Index

Introduction

Lesson 1 Introduction to Charms

Lesson 2 About Magic

Lesson 3 The Wand

Lesson 4 Curses

Intro

Avada Kedavra!!!

Scared? Should be...

Objective of this class:

In first place, I must mention that eating cereal is NOT one of the objetives. But yes to learn about magic, the different kinds of charms, their characteristics, and when and when NOT to use them.

The correct way to cast a spell using the best tool we wizards have: the wand.

And not less important, all about CURSES!!!

Welcome to Charms

First of all, let me start with some background.

I am Prof. Ulol, mexican, a 46 year old wizard. I have lived for 30 years in the Yucatan Peninsula, land of the Mayas, full with magic.

Charms is one of the most importan branches of Magic. Cast a spell involves a deep knowledge and years of practice. It is not just about shouting weird words, you must shout them in a certain way and with all your will, and sometimes, using the proper instruments to help the charm to get its objetive.

So we have a long way to learn the basics of Charms. I hope you enjoy it.

Note: This class was taught by the amazing Prof. Olivia Rictusempra, and she kindly allowed me to take over it.

Charms Lesson 1

Introduction to Charms

The word charm comes from an old latin word meaning “song” or “ritual utterance”.

A charm is usually a phrase that is written down to achieve a particular magical effect. Harry uses “Accio Firebolt” to call his broomstick. Hermione uses “Wingardium Leviosa” to make a feather float.

As students in Professor Flitwick’s Charms class quickly learn, there are charms for almost every occasion. If you know the right words, you can charm your way into riches and fame, conquer your enemies, or capture men’s hearts. One Old English charm even confers protection from malevolent dwarfs. But charms are most commonly associated with medieval wise women, who used them for fairly humble tasks, such as healing the sick, protecting crops and livestock from disease, and defending the local villagers from curses.

Although a few charms involve combining words with actions (such as spitting or waving a wand), most require no special ritual or magical tools to be effective. Charms are even said to work in purely written form. Some of the earliest known charms were simply scraps of parchment or paper, inscribed with a magic word like abracadabra, and then worn as protective amulets around the neck.

Simple spoken charms became especially popular in Europe around the twelfth century, when the Catholic Church began to place great emphasis on the power of spoken prayers and papal blessings. Throughout the Middle Ages, it was common for witches, wizards and even local Church officials to adapt Christian prayers for magical purposes. The Lord’s Prayer was routinely rewritten and used as a charm against disease, pestilence and personal misfortune. One thirteenth-century French memoir actually describes how a parish priest used this prayer to “deliver Arnald of Villanova from the warts on his hands!” Other charms mixed magic words with the names of saints and were used to treat maladies such as snakebites and burns.

Some poorly trained witches and wizards – and most non-magical folk- also use the word “charm” to describe any small, portable object with magical properties. Rabbits’ feet, four–leaf clovers, and iron horse-shoes are all frequently called “lucky charms,” but any serious magician would scoff at such a claim. These sorts of magical artifacts can be more precisely identified as either amulets (objects that provide magical protection) or talismans (objects that endow a person with some new magical ability). The so-called charms that hang from modern “charm bracelets” are usually purely ornamental symbols of love or friendship, possessing no magical powers.

As Hermione would be happy to tell you, the best place to find authentic charms is in books. So if you find yourself wanting a cheering charm for a friend who’s feeling blue or a scouring charm to take care of a really nasty mess, just check the Hogwarts library for a copy of "Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes". But make sure you’ve picked just the right charm for the job and that you know how to pronounce every word. Otherwise you may end up like professor Dumbledore’s ne’er-do-well brother, Aberforth, who was publicly humiliated for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. 1

Let’s get back to the charms we will be studying and performing in this class. We’ll look at some simple charms, the origin of the words and what they accomplish. A majority of the wand charms used in the Harry Potter series are derived from Latin words.

