Age Line

Age Line
Type	Charm
Light	Blue
Effect	Prevented people above or below a certain age from access to a target

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line."

— Albus Dumbledore explