Creating spells

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 186081

> Geoff:
> Hence, a young wizard perhaps comes up against a potential danger 
> or threat and  subconsciously thinks of a visual response - Harry 
> finishing up on the school roof or re-growing his hair might be 
> cited as examples.
> 
> As has been already suggested, the adult wizard wants a response 
> but voices it and uses the wand as a focus - perhaps even like a 
> conductor's baton - to get the required result. Wandless spell-casting 
> needs a wizard who can focus internally on the result sought. In my 
> analogy, the young wizard relaxes and achieves a result, possibly 
> totally unexpected as they go with the flow, but the adult tenses and 
> braces themselves for the result.
> 
> I hope that makes some sort of sense.

Montavilla47:
It makes a great deal of sense to me, and it hits on something
that seems obvious about the series--maybe so obvious that
we tend to overlook it.

There's a huge criticism throughout the books towards "adult"
thinking.  Voldemort's downfall comes because he devalues 
childish things, like folktales and the bonds that love creates.
Harry's best quality is his childish instincts--and his magical
power is usually instinctual.  When he overthinks things (like
when he's obsessing over Dumbledore's past), he gets lost.

So, for all that wand-waving and memorizing spells words,
magic is really just being able to make a wish and having it 
come true.  That's something a child can easily understand--
and it's we adults who get ourselves lost by asking, "How?
How come?"

It is like music, or any kind of self-expression.  A kid knows
he or she is trying to do a cartwheel, even if it doesn't look
like one to an adult.  Therefore, the kid is doing a cartwheel.
Likewise, I knew exactly at three years old what my drawings
were about, even if they only looked like scribbles to my 
parents.

All the wand-waving is about refining those instincts into 
something we all agree is the "proper" spell.  But, it probably
doesn't really matter if you say "Accio" or "Come here!" as 
long as you really want that object to zoom into your hands.