Our first and one of the simplest of charms is Accio. It means ‘send for’ or ‘summon’ in Latin. This is a very handy charm! You can either pronounce the first ‘c’ as a hard c or combine the two for a soft ‘c’. Ah-ksee-oh or Ah-see-oh. The emphasis is on the first syllable. “A”-ksee-oh. Say it out loud to yourself (but not while holding the wand, yet!) to practice. Add the object you’re trying to summon after it, and this charm will bring it to you, and even from a long distance. But it’s preferred that you know the general location of the article or it may not work how expect it to, if at all. “Accio Tissue” works wonders when you’re about to sneeze!

Wingardium Leviosa using “wing” + “arduus” meaning high or steep and “levo”, to raise up or levitate. This is a very simple spell, but as we learned from Hermione, must be pronounced correctly. win-GAR-dee-um lev-ee-OH-sa . Notice where the emphasis is and say it out loud. If you’d like to try this one with a feather, remember pronunciation and your technique will determine your own success. A flick with wand for winGARdium and a swish for the leviOsa, concentrating on the object you’re trying to levitate. Good Luck!

Lumos is another very handy spell. Pronounced LOO-mos. It’s from the Latin, “lumen”, meaning light. This spell will create a beam of light that shines from the end of your wand. For most of these charms, you must be holding your wand, however, only in the instant of Harry during the Dementor attack did it work without being in contact with his wand. Interesting and does show the strength of Mr. Potter’s resolve to win in the attack.

At some point, I’m sure you’ll want that light to go out, so the proper charm would be Nox, pronounced -nocks- which will extinguish the beam completely.

The next spell is Alohomora, pronounced as AL-o-ho-MOR-a, from the words “aloha”, a Hawai’ian farewell and “mora” which is Latin for obstacle. This delightful charm will open locked doors. Well, most locked doors as there are still special keys needed for certain locks.

And lastly, today, we’ll talk about Prof. Liv's name. Rictusempra, pronounced ric-tu-SEM-pra from the Latin rictus, meaning gaping mouth or grin, and also sempra, meaning always. This particular charm will make your target laugh uncontrollably. Yes… you can make your target to laugh entire days away before able to control themselves! So behave with those wands or I’ll be forced to use a full body bind on you all.

1.        The Sorcerer's Companion; A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter

2.       Inspired by Allan Zola Kronzck & Elizabeth Kronzck published by Broadway Books, New York Copyright 2001

Charms Lesson 2

About Magic

This lesson will cover what magic is, how magic is passed on and possibilities/limitations of magic.

Magic can be thought of as a natural force that can be used to override the usual laws of nature. Magic is not limited to humans, many animals exhibit magical characteristics such as the phoenix, which can be "reborn" from its own ashes. While other more "ordinary" animals, such as owls, are utilised by the magical community. Objects can also be magically enhanced.

Magic in humans is not an easy thing to comprehend. There are many terms one needs to know when dealing with the magical abilities found within certain humans.

Firstly "witch" or "wizard" are the terms used to refer to a human male or female (respectively) with magical abilities, while "muggle" is the term used to describe a person with no magical abilities. Fairly basic right? But wait it gets more complicated.

Occasionally children can be born to muggles that have magical abilities; these children can be referred to as "muggle-borns". Or alternatively the reverse can occur where parents with magical abilities can give birth to children who have none, these children can be referred to as squibs (this appears to be rare but does occasionally happen). Squibs have been known to take courses, such as Kwikspell, to try to enhance whatever skills they may have.

So now that's been clarified we can discuss what determines whether someone will have magical abilities or not.

It's believed that the ability to perform magic is a generic trait. This means it is passed on to a child via the parents DNA. A popular theory is the "magic" gene is recessive, this means that a child *must* get the magic gene from *both* parents for it to be expressed, ie for them to be able to perform magic. This goes a long way towards explaining the existence of muggle borns (as people with only 1 "magic" gene would not have magical abilities thus would be considered a muggle). It does not necessarily explain the existence of squibs however. We won't delve any deeper into this subject, as it's not a genetics class ;) but if this interests you then you may want to look at the extra credit questions (?).

