Wand-Extinguishing Charm

Wand-Extinguishing Charm
Incantation	Nox (NOKSS)
Type	Charm
Hand movement
Effect	Extinguished the Wand-Lighting Charm
Creator	Levina Monkstanley (1772)

"He groped behind him and she forced the bundle of slippery cloth into his free hand. With difficulty he dragged it over himself, murmured, 'Nox,' extinguishing his wand light, and continued on his hands and knees, as silently as possible..."

— Harry extinguishing his wand whilst crawling through the tunnel into the Hogwarts Whomping Willow

The Wand-Extinguishing Charm (Nox) was a charm that caused the light at the end of the caster's wand to be extinguished, thus acting as the counter-charm to the Wand-Lighting Charm (Lumos).

History

The Wand-Extinguishing Charm was invented by the same witch who invented the Wand-Lighting Charm, Levina Monkstanley. She invented the Wand-Lighting charm in the 18th century and invented the Wand-Extinguishing Charm around that time too, otherwise her wand would remain lighted indefinitely.

This spell was taught to first-year students in Charms class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the 1984–1985 school year by Professor Filius Flitwick. It was also detailed in The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection and Book of Spells.

Known uses

Caster(s)	Date	Notes
Harry Potter	6 June 1994	He used it when trying to gain entry to the upstairs of the Shrieking Shack unobserved.
	August 1997	Harry used this spell to extinguish his wand while the trio was hiding in 12 Grimmauld Place.
	2 May 1998	Used in the passage which led to the Shrieking Shack from the Hogwarts Whomping Willow.
Hermione Granger	6 June 1994	She used it when trying to gain entry to the upstairs of the Shrieking Shack unobserved.

Known practitioners

Harry Potter

Hermione Granger

Filius Flitwick

Severus Snape

• Levina Monkstanley

Etymology

In Latin, "nox" means "night". Nox is also the name of the Roman Goddess of night derived from Nyx (Greek goddess of darkness and night).

Behind the scenes

• In most of the Harry Potter video games, the Wand-Lighting Charm is extinguished by itself after some time, not requiring this spell. In Hogwarts Legacy, the player is able to extinguish the light at any time without using the spell.
• On any Android phone (on Lollipop or better), if a user types Nox in the search bar on the Google app, the torch will turn off. Respectively, Lumos turns it on. On iPhones, Siri can do the same.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Cut from final edit)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Pottermore (First identified as Wand-Extinguishing Charm)
• HarryPotter.com (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand