[HPforGrownups] Spells used in fights

[T.M. Sommers]

No: HPFGUIDX 71538

adamjmarcantel wrote:
> I don't know if this has been considered, but does anyone else feel 
> that a whole class of defense against the dark arts is useless?  I 
> mean, apparently, to successfully fight off a gang of death eaters, 
> all you REALLY need to know is "stupefy", "expelliarmus", a 
> summoning spell, and how to lock/unlock doors.  They learn all of 
> this in their first year so why bother wasting time with more spells 
> than you will need?  I hope everyone got the *subtle* sarcasm, but 
> seriously, if I were a death eater, I certainly would learn spells 
> that Harry and Co. haven't yet learned to defend against or block.  
> Nobody seems to catch on to this...they all use spells against Harry 
> that he has just learned to use/block himself.  It reminds me of the 
> movies where the gangs of bad guys attack the hero one by one 
> instead of being smart and rushing him/her.  Has anyone else thought 
> the same or I am just an idiot?

We know very little about how magic works, and what it takes to 
perform any particular spell, so there could be all sorts of 
reasons for using those particular spells in a battle.

One of the few things we do know, though, is that advanced magic 
requires concentration.  It is hard to concentrate when you are 
being shot at.

Speed matters, too.  When you have a choice of two spells, one 
quick and the other requiring a second or two of concentration, 
you use the first one, because in that delay the other guy might 
get off a shot at you.  When one spell requires a simple wand 
movement, and the other a complicated one, use the first.  When 
one spell requires a shortincantation, and the other a long one, 
use the first.  The fraction of a second saved by using a 
two-syllable incantation instead of a three-syllable one might 
mean the difference between life and death.