Sectumsempra

[zanooda2]

No: HPFGUIDX 156411

> Julie wrote:

><SNIP>

>I guess it boils down to these three possibilities:
>1. The spell Snape used was not Sectumsempra but a lesser spell
>that wasn't capable of causing more than minor damage.
>2. Snape cast a Sectumsempra, but deliberately controlled it to
>cause less damage, because he didn't want to get in trouble, because
>he's at heart a humanitarian, or for whatever other reason.
>3. Snape cast a Sectumsempra but his magic was impaired by the
>Impedimenta spell, thus the resulting spell was very weak. 


zanooda:

I just want to add a couple of possibilities before this thread gets
too old:

4. Some spells (curses) seem weaker if cast nonverbally. For example,
when Hermione managed to silence Dolohov before he could curse her in
MoM, the result is described like this:"The curse..., though less
effective than it would have been had he been able to say the
incantation aloud..."(OotP, "The second war begins" chapter). In the
Pensieve scene we don't hear Snape say the incantation out loud either.

5. The amount of damage also depends of the size of the wound.  When
Sectumsempra is cast, the wand acts like a knife or a sword, only from
distance, without touching the flesh. 

When Harry used it on Malfoy, we are told that he did it "waving his
wand wildly". It was probably a very chaotic movement, because Harry
was in an  awkward position, on the floor, all panicky etc., that's
why Malfoy probably got several long cuts going in different directions. 

In "Snapes worst memory" he, for whatever reason, just "directed his
wand strait at James", we don't see any waving, so the cut James got
is short and, therefore, not that damaging.