to do so, not because of the nature of the object itself.

EDIT: Conventional Horcruxes seem to be another exception, but I feel that they come under some category of living creatures(because of soul) which just happen to be occupying a material thing.

EDIT 2: Please replace all mentions of living things with beings. I forgot dementors and boggarts

 

The Ford Anglia was enchanted by Arthur, but it gained sentience beyond the objective of the spells. The same could arguably be said about Hogwarts, since we don't know if the castle was intended to be able to decide if it liked its headmaster or to create the things the Room of Requirement can do.

So I think there is a case to be made in canon about objects exposed to magic being affected. The Earth or some parts of it could become strange in places because of that.

In any case, your natural phenomenon could also be caused by a magical creature, like a Sundering Mole or the flight of a giant bird, which wouldn't feel very different.

 

We essentially agree on the fact that it is beings which can use magic.

However the question asked was magical natural disasters, which I usually perceive as generally having a primary non-biological cause (akin to a hurricane, earthquake or a tsunami).

I agree with you on the fact that magical creatures or wizards/witches can cause magical natural disasters, but I feel those would be as rare as a Hoover dam inducing an earthquake.

This made me think that the phenomenon was something which occurred without external magical intervention from any being.

I think the bird you mention is a thunderbird and is a great example btw though its validity is questionable.

 

The closest example is probably the persistent mist caused by Dementor breeding. While Dementors are "creatures", they're not biological but rather a kind of anthropmorphic manifestation of qualities of a place. Where you find decay, there you will find Dementors.

 

What is a spell according to canon?

 

One spell is 9.81 magic per second squared.

 

Both a story told, and a formula of power over living men.

 

Aside from Sectumsempra, does anyone know any other spells offhand that were introduce in Half Blood Prince?

 

Muffliato and levicorpus are the only other spells I recall

 

Avis as well, when Hermione used it to pelt Ron with birds.