Waddiwasi

[Maria]

No: HPFGUIDX 49552

An interesting point Katherine made a few days ago (sorry to be so
late, but i'm back from Spain and catching up with lots of mail):

"This is a useful little spell," he [Lupin] told the class over his 
shoulder. "Please watch closely."
He raised the wand to shoulder height, said, "Waddiwasi!" and pointed

it at Peeves.
With the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the 
keyhole and straight down Peeves's left nostril...
-Prisoner of Azkaban, page 131, American hardcover.

Why is there a spell for shooting gum out of keyholes and into 
Peeves's nose? I suppose such a spell could exist, but how would 
Remus know about it, and why would he regard it as important?

I haven't looked much, but I couldn't find any Latin roots for 
Waddiwasi. The only thing I can think of is that the "wad" at the 
beginning-does that refer to the gum?

But that makes the other question even more important-why does Remus 
see it as useful? I don't think he means for his students to arm 
themselves against the dark forces of the world with Juicy Fruit. 
Why, then?


Now me:

I think all the ideas about Waddiwasi being about shooting things out
of wholes and stuff are interesting, but perhaps too specific.
Couldn't Waddiwasi be a spell to make the effects of someone's prank
be reversed onto himself/herself? In that case, the gum that Peeves
was putting into a whole is shot out of it and into his nose. That
would make the spell a lot more useful. Let's say that Peeves was
throwing something on people, then the things would fly back and fall
on him. Or it could apply to lots of situations.

Just an idea...

Maria

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