Nonverbal spell

Severus Snape: "Now... you are, I believe, complete novices in the use of nonverbal spells. What is the advantage of a nonverbal spell? Very well — Miss Granger?"

Hermione Granger: "Your adversary has no warning about what kind of magic you're about to perform which gives you a split-second advantage."

Severus Snape: "An answer copied almost word for word from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six, but correct in essentials."

— Severus Snape and Hermione Granger during the sixth-years' first Defence Against the Dark Arts of the 1996–1997 school year

Umbridge breaks up a kissing couple with a nonverbal spell

A nonverbal spell was a spell which was performed without the casting wizard or witch speaking the incantation aloud. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry began teaching nonverbal magic to students in their sixth year in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration; the students were expected to use spells nonverbally from then on.

Performance

Performing spells non-verbally was very difficult and required a good deal of practice, as it required concentration and mental discipline alone. Harry Potter noted that several students in his class looked "like they had received an overdose in U-No-Poo", (a product of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that caused constipation), while attempting nonverbal spells.

Different wand woods might also affect the performance of casting non-verbal magic. Dogwood wands were rather noisy, and refused to perform non-verbal magic, whereas pine wands were some of the most sensitive to non-verbal magic. Willow wands possessed a well-founded reputation for enabling advanced, non-verbal magic, but of all woods, alder was known as being the best suited for non-verbal magic.

Effectiveness

Some spells, such as Levicorpus, were easier to perform nonverbally than others. Most spells, however, seemed to be less effective than normal when the incantation was not said. For example, according to Hogwarts Matron Poppy Pomfrey, the unnamed curse that critically injured Hermione Granger during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries might have been fatal had Antonin Dolohov not been silenced when he used it.

