Wandwaving was Re: Boggarts & Riddikulus

[alice_loves_cats]

No: HPFGUIDX 102181

> I don't buy this, mainly because I think it's hindsight to say it 
wasn't
> actually a mistake on JKR's part, but look, he must've been more 
powerful!
> You could be right, but I'd feel more inclined to agree if 
somewhere in one
> of the books it were to say a truly powerful wizard need not even 
use the
> Riddikulus charm, or that after doing so, could just wave his wand 
to
> destroy the boggart, skipping the whole laugher bit.
> 
> Barbara
> bd-bear

Alice:
I feel confident that this has been discussed many, many times, but I 
got the impression from the books (so not only from TMTMNBN, where 
it's more obvious, yet not canon) that powerful wizards mainly skip 
the incantations, wave a wand, and the desired thing happens. I 
always assumed this to be linked with the mental concentration of the 
wizard involved. Basically as you get older, you only need to *think* 
of the specific spell and do the correct movement, and there you are. 
(Perhaps even the wand is occasionally needless, but that's a whole 
different story). 
So maybe at the beginning you need concentration, an incantation, a 
picture in your mind's eye of the funny thing, then laughter to deal 
with the Boggart. Later on it's just a swish and the thing is gone. 
Set me thinking about just how powerful our Molly is - I expect she's 
good at different sorts of magic. 
Love, Alice