Which is weird, because in fanon shields don't block every spell it seems. There's different ones for different things, so the only way you can know is by following possibly complex wand motions that take a fraction of a second or by just plain guessing (and there's dodging). It would make for a really twitchy match. If you're not casting as your opponent is (or before), you're fucked.

Nope. I personally like it when religion is kept out of my fiction but I know that in some stories it does make them better. It depends on whether religion should be in that society. Medieval fantasy should have religion because well, it's set in those times. By rights,the HPverse should also have religion because they can't really disprove a god of magic. But I think the series works well without a religion in it. It would have added nothing at all.

 

I think at least a religious magical institution would have made an interesting conflict for Voldemort, instead of just reading about him killing muggles and torturing his followers, I think other than the order, Voldemort doesn't face any meaningful opposition, I think a religious institution, which have historically and in fiction proved to be powerful forces, would have made for a better conflict for him at the same time allowing us to see that the magical community wasn't just sitting around waiting for a child who doesn't fully understand their society to save said society.

 

In OotP Harry is given a series of books called “Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts.” It was described as having moving pictures of hexes and more importantly counterjinxes.

So if I understand this correctly, a defender has a small amount of time while his assailant completes the wandmotions and incantation, and if he can throw the counterjinx first, it would interrupt the spell…

Even if that spell is the Cruciatus Curse.

…

It wouldn’t work against a Killing Curse because that’s canon as having no counterjinx, and it would help if the defender was using Legilimency as Snape was in the HBP scene…

Or something along the lines of Precognition like the Runescrive!Harry in Perspicacity's Dagger and Rose Fic.

 

From what Dumbledore says to Harry at the start of HBP, and from Hermione's arguments with Umbridge in OotP, I think "counterjinx/hex/curse" is simply a name given to a jinx/hex/curse used in a defensive manner.

 

About spells and their speed, I assumed from early books and movies that Harry dodging and being small/fast was a very big advantage, and to some extent I still do. However, I really liked the way Harry's fight with Malfoys was shown in the HBP movie, where the spells seem to be hitting by the time the incantation is halfway done, and there's just no plausible way a person could dodge most of them because of the speed. That was also another example of spell interruption, as Harry's "Sectumsempra" prevented Malfoy completing his "Crucio."

In the end, a fight consisting of nothing but non-verbal, non-visible spells could be done well and might be cool in a one-shot or as a single instance in a longer piece, but I think it would be impossible to end on an ongoing basis; it would be hard enough to write one scene like that and have it be effective, engaging, and understandable to the readers, and trying to write additional scenes that had any differentiation from the first one would be nearly impossible.


As for religion? You realize that the entire series is a Christian allegory, right? So putting religion into the text as well as the subtext would either muddy the waters or end like Religi-Ception. I don't care for outdated and absurd concepts in my everyday life - I sure as fuck don't want to have it play a role in the books and stories I choose to read.


I can't recall any fanfics involving religion that were anything other than preachy bullshit full of fail, so if you know of any that really are well done, feel free to post the links. I just don't see how they could be anything but awful, though I admit I'm biased and more than a little dickish about this in particular.

 

Interesting, I can see why Taure has such a fearsome reputation for canon battles, to be able to pull that Umbridge scene out of thin air…

…

Anyway, I’ve been macking on that Chaos and Flame story I wrote last year, and I’d intended to roll with the whole counterjinx angle, having Hermione use her awesome semi-eidetic recall to memorise like two thousand counters…

Then basically be able to stand there during a fight screwing over her opponents’ casting.

Adding in the whole, Snape interruption thing seemed to have potential, but if fucking with Harry’s Cruciatus in HBP was something else, hmm…

Maybe a Legilimency branch like Suggestion, or Snape could have been scrambling Harry’s thoughts while trying to concentrate enough to get off a spell, or even something else entirely?

 

As an aside, I find Slinkhard to be of the most aptly named characters in the series, slightly less over-the-top than Remus Lupin or Pius Thicknesse. It's muted humor, like Chia Pet McKenzie in William Gibson's Idoru.

Presumably, being small and/or agile should be an advantage since it's far from easy to simply point and hit something if you aren't standing right there--if you don't believe me, try drawing and shooting a pistol at a target from a decent range or pick up a fencing foil and try lunging to hit a dime-sized spot on a wall. It takes a lot of practice to get anything approaching consistency. Most spells in Harry Potter canon seem to require wand motion, which makes point control that much more tricky.

Some years ago, I read a Harry Potter story where spells were very fast (as in the films) and Harry's special gift was marksmanship with his spells, something he drilled ruthlessly to attain an ability to consistently hit his targets from a quarter mile out. An otherwise unremarkable story, it was an interesting take on the "power he knows not". I always thought it'd be an interesting idea to expand upon in a decent story.

 

I'd never actually considered this, but how do wizards hit anything factoring in wand movements? To borrow your pistol analogy, imagine how difficult it would be to hit anything if instead of pulling a trigger you had to twirl the barrel in a circle or something. Accuracy would be extremely difficult, to say the least.