Known uses

Caster(s)	Spell	Date	Notes
Morfin Gaunt	Pus Squirting Hex	Around 1926	Used it on Bob Ogden.
Newt Scamander	Summoning Charm	6 December 1926	Used it to summon an Occamy egg held in Jacob Kowalski's hand, which also caused Jacob to be summoned along with it.
	Mending Charm		Used it to repair Jacob Kowalski's apartment.
Gellert Grindelwald	Unknown	7 December 1926	Summoned Newt Scamander's wand and suitcase over to him, both with a silent wave of his hand.
			Lifted Newt Scamander from the ground from across the room and then made him, Tina Goldstein and Jacob Kowalski simultaneously drop to their knees with their arms locked behind against their backs, all with a silent hand gesture.
			Summoned the protective orb containing an Obscurus by silently gesturing it forth.
			Healed the cuts on Credence's hand.
			Hurled Credence Barebone sideways off the tracks with a wave of his wand-free hand before an oncoming train would kill the young man.
	Shield Charm	8 December 1926	Used it multiple times to fend off former Auror Tina Goldstein and Magizoologist Newt Scamander. After a confrontation with President Seraphina Picquery of MACUSA, Grindelwald used massive in size shield charms to counter various spells fired at him by the MACUSA Aurors present.
	Snake Summons Spell (possibly)	30 May 1927	Used this spell to conjure a snake with multiple heads during his escape.
	Unknown		Used to conjure a new tongue for Abernathy.
		September 1927	Used it to fend off Leta Lestrange in the Lestrange Mausoleum.
Albus Dumbledore			Used it on McClaggan during teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts in his classroom.
	Fire-Making Spell	1938	He may have used this spell combined with a Flame-Freezing Charm, to demonstrate his magical ability to eleven-year-old Tom Riddle at Wool's Orphanage. Both were used non-verbally.
	Unknown	1 September 1993	Extinguished and re-lit a candle during the opening feast. He also did this wandlessly.
		30 June 1997	Conjured a crystal goblet in order to drink the Emerald Potion inside the basin in the The Cave.
	Full Body-Bind Curse		Immobilised Harry Potter while he was under his Invisibility cloak right before being disarmed by Draco Malfoy. This caused Harry to witness Severus Snape killing Albus Dumbledore.
Gellert Grindelwald's acolytes	Killing Curse	September, 1927	Used to kill an Unidentified Non-Magique mother and father.
Carrow			Used to kill Unidentified Non-Magique toddler.
Cassius Bell			Used to kill a red-haired young witch in self-defence.
Gunnar Grimmson			Used to kill Irma Dugard on Grindelwald's orders in order to keep Credence Barebone's true identity a secret.
	Shield Charm		Used to create a shield between himself and Credence Barebone in his Obscurus form.
Leta Lestrange	Stunning Spell		Used it on Vinda Rosier during Grindelwald's rally in the Lestrange Mausoleum in 1927.
Rubeus Hagrid	Fire-Making Spell	31 July 1991	Conjured fire using his umbrella.
	Human to pig spell		Gave Dudley Dursley a pig's tail, using his umbrella.
	Rowboat spell		Used to tap the boat to make it speed towards land.
Quirinus Quirrell	Broom jinx	November 1991	Caused Harry Potter's broomstick to buck violently during a Quidditch match.
	4 June 1992	Incarcerous Spell	Used it to conjure ropes to bind and gag Harry Potter in the Underground Chambers. He also did it wandlessly.
Arthur Weasley	Oculus Reparo	Summer 1992	Repaired Harry Potter's glasses with a nonverbal spell in Diagon Alley.
Minerva McGonagall	Fire-Making Spell	1 September, 1992	Used it to light a grate in Severus Snape's office before Dumbledore arrived when Harry and Ron smashed a Flying Ford Anglia into the Hogwarts Whomping Willow.
	Endless Sandwiches		Used it to conjure sandwiches, two silver cups and a pitcher of frozen pumpkin juice for Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.
	Fan conjuring spell	18 December, 1992	Used it to conjure a fan to "waft" petrified Nearly Headless Nick to the Hospital Wing.
	Unknown	May, 1993	Used it to restore the leg of Neville Longbottom's desk, which he had accidentally vanished.
	Unknown	2 May, 1998	She used it to duel Severus Snape in 1997, sending fire from several torches flying at him.
	Patronus Charm		Conjured three cat Patronuses to alert the other Heads of Houses to the upcoming battle in 1998.
The soul of Tom Marvolo Riddle	Flagrate	29 May, 1993	Used in the Chamber of Secrets.
Harry Potter	Inflating Charm	1993	He inflated Marjorie Dursley after she insulted his parents, both without a wand and nonverbally.
	Dangling Jinx	1996	Though Harry found nonverbal magic very difficult to do, he was eventually able to cast this spell, which was meant for nonverbal use.
	Liberacorpus		Harry used this spell nonverbally to counter act the Levicorpus spell he used on Ron Weasley in 1996.
	Unknown	2020	He straightened his work-space with the simple wave of his wand.
	Fire-Making Spell		Duel with Delphini, the two were mercilessly firing spells at each other.
Remus Lupin	Hand-held flames	1 September, 1993	On his way to Hogwarts in 1993. He also did this wandlessly.
	Patronus Charm		Used it to fend off the Dementor on the Hogwarts Express.
	Door-opening spell	3 September, 1993	Opened the cupboard containing the Boggart during the Gryffindor's first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.
	Animagus reversal spell	6 June, 1994	Used to force Peter Pettigrew out of his Animagus form in the Shrieking Shack.