Discrimination can occur in the wizarding world just as it does in the muggle world; however the discrimination is slightly different. Wizard discrimination occurs due to the "purity" of someone's blood. Someone born into a family whose magical abilities spans back countless generations may be referred to as a "pure blood". There are people within the magical community that hold pure bloods in higher esteem than other magical folk. A child who has both a muggle and a witch/wizard for parents may be referred to as a "half blood". "Mudblood" is an extremely insulting term some magical folk use to refer to a witch/wizard who herald from muggle parents.

The purity of a witch or wizards blood does not seem to have any impact on how magically successful they will be. For example He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had a muggle father and therefore was a half-blood yet he became an extremely powerful wizard…evil, but very powerful. So to be honest it is not really known what determines how powerful a witch or wizard will become. However, just like muggles, magical folk need to learn to harness their abilities, which is why school such of Hogwarts were established. Also similarly to muggles, each witch and wizard seems to have strength in certain areas. For example Neville Longbottom seems to have a natural ability when it comes to Herbology while he struggles through Potions; of course the Professor could have something to do with that ;)

There are limits to magical ability of course. The most obvious being the fact there is no method to date that can bring someone back to life once they are dead. But there are other limitations for example, while it is possible to conjure objects from seemingly nothing, those objects only exist for a limited time before vanishing again.

Anyway I think we've covered enough about magical ability for the time being so let's look at some more charms and break them down. We're going to discuss some that can be used multiple ways by changing the target.

There is Mobiliarbus which is made from the Latin word mobilis, meaning moveable and adding the ending arbus or arber which represents tree. Pronounced MO-bi-lee AR-bus, the prefix Mobili is used for moving just about anything. So you see, it's up to the caster to decide the ending. Personally, I can only think of one good use for this charm, however, which would be for a gardener rearranging plants and trees.

So, now that we have the Mobili prefix, we see it's also used for Mobilicorpus. Corpus is from Latin, meaning body. Pronounced MO-bi-lee COR-pus, this spell is used for moving a body. Now, I know it sounds morbid! But, we saw Sirius Black use this spell to levitate Snape's unconscious body so it could be pushed along the secret passage back to school from the Shrieking Shack. Also very handy in putting a child, who fell asleep in a chair, in his bed.

Now, Reparo is an all-encompassing type of charm. It is pronounced re-PAR-oh and is from the Latin word reparare, to repair or restore. It can be used on any number of items from broken glasses to a broken teacup. You must remember to point your wand at the target and a simple flick will do the trick *g*

And yet another handy charm is Sonorus. From the Latin word sonorous meaning loud, it will amplify your voice so that you can be heard over long distances. It is pronounced so-NO-rus and you should point the wand at your own throat to amplify your own voice (makes sense, yes?)

You can also return your voice to its normal level by using Quietus, KWY-uh-tus. The Latin word it's derived from is quietus meaning quiet or peaceful. Ludo Bagman used both of these spells at the Quidditch World Cup and also the Triwizard Tournament.

Charms Lesson 3

Wands

The Wand

This lesson will look at the ultimate wizarding tool, the wand. The wand in itself is of no use to anyone who does not contain at least some magical ability. Basically a wand is used to focus magical strength.

What is it about this stick that represents the awesome powers of the magician? The answer may trace back to the prehistoric man's first instrument of power – the cave man's club.

While not particularly "magical", the club, in the form of a hefty hint of a tree branch, certainly did endow it's user with an extraordinary amount of power he didn't have without it – power to defend himself, bonk his enemies into oblivion and put dinner on the table. Indeed in a confrontation with an enemy, even raising the club in a threatening gesture was recognised as a sign of power.

As spears and swords replaced the club as weapons of choice, the club was retired from everyday use but lived on in reduced size and symbolic form. For instance it is argued the club took the form of the scepter, the king's or emperor's wandlike emblem of power or a herald's staff, investing the bearer with the powers of the king he represented.

