Magical Theory

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 12933

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner" <bohners at p...> 
wrote:
> I want to know specifically the differences between these things in
> the HP universe.  For instance, it's clear that Rowling does not
> consider charms to be "magical objects" if you look at the
> students' activities in Flitwick's class, (snip)

> I wonder if JKR really has a systematic magical theory worked out
> or whether she's just tossing around words like "spell", "hex",
> "jinx", "charm" and "curse" more or less at random according to how
> good they sound/look on paper?

IMHO (abbreviation for In My Humble Opinion), in JKR's world, all 
acts of magic are 'spells' with the possible exception of divination 
or brewing a potion or using a magical object that works of its own 
magic. And 'hex', 'jinx' and 'curse' are interchangeable words for a 
spell (and maybe also for a potion) that harms the recipient, which 
could be a charm or a transfiguration or something else that we 
haven't learned the word for yet. 

There are separate classes in Charms and Transfiguration. Somewhere 
JKR told us that a charm is a spell that changes the 'behavior' of 
the recipient and a transfiguration is a spell that changes the 
recipient into something else. I still have a lot of trouble figuring 
out which is which in specific cases, as for example changing a 
Muggle teapot into a winged flying teapot that spells out rude words 
in LED would apparently be a charm rather than a transfiguration. But 
changing Millicent Bulstrode to look like Cho Chang would be a 
transfiguration?

We've seen magical objects: the Sorting Hat, the Goblet of Fire, the 
Riddle diary, the Marauders' Map, a cursed opal necklace that has 
taken the lives of 19 Muggle owners ... I have made up a theory that 
the generic term for magical objects is Amulets, that Amulet Making 
is a sixth and seventh year elective, that Lily was exceptionally 
good at Amulets... But I don't know whether there is a difference 
between magical objects that contain part of the creators' mind 
(Riddle diary, Marauders' Map, maybe Sorting Hat ... maybe, for all 
we know, the Goblet of Fire itself) and ones that don't (flying 
broomsticks).