I suppose a lot of experience would probably make up for this in part, but I'd still have to say that a lot of luck and innacuracy are probably involved in a duel. So agility is still likely something important in being difficult to hit - though not at all 'dodging' spells like in most fanon.

 

I have always liked the idea that aim isn't something physical but rather mental. Your mind provides the target and the spell heads for that target at the appropriate moment. Of course there are limits to this - spells aren't going to hit people standing behind you - but at the same time I don't think you need particularly good physical aim.

 

While I think there must be some truth to this (otherwise nobody would be able to hit a target with any reliability) I also think there must be some amount of reliance on good aim, or at least some other factor. We have plenty of examples of people missing in canon, which wouldn't make sense if all spells travelled in the exact direction you visualised.

Didn't they practice aiming or something in the DA? Or am I just remembering fanon now?

 

This made an impression on me…

Since reading it I’ve always thought of magic as though a witch or wizard carves his or her intent directly into the universe, a more primal and all consuming force which something as meagre as aim would have little effect on.

…

Then again people in canon do miss, so there is that to consider.

 

Several responses to this:

1. I did say that there were limits. One such limit is the fact that most spells seem to travel in moderately straight lines.

2. I didn't mean anything so crude as visualising the result of the spell. I just meant that you know, when you cast a spell, where you want it to go, and that's enough.

3. There's still plenty of room to miss. It would just be poor mental discipline which led to this, not so much physical.

I did a quick search of canon, and there are only a very few mentions of missed spells. And even then, most of them are the result of targets which move out of the way.

 

You did a quick search of canon? Like the whole seven books?

I concede - I definitely cannot argue with you

Honestly, it's been too long since I've read the books that I can think of a clear example where someone has missed a spell, though I know it happened. I think you're probably right and there must be a more important mental part to casting than physical aim, but as you said there obviously must be limitations. It's the only reasonable answer considering the mechanics of spell casting we know.

 

E-Books + CTRL-F + "missed".

 

What if it all comes to battle of wills and intend? The caster wants to hit his target and guides his spell, but it's blocked by the target's want to avoid it. If the target wins this battle, the spells flies wherever a wand was pointing to and most of times that means it also miss.

This way someone like Dumbledore doesn't even need to bother with spells that weren't properly aimed at him.

 

Maybe it’s like the “wand event” in the Hangleton Graveyard, and the similarity between that and the Dresden vs. Duke Ortega willpower duel in Death Masks…

If a witch or wizard is like Dumbledore or Voldemort, with an avalanche of shear willpower behind their spells, the odds of them missing a target are just not likely at all.

 

Something has been bothering me for awhile now, In the philosophers stone did Harry kill Quirrell? and if so why was it brushed aside as insignificant considering how canon made a big deal about stuff like that.

In connection to that did Quirrel willingly work for Voldemort or was he possessed by him.
This line, "Yes, Severus does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him, who would suspect p-p-poor, st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?" seems to indicate that his stuttering was a ploy to effectively hide in plain sight.


I apologize if I've somehow derailed the previous discussion but I think it has already concluded

 

I believe Quirrell worked willingly for Voldemort in the same way Pettigrew did: not through any love for the man or his ideals, but rather from weakness of character and fear.

 

Quirrell was a willing servant, as much as any of the Death Eaters were. He came across Voldemort on his travelling, and started to work for him. He didn't get Voldemort embedded into his skull until after he failed to get the stone at Gringotts. He was never possessed, even with Voldemort in his head he was still in control of his actions. Voldemort didn't try to possess anyone, other than animals, until he got his body back.

The stuttering was a plan to hide in plain sight, just as his awful teaching was. He tried to make himself look so incompetent that no one would suspect him. It worked on Harry and co, although not on Dumbledore.

Harry didn't kill Quirrell as much as Quirrell killed himself. It was Quirrell's willingness to harm Harry, and serve Voldemort that activated his mother's protection.


Off topic re-reading the scene with Quirrell gave me another question, does Quirrell use a wand to do his magic? I think that in that scene he only uses wandless magic.

Look at these quotes:

These are all the examples we see of Quirrell using magic, but no wand. I know wandless magic is something that has been discussed to death but this made me wonder is it actually possible, and widely used?

 

Out of universe explanation is that JKR changed a lot about the way she wrote magic after the first book. Quirrell didn't use a wand for those ropes, the curse he was casting on Harry's broom required eye contact and was was something that required continuous casting rather than a spell that was sent off, Hagrid flew to the hut on the rock and there's no way he'd fit on a broom.

In universe explanation is that Quirrell used his wand without holding it, like one does for apparition, or used wandless magic that for some reason no one else can do. The curse was some piece of really advanced Dark magic that we'd learn more about if Harry had been able to do his seventh year. Hagrid was referring to some other form of magical flight like Thestrals and sent it away after he arrived.