In the hands of a witch or wizard, the mini-club took the form of the wand, symbolising command of the powers of nature and the supernatural. While the wand no longer resembles the club it evolved from, in the wizarding world it continues to function as the most powerful of weapons.

A wand is necessary for *most* magic and is definitely essential for beginning witches and wizards such as yourself. That's not to say that wandless magic doesn't exist however.

The most basic occurrence of wandless magic occurs in children with magical ability. In these cases the magic is done spontaneously and without the use of a wand. This usually only happens in moments of strong apprehension, fear or anger.

Of course there are other forms of wandless magic. Animagi are people who can transform themselves into an animal at will. The actual transformations can be done without wands. However the process of initially becoming an animagi is extremely difficult and the chances of mishaps are so great that it is closely monitored by the Ministry of Magic. You should be aware though that an animagus is different to a werewolf; the most obvious difference being werewolves are not able to control their transformation.

Apparating also seems to be a form of wandless magic, although again it's a tricky process regulated carefully by the ministry of magic.

The majority of magic however requires the use of a wand. Each wand is not only unique but it is also uniquely suited to a certain witch or wizard, also the wand chooses the wizard.

There are 3 main things that distinguish one wand from another: length, wood and core.

LENGTH

The specific role length plays is still ambiguous however magical folk with longer wands tend to be quite powerful, eg Harry's wand is 11 inches long.

WOOD:

Here are some well-known trees and their properties for magic.
1. Alder. Divination, or "fortune telling." Self-protection/defense. Well, this is your fortune teller!
2. Apple Tree. Love and beauty magic.Spell writing.Powerful healing magic….dealing with serious wounds.Also a celebration tree. These people tend to be overly interested in the affairs of love and romance. They are great poets, and write many of our spells.
3. Ash. Psychological magic and law.Magic relating to intelligence. These people judge a lot, and are very obsessed with the rules. They are also very quick to learn.
4. Beech. Old magic and history.Hopeful magic and wishes. These people tend to be historians and archaeologists. They are also dreamers, writing a lot of fiction (fantasy in particular).
5. Blackthorn. Creative magic… as in the creation of new… things such as people and creatures. This includes plant magic… and growing gardens and crops. Cleansing magic… getting rid of dark magic. These people are very good parents and great gardeners.
6. Ebony. Resistance, obstinacy, strength in opposition.Protection from Tyranny, outside control, wrongful commands or magical mind control.Inability to change.Inability to bend.Overwhelming masculinity.
7. Elder. Healing after emotional injury.Regeneration magic. These people are the creepy scientists trying to bring the dead back to life. Some don't go that far, and are simply good at recovering from traumas. They also help others through trauma. They notice a lot of people come to them with their troubles.
8. Elm. Magic relating to animals and magical creatures. These people are talented with animals, and love camping.
9. Hawthorn. Marital magic and parenting.Protection from dark magic.Magic to bring happiness, and communication with magical places and spirits. These people are always searching for a life-mate for either themselves or their friends and family. They can be superstitious.
10. Hazel. Wisdom-related magic and power-related magic.Creativity and dowsing. Users of these wands tend to be very intelligent and creative. Teachers and artists use Hazel a lot.
11. Holly. Strong protective magic and light-hearted magic. Courageous magic, and dream magic. These people tend to be strong on the defensive, but are fun company. They are very often class clowns, and uplifting to others who may be depressed.
12. Laurel. Prophecy in visions.Victories at the expense of others.Old ways fading and lost in time.Reoccurring events.Use of history for making decisions.Very good for cooking and household magics.
13. Oak. This is sort of the general power tree. Strength and courage are related to the oak. Users of this wand tend to be leaders.
14. Olive. A Giving tree.Generosity even to the point of self sacrifice.Accepting a lonely lifestyle without bitterness.The sentry, the scout, the shepherd. This wood is often associated with Diplomacy and peace.
15. Pine. Ancient magic.Practical, survival-based household magic. Magic associated with longevity, including healing. Party magic… celebration. These people are fun friends. They throw the parties, and they are the cooks.
16. Poplar. Preventative magic… not really protection.Graceful magic, meaning anything that might contribute to one's dignity. These people are cautious, but aware that some negative situations have tremendously positive outcomes. They are very dignified, and sometimes can be found in positions of royalty.
17. Rowan. This is the all-purpose protection tree. Protection from everything… almost. It also is a "grounded" tree… with all five senses working together. Magic regarding success. These people can be a little paranoid, and are aware of everything. They are also good entrepreneurs.
18. Silver Birch. Magic relating to friendship and other relationships.Inspiration and new ideas. Good for evolving old ideas. Also good for healing magic. These people are always trying to improve things.
19. Willow. Magic dealing with water, and psychic abilities.Dream magic. These people tend to be emotional, empathetic, and spend a lot of time sleeping.
20. Yew. Transformation, Divination, work with spirits and magical creatures. Those who have Yew wands tend to be secretive and mysterious, with a very serious side.