	Incarcerous Spell		Used to conjure ropes to bind and gag Peter Pettigrew in the Shrieking Shack.
	Pack Charm	7 June, 1994	Used to pack his possessions while clearing out his office.
	Knockback Jinx	August, 1997	Used it on Harry Potter during their argument in 12 Grimmauld Place.
Severus Snape	Revealing Charm (possibly)	12 February, 1994	Used it to force the Marauder's Map to display its content.
	Incarcerous Spell	6 June, 1994	Used it to conjure a ropes to bind and gag Remus Lupin.
	Stretcher conjuring spell		Used it to conjure a strechers for Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Sirius Black.
	Unknown, a spell that opened the main gates of Hogwarts, which had recently been fortified by enhanced protective enchantments.	1 September, 1996	Used to open the Hogwarts gates. It is unlikely that this was the Unlocking Charm since Harry had tried this before, although he had been outside the gates instead of inside like Snape was.
	Summoning Charm	1997	Used it nonverbally to summon the 25 essays on countering Dementors from his students in Defence Against the Dark Arts class.
	Shield Charm	30 June, 1997	Deflected several spells cast at him by Harry Potter following Albus Dumbledore's death.
Sirius Black	Animagus reversal spell	6 June, 1994	Used to force Peter Pettigrew out of his Animagus form in the Shrieking Shack.
	Manacle conjuring spell		Used it to conjure manacles to chain Peter Pettigrew to Remus Lupin and Ron Weasley.
Rita Skeeter	Fire-Making Spell and Levitation Charm	1994	While interviewing Harry Potter in the broom cupboard she took out some candles from her bag and lit them with her wand without saying anything.
Fleur Delacour	Water-Making Spell	24 November, 1994	Conjured water during the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.
Madam Pomfrey	Unidentified healing spell	1994	Used by Madam Pomfrey to heal Harry Potter's injuries after the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.
Barty Crouch Jnr	Unknown	October 1994	While disguised as Alastor Moody, he pushed the students' desks to the classroom walls, only by waving his wand.
Peter Pettigrew	Fire-Making Spell	24 June, 1995	Used this to light a fire under Voldemort's cauldron in the Little Hangleton graveyard.
	Incarcerous Spell		Used it to conjure ropes to bind Harry Potter in the graveyard.
Alastor Moody	Fire-Making Spell	6 August, 1995	He used this spell to burn a piece of parchment used to reveal the location of 12 Grimmauld Place to Harry.
Marietta Edgecombe	Water-Making Spell (likely)	1995	Conjured water during the first Dumbledore's Army meeting to extinguish her sleeve which Cho Chang set alight.
Unidentified female Hufflepuff student	Unknown	1995–1996 school year	Performed during a DA meeting after assistance from Harry Potter. Sent a male student hurling backwards.
Madam Pince			She jinxed Harry's belongings to chase him and Ginny out of the library during the 1995–1996 school year, repeatedly beating them.
Kingsley Shacklebolt	Memory Charm	April, 1996	Altered Marietta Edgecombe's memory of the DA meetings.
Antonin Dolohov	Dark curse	18 June, 1996	Against Hermione Granger during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries after she silenced him.
	likely Fulgari	1997	Used it against Ronald Weasley during the confrontation at Luchino Caffe.
Bellatrix Lestrange	Killing Curse	Summer 1996	In 1996, she used a nonverbal Killing Curse to kill what she thought to be a possible spy or Auror.
Fred Weasley	Knife to paper aeroplane spell	December 1996	Ron Weasley threw the knife at him, and Fred transfigured it "with one lazy flick of his wand" without speaking any sort of incantation.
Nymphadora Tonks	Patronus Charm	1 September 1996	Conjured her wolf Patronus without saying the incantation in 1996.
Ron Weasley	Snowflake-Making Spell	1997	Unknowingly made it snow while sitting down in the Great Hall.
Lord Voldemort	Mobilicorpus	July 1997	Used it to move Charity Burbage's body.
	Summoning Charm	2 May 1998	Used it to summon the Sorting Hat from the Headmaster's office; it flew through a shattered window.
Hermione Granger	Shield Charm	1996–1997 school year	The first one in her Defence Against the Dark Arts class to perform nonverbal magic successfully. She continually used nonverbal spells in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration.
	Stunning Spell	2 September 1997	Used it on Mafalda Hopkirk as part of the infiltration of the Ministry of Magic.
	Bouquet Spell (most likely)	24 December 1997	Hermione nonverbally conjured a wreath of Christmas roses for Harry Potter to place on his parents' grave in Godric's Hollow when they visited the village.
	Stinging Jinx	March 1998	Jinxed Harry Potter's face in an attempt to hide his identity when she, Harry, and Ron were caught by Snatchers.
	Unknown	2 May 1998	With a "deafening blast from her wand" but no incantation, Hermione repelled Fenrir Greyback from an injured Lavender Brown during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Ron Weasley	Stunning Spell	1 May 1998	Used it on a man who attempted to attack Hermione disguised as Bellatrix Lestrange in Diagon Alley in 1998.
Luna Lovegood		2 May 1998	Used it on Alecto Carrow in the Ravenclaw common room, shortly before the Battle of Hogwarts.
Unidentified Muggle-born Hogwarts student	Unknown	Winter 2011	Used to untangle Nyle Golding's marionettes' strings.

