[Image: not The Pooch. Depicts the desired outcome, however.]
In the Harry Potter wizarding universe, most spells are cast using incantations of a vaguely Latin(ish) form: Cruciato! Expecto patronum! Wingardium leviosa! and so on.
The sole exception which I can think of off the top of my head: Stupefy! When cast in magical combat, you will recall, this spell renders the target incapable of movement. Combatants who have been Stupefied fall, rigid, to the floor or the ground — effectively (albeit temporarily) removing them from further battle.
I don’t particularly care in my everyday life that I cannot, say, summon my Patronus. But Stupefy? Oh my. Let it be so. (Especially if it can be fine-tuned, like a handheld Star Trek phaser, from disorient all the way up to vaporize.)
I’m still trying to work up the nerve to attempt Stupefaction of a human being. But I’ve tried it many times with The Pooch… and I can report that it’s not as easy as it looks in the movies. (Neither is being shot out of a cannon. A topic for a later post, perhaps.)
Still, it can be done. Herewith, results of my research to date.
[The scene: a home in suburban northwest Florida. He and She are in the living room, watching TV (by way of a satellite-TV DVR). She clicks the remote control, pausing the show in progress to ask Him a question. Discussion complete, She clicks the “un-pause button” to resume viewing. Nothing happens.]