CORE:

While the outer part of the wand is important in conducting magical forces, it is the magical item that forms the core that is the heart of the wand. The properties of the core will affect the performance of the wand itself. Some sample cores include:

1. Augurey feather: strongest when working weather charms, given the augurey's innate ability to predict rainfall.
2. Billywig Stinger: Exceptionally good when working levitation charms. The only drawback to this core is that it is somewhat unstable, given the volatile nature of the insect that provides it. Also useful when dealing with emotional healing.
3. Centaur tail hair: The cool logic of the centaur makes this a very stable core material. Long known for their intellectual ability, centaurs are also known for their skill as healers and this core is very good for healing charms.
4. Chimaera Hair (from mane): Hair from a Chimaera's Mane is a good core for spells that involve fire. This core may choose someone who is adventurous, noble, and/or a parselmouth.
5. Cockatrice feather: This core works well with spells related to the fire element, due to the fact that the cockatrice is a cross between a roster and a dragon. It's also good for most charm work.
6. Crup Hair: This core is good for counter curses, and spells to speed something up. The core "Crup Hairs" prefers someone who is constantly in motion, someone who is strong, and/or someone who never gives up easily.
7. Demiguise hair: The hair of a demiguise is long and silky, and good at charms involving invisibility, and transfiguration. It is very dependable and long lasting, and can heal very well.
8. Diricawl feather: A very queer core, feather of the diricawl (muggle 'dodo') is sometimes very powerful but sometimes very feeble and ineffective. It's most persistently powerful in stunning and petrifying. Diricawl feathers are rarely used as wand cores, and attracted to unusual people.
9. Golem dust: Remnants of a real live (well, sort of) golem reputed to have been fashioned by Rabbi Yaakov of Prague in the 13th century. Exceptionally good for use in charms worked on inanimate objects.
10. Hippocampus scale: Good with water-related spells, and can perform spells to destroy evil underwater creatures. It makes a good wand for care of animals and gardening work, as it is harmonious with almost all un-human creatures.
11. Hippogriff feather: Hippogriff feathers make powerful wand cores and can perform almost all kinds of magic well. They excel in transfiguration and levitation especially, and are very common in European wands.
12. Jarvey feather: A valuable wand core, the Jarvey feather is good at all simple spells and many advanced ones. It is most effective when used to bewitch an object or an animal, but is also used to organize things and to clean dishes.
13. Jobberknoll feather: Jobberknoll feathers are good wand cores for charms, advancing along with its owner through time. It is also used in simple cooking spells and transfiguration.
14. Manticore hair: A core that is used for producing a protection (a shield to protect someone/something from any spells or charms, except the Killing Curse) is Manticore hair. Any wand that has this core may choose someone who is brave, loyal, strong, and fierce.
15. Phoenix feather: The phoenix feather represents power and strength in a wizard, which is why her wand is one of the most powerful of all. It improves the effectiveness of spells with time and practice, and can be used to do great things, good or evil.
16. Pogrebin hair: Pogrebin hairs carry lots of power and are good for work with transfiguration and work with the earth element. They are effective in most advanced spells, but are best when in used in the dark arts.
17. Puffskein fur: The fur of a puffskein is a good wand core for love spells and spells related to music, as the puffskein itself is known for making pleasant noises.
18. Selkie whisker: particularly useful when working with the element of water in any form. Given the selkie's gift of transfiguration this wand core is favoured by animagi.
19. Veela Hair: This wand is useful for things related to love and/or beauty. It's also good for transfiguration and charms. However it can be a bit temperamental.

