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Warning!
At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. |
- "As they soared upwards, away from the two remaining Death Eaters, Harry spat blood out of his mouth, pointed his wand at the falling sidecar, and yelled, Confringo!"
- —The curse is used in the Battle of the Seven Potters[src]
The Blasting Curse (Confringo) was a curse that caused the target to explode. This curse was very dangerous and potentially even lethal.[2]
This curse was also popular when it came to duelling. It could create maximum damage, depending on the power behind the spell. If handled improperly it can even prove fatal.[2]
Contents
History

A powerful explosion caused by this curse
The Blasting curse was invented some time before the year 1430, when Alberta Toothill used this curse in the All-England Wizarding Duelling Competition.[5] This curse was used during the First Wizarding War and several times during the Second Wizarding War. The most prominent example was the mass killing of twelve Muggles by Peter Pettigrew in 1981.[6]
A spellbook for this spell could be found nearby an old building close to an Acromantula lair and some abandoned nuclear power plants.[7]
Known uses
- "Hermione screamed, ‘Confringo!’ and her spell flew around the room, exploding the wardrobe mirror and ricocheting back at them, bouncing from floor to ceiling; Harry felt the heat of it sear the back of his hand."
- —Hermione using this curse against Nagini in Bathilda Bagshot's home[src]
Caster(s) | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|
Alberta Toothill | 1430 | She used this curse to defeat Samson Wiblin in the All-England Wizarding Duelling Competition.[5] |
Peter Pettigrew | 1 November, 1981 | Pettigrew used an extremely powerful blasting curse to decimate a street and kill twelve Muggles at once while evading Sirius Black, who was blamed for the crimes and Pettigrew's alleged death. The explosion was so fierce, it left a massive crater in the street, with the pipes showing. The Ministry gave an excuse of a "gas leak" to the surviving Muggles, and thought that Black was the one who used the curse.[6]
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Jacob's sibling | 1988 | Jacob's sibling used this spell whilst practising duelling with their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Patricia Rakepick.[8] |
Patricia Rakepick | 1998 | Taught this curse to Jacob's sibling whilst training them to prepare for the Cursed Vaults, and used this spell against them to help them master the Shield Charm.[8]
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Harry Potter | 27 July, 1997 | Harry used this curse to destroy Sirius Black's flying motorcycle's side-car during the Battle of the Seven Potters.[1] |
Hermione Granger | 24 December, 1997 | Hermione used it in an attempt to kill Nagini and facilitate her and Harry's escape from Bathilda Bagshot's house in Godric's Hollow, but broke Harry's wand in the process.[2] |
Possible uses
- It was possible that this was the curse used by a Death Eater to kill Benjy Fenwick, as he was blasted into pieces and fellow members of the Order of the Phoenix only managed to find bits of his body.[9]
- This curse may have been the cause of the explosion which killed Fred Weasley during the Battle of Hogwarts.[10]
Known practitioners
Etymology
Confringo is Latin for "I break".
See also
Behind the scenes

The Blasting Curse's icon in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
- In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Professor McGonagall possibly uses the Blasting Curse to duel against Snape (just in case this is not the Blasting Curse, it is referred to as the Fiery offensive spell), defeating Amycus and Alecto Carrow in the process. Though it did not burn them and simply knocked them down, leaving them incapacitated.
- In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Harry uses the Blasting Curse against Nagini in an attempt to kill her and possibly to provoke Voldemort to chase Harry, so the snake would stay behind unprotected. This fails in that the spells bounces off Nagini, due to her magical protection, and instead strikes multiple Death Eaters, though they were only knocked over and otherwise seemed undamaged by the explosive spell. Immediately after this instance, Voldemort also casted several Blasting Curses at Harry as he jumped into a corridor and escaped Voldemort's wrath.
- Both this spell and Expulso share similar effects, though - unlike the latter - Confringo is sometimes accompanied by fiery explosions. The reason for this may be that Confringo is the result of a sharp, local temperature increase where as Expulso increases the local pressure to cause explosions. However, in the Deathly Hallows video games, Confringo is an explosive spell, while Expulso serves as a sort of "machine gun" spell, causing damage similar to gunshots.
- In different varieties of games and films, the colour of Confringo varies. Its two main colours so far are a light blue and purple, or simply a fiery explosion.
- In the video game adaption of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the colour of the curse varies. For the player, the curse is blue; enemies fire red curses; bosses, Snape, Greyback and Bellatrix, fire green curses.
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) (Mentioned on a Famous Wizard Card)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (Mentioned on a Famous Wizard Card)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (First mentioned)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Mentioned only)[12]
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Possibly mentioned)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play) (Mentioned only)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Appears in photographs)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
- Harry Potter: Spells
- Pottermore (Mentioned on a Famous Wizard Card)
- Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
- Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 4 (The Seven Potters)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 17 (Bathilda's Secret)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 19 (The Servant of Lord Voldemort)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 9 (The Woes of Mrs Weasley)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 32 (The Elder Wand)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
- ↑ On the Hogwarts Express Ron Weasley reads the Daily Prophet which says Twelve years ago, Black murdered 13 people with one single curse., in a story about the event.
- Articles with information from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Articles with information from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Articles with information from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Articles with information from Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
- Articles with information from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Articles with information from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- Articles with information from Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
- Articles with information from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
- Articles with information from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
- Articles with information from Pottermore
- Spells
- Curses
- Spells with a light
- Spells with Incantations of Latin Origin