Possible uses

Caster(s)	Spell	Notes
Fred Weasley	Disarming Charm	Cast it nonverbally when they were surreptitiously disarming Zacharias Smith at the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army.
George Weasley
Harry Potter	Summoning Charm	Attempted to use the it nonverbally and wandlessly to retrieve his fallen wand when he was paralysed by Draco Malfoy, but to no avail.
	Dangling Jinx	Attempted to use the it nonverbally on Severus Snape during their duel, but Snape saw through it and stopped it.
	Patronus Charm	Performed nonverbal magic when he cast his Patronus during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Molly Weasley	Unidentified deadly curse	Killed Bellatrix Lestrange with a nonverbal deadly curse during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Known practitioners

The following is a list of wizards and witches known to have nonverbally performed spells that are usually performed with an incantation.

Albus Dumbledore Antonin Dolohov Arthur Weasley Bartemius Crouch Junior Bellatrix Lestrange Ben Copper Bill Weasley Bly Carrow Cornelius Fudge Dolores Umbridge Draco Malfoy Female Hufflepuff Fenrir Greyback Filius Flitwick Fleur Delacour

Fred Weasley Garrick Ollivander Gellert Grindelwald Gilderoy Lockhart Gunnar Grimmson Harry Potter Hermione Granger Horace Slughorn Jakub Gorski Kingsley Shacklebolt Lord Voldemort Lucius Malfoy Luna Lovegood Madam Malkin Marietta Edgecombe Minerva McGonagall Molly Weasley

Morfin Gaunt Newton Scamander Nymphadora Tonks Olympe Maxime Patricia Rakepick Peter Pettigrew Poppy Pomfrey Porpentina Goldstein Queenie Goldstein Quirinus Quirrell Remus Lupin Rita Skeeter Rubeus Hagrid Rufus Scrimgeour Severus Snape Wilkie Twycross

Behind the scenes

• In many of the Harry Potter films, especially in the later ones, combat and duels are portrayed as being conducted almost entirely nonverbally, such as the duel in the Ministry Atrium and Harry's final duel with Voldemort during the Battle of Hogwarts. This is probably done to keep the duels fast-paced and dramatic. It may also be that gestures or wand movements translate into the spell that the user desires to cast, making it not always necessary to speak it.
• In the Harry Potter video games, non-verbal magic is commonly used, as pronouncing every spell could have been annoying.
• In addition, in LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and its sequel, nonverbal magic is almost always used as there is absolutely no dialogue.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Quirrell used a non-verbal wandless spell to create a circle of fire to prevent Harry Potter from escaping him.
• Hermione Granger may have used Wingardium Leviosa or Descendo in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to levitate the prophecies to smash one of the Death Eaters chasing them.
• It is notable that Rubeus Hagrid was able to perform non-verbal magic despite him having been expelled from Hogwarts well before his sixth year and despite having had his wand snapped. This means that if a wizard or witch is sufficiently talented, they can perform non-verbal magic effectively even if they had not been trained in its use.
• In a chat with fans on the-leaky-cauldron.org J. K. Rowling answered a fan's question why Albus Dumbledore was sometimes able to see Harry under the Cloak of Invisibility that he used the Revelio Charm with non-verbal magic.
• In the film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Gellert Grindelwald casts Protego Diabolica nonverbally. This is not canon, as he speaks the incantation aloud in the script itself.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (First identified as Nonverbal spell)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• 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
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - The Complete Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
• Pottermore (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter (website) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Motorbike Escape
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
• LEGO Creator: Harry Potter
• Creator: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
• Hogwarts Legacy

Notes and references

The Standard Book of Spells
Grade 1 · Grade 2 · Grade 3 · Grade 4 · Grade 5 · Grade 6 · Grade 7
Charms included in the series: Dancing Feet Spell (Tarantallegra) · Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus) · Engorgement Charm (Engorgio) · Fire-Making Spell (Incendio) · Freezing Charm (Immobulus) · General Counter-Spell (Finite Incantatem) · Levitation Charm (Wingardium Leviosa) · Locking Spell (Colloportus) · Memory Charm (Obliviate) · Mending Charm (Reparo) · Nonverbal spell · Severing Charm (Diffindo) · Skurge Charm (Skurge) · Softening Charm (Spongify) · Substantive Charm · Summoning Charm (Accio) · Tickling Charm (Rictusempra) · Unlocking Charm (Alohomora) · Wand-Lighting Charm (Lumos)