Homorphus Charm

Homorphus Charm
Type	Charm
Effect	May temporarily changes a transformed werewolf back into their human form (according to Gilderoy Lockhart, it cures lycanthropy)

"— and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced — like this — slammed him to the floor — thus with one hand, I managed to hold him down — with my other, I put my wand to his throat — I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm — he let out a piteous moan […] — the fur vanished — the fangs shrank — and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective — and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks."

— Lockhart's supposed use of this spell

The Homorphus Charm was supposedly a charm used to temporarily change a transformed werewolf back into their human form. It was not, however, a cure for lycanthropy, as described by Gilderoy Lockhart in his false account of his defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf.

Nature

Cecil Lee: "The Homorphus Charm. The only spell known to wizardkind that is capable of curing werewolves."

Jacob's sibling: "It can cure werewolves? Why not just use that instead of capturing them?"

Cecil Lee: "Well, not all of us are as gifted as Gilderoy Lockhart… He says he always casts the spell perfectly, but when I cast it, it only temporarily returns a werewolf to human form. In any case, it can be quite valuable for stopping a werewolf in its tracks."

— Cecil Lee tells Jacob's sibling about the Homorphus Charm

Lockhart described the spell as being "immensely complex" and performed by placing the tip of one's wand to the throat of whoever the caster wanted to return to human form.

Contrary to Lockhart's description of the spell, however — Lockhart's books were later found out to contain a wealth of invented feats — there is no known cure for Lycanthropy. Cecil Lee of the Werewolf Capture Unit remarked that, for him, the spell only temporarily returned a werewolf to human form (believing in Lockhart's accounts, Lee assumed this was due to him having only imperfectly mastered the charm).

History

At some point in or shortly prior to the early 1980s, a highly accomplished and courageous Armenian warlock successfully saved the inland city of Wagga Wagga in Australia from a fearsome and ferocious werewolf that had been terrorising its inhabitants, a feat he accomplished by means of the immensely complex Homorphus Charm. Soon thereafter, however, before the tale could reach the public eye, news of this hero's feat of bravery reached a British wizard and author by the name of Gilderoy Lockhart, who proceeded to track him down to hear the full account from the warlock for himself. Once Lockhart had convinced him to tell how he accomplished the defeat of the notorious Wagga Wagga Werewolf, however, the traveler placed a Memory Charm on him to make the warlock forget that it was he who had made the achievement in question, allowing Lockhart to take credit for said event, including it into his collection of fraudulent accounts where he alleged to have saved various villages from werewolf attacks, later known as Wanderings with Werewolves.

By Halloween of 1984, Lockhart had met one of his many fans, Cecil Lee, and taught him the Homorphus Charm, who proceeded to use it successfully while out in the field in his capacity as a member of Werewolf Capture Unit. When Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was attacked by Fenrir Greyback and his pack during a Halloween feast during the 1980s, Mr. Lee was dispatched to investigate and eventually taught this spell to Jacob's sibling. Mr. Lee also attempted to use the Homorphus Charm during his subsequent confrontation with Grayback a month later, when he returned to finish what he had started. This time, however, he was unsuccessful. as Mr. Lee in the heat of the moment performed in incorrectly, having neglected to take into consideration that not only was Grayback already in his human form at the time, rendering its useless, he also forgot that the wand supposed to touch the throat of the werewolf when cast, as opposed to being cast from a distance. Mr. Lee did capture Grayback, however, with the Incarcerous Spell.

Etymology

Homorphus is a combination of the Latin Homo meaning 'man' and the Greek morphe- meaning 'shape' or 'form'.

Behind the scenes

• Although this spell is described as a charm, its described effects seem closer to Transfiguration. Alternatively, since the wounds left by a werewolf bite are "cursed" by werewolf Remus Lupin, and by extension the condition of Lycanthropy could be seen as a type of blood borne curse. As such, the Homorphus Charm might be a counter-curse, which can reverse the transformation.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First mentioned)
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Attempted casting)