20. Werewolf hair: A werewolf hair is best used in transfigurations and transformations, given the transforming nature of the werewolf.

Before you scamper off there is one other thing that needs to be discussed and that is wand maintenance. This is extremely important! Because wands are uniquely coupled to a witch or wizard using another person's wand will be less effective. Also while wands are quite strong they can be broken. Using a damaged wand is extremely dangerous! So please take good care of your wand.

Instead of outlining charms this time, we're going to look at technique and form. Some charms require specific wand or wrist movement, while others may require concentration of thought and intent. The charm Waddiwasi is used by Professor Lupin to remove a wad of gum and direct it to fly up Peeves's nose. The direction his wand takes and also the determination of his intent is what makes this incantation work. If he were to point his wand at a rock and flick his wand towards Peeves saying that spell, the rock would not have behaved the same as the gum. This is because of the "waddi" part of spell, which is Swedish for a 'soft mass'. He should have pointed at the rock and said Petrawasi, 'petra' meaning rock in Latin, but he must also flick from the rock to the target (Peeves) to have the desired effect.

Another such charm where technique and form are essential is Densaugeo. If Mr. Malfoy had pointed his wand at Hermione's feet and said Densaugeo, nothing would have happened. 'Dense' means tooth in Latin and so as he swishes his wand towards her mouth and says Densaugeo, poor Hermione is left with overgrown teeth ('augeo' meaning grow in Latin). Let's see, if we take the Latin word for nail, clavus, and attach it to augeo… he could point at her feet and say, Clavusaugeo. This, of course, would make her toenails shoot out the front of her shoes and keep growing until she arrived at Madame Pomfrey's office.

Alright, one last charm for us to look at today is Colloportus, which combines the two words, colligo (Latin for to bind together) and portus meaning door in Latin. This was used to seal doors when Dumbledore's Armies were running from the Death Eaters. It made an odd squelching noise and quite frankly, I'm not sure exactly what 'binds' the door, but thankfully that's not what we're here to find out today. Again, your wand must be pointing at the target and a circular motion with your wrist helps seal the entire perimeter of the door.

Charms Lesson 4

Curses

Familiarity and Unforgivable Curses

I think we’ve covered a lot of information so far, and this lesson will discuss how familiarity works with wand charms and then we’ll look at the Unforgivable Curses. I will require at the beginning of this lesson, for all wands to be brought to me so there will be no mishaps, no one will be mistakenly harmed in my classroom *cough* this term.

Now, beginning with familiarity, why do you think, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone that Quirrell didn’t just Accio the Stone to himself? He most likely couldn’t because magic requires many elements, but a prime one is *familiarity*. That is why most spells are line-of-sight. The wizard must see what it is in order to charm/curse it. This has been said many times. [An excellent example is when Quirrell and Snape were both casting spells on Harry in the Quidditch match. As Hermione pointed out later, it was imperative that a caster maintain eye contact.]

But then the question arises about how Harry could Accio his Firebolt when he couldn’t actually see it. First of all, Harry knows his Firebolt inside and out and he’s very ‘in tune’ with it. He also knows exactly where it is, but I think his familiarity would be enough.

