It baffles and infuriates me that Hogwarts students donât take Latin or Greek. Accio? Literally âI summon.â Lumos? Fucking âlight.â Expelliarmus? Expel weapon!! Ooooh I wonder what Levicorpus doesâ you Dumb Ass Bastard. You ILLITERATE. Itâs called Levicorpus, it lifts someoneâs body, it LEVIES your goddamn CORPUS-
Hermione ghost wrote this
Counterpoint: Hogwarts actively discourages students from taking Latin or Greek because if they knew either one every single magic twelve year old would be trying to mash up twenty words and make their own Ultimate Spell instead of using the Good Standardized Spells Known Not To Explode Magic SchoolsÂ
I have a feeling that last point is aimed at the ravenclawsâŚ
Ravenclaws are the ones who know the spells are all a weird mash of languages that donât necessarily make sense (thanks @deadcatwithaflamethrower ! You are why I know that đ)
This does not stop explosions from happening, it just leaves a bunch of âclaws trying to figure out where they went wrong
WINGARDIUM FUCKING LEVIOSA *angry language screeching*
But this entirely explains Wingardium Leviosa!
Itâs the first actual spell they are taught. Itâs a deliberate attempt to obfuscate the origins of most spells, to convince the students that they need to focus on precision and enunciation and deliberate will to succeed. Itâs nonsense, of course. Levitation is actually the (second)* easiest and safest spell to cast both non-verbally and wandlessly but the students instead are taught that they need to follow directions exactly to get it right. This is to train their brains to believe that the ritual of casting is a vital component, which is the first step in corralling accidental magic.
Greek and Latin are actually taught as part of a class called Spellcrafting. Itâs a unique class, only available to 5th years and up, that you can only learn of if recommended for it. No one knows how they were chosen, those who can take it are simply approached one day by their head of house. Itâs actually the portraits who have the say in which students have the unique combination of talent, drive, wisdom and self-preservation to succeed in Spellcrafting without destroying the castle.
Classes are taught in a heavily warded and shielded set of rooms. All classes are taught by portraits whose frame is set within a specially constructed vault to protect it against damage. There is an actual, live Spellcrafting professor who teaches most of the practical lessons but they donât actually live at the castle as they, too use a unique frame at their highly shielded house to teach via portrait. The classrooms include a warded floo which allows the professor to bring students to them physically for more dangerous experiments.
Signing up for the class includes a magically binding contact to not discuss the class within earshot of anyone or anything not branded by a certain, invisible mark. The door leaving the section of rooms has a time turner for a handle - it automatically returns you to when you entered to avoid questions by the uninitiated.
Itâs really too bad that many of the most successful students of this class cannot receive the recognition for it - it would probably have done Molly Weasley a world of good to knew that Fred and George were considered the most talented students of their generation, even better than Lily Evans and Sirius Black had been in their day.
*(Flambe is actually the easiest spell to cast both non-verbally and wandlessly. No one wants to admit that anywhere where students might overhear)
tbh Iâm reblogging this for both the epic headcanon and the Xander gif.