I imagine that there are different levels of power to such magics. All wizards with any training can Accio a visible object. Some, more powerful wizards, would be able to Accio an object that is familiar and if the location is known. But only a very powerful wizard could Accio an object on familiarity alone.

So, Quirrel had no idea what the Stone looked like as there was no picture and it was in Gringott’s for ages. He’s not totally familiar with it and doesn’t know it’s actual whereabouts. So, because of those three points, he didn’t even try to Accio the Stone, which is a good thing as it would not have worked.

But there are a few possible questions to this theory, specifically with regards to the Accio spell. Mrs. Weasley uses it to take things out of Fred and George's clothing, things she wasn't sure what or where they were. How can this work? She may have seen them put something in their pockets, but that’s not likely. Or she’s so familiar with the regular items they generally stash in their robes and she sees the robes bulging with objects, which is the more likely idea.

For example, if a wizard saw a tablecloth over an obvious object underneath, that person could Accio it into his or her hand. Of course, this could be verrrrry dangerous. It could be a bowling ball, with teeth or something.

It would be different if there were an object in a tablecloth in a room not in view. Then there's nothing there as far as the person knows, hence, no Accio.

So then what about the Aqualung Harry briefly considered Accio-ing from a nearby Muggle village for the second task? The idea was shot down in short order, so we don't hear it planned out in detail, but it seems likely that Harry would have had to make a trek into that town ahead of time and figure out where such an unusual object might be located and make himself familiar with it. If he didn't it would be impossible to have Accio-ed it. Familiarity is key.

I think this can apply to Portkeys and other spells as well. You can't create a Portkey to somewhere you do not know, you might not even be able to Apparate to a place you do not know. How did the Death Eaters Apparate to Voldemort in the graveyard? Voldemort sent up a "flare" with the Dark Mark tattoo, a sort of Death Eater homing beacon. (1)

Onto the Unforgivable Curses. Let’s begin by looking at the Imperius Curse. Impero, which means to govern, order, or command. So this spell will give the caster complete control over their victim’s body and mind. I call them a victim because it is a complete violation of your person. Lord Voldemort’s Death Eaters used this curse to make innocent people commit many heinous and disgusting crimes. These are people who would never harm a fly, who had to watch themselves, murder other innocent people without thought, merely because they were like puppets with Lord Voldemort pulling the strings. *nods* Unforgivable, yah...

The Cruciatus Curse.Crucio, said KROO-see-oh also affects the mind and body. In Latin, crucio as a verb, means torment. This curse causes excruciating pain and as such, prolonged use can cause the victim to lose their sanity. Some of us know the feeling of a sliver being removed, or a bone being broken. Using this curse goes far beyond any pain that a normal person has ever had to endure. Almost intolerable, it would be a natural response for the brain to shut down functioning normally, due to the overload of stimuli.

Both of these curses will affect the target’s mind. There is a rarely taught branch of magic called Occlumency and it is the only defense found against these two curses. It is the art of magically defending the mind against external penetration – the defensive counter to Leglimency. A person who studies Leglimency learns to delve into a person’s mind to manipulate them. With Occlumency, you learn to clear your mind of thought and emotion so that the Leglimens trying to delve you cannot see that which you do not want him to see. The word Occlumency stems from the Latin for hide or conceal, occulto, while the ending, mens, means mind.

Lastly, Avada Kadavra. Said uh-VAH-duh kuh-DAH-vrah, we believe it derived from the Aramaic adhadda kedhabhra, meaning ‘let the thing be destroyed’. As the first two Unforgivable Curses have the possibility of deflection, through Occlumency for instance, Avada Kadavra has no such counter-curse or means of blocking it. It kills on contact, with a green flash of light at the target and all life ceases. During Lord Voldemort’s rise, any unexplained muggle deaths where no cause of death could be found, was attributed to this curse, through his Death Eaters.

(1) Taken from excerpts from Theories in Magic essays from HP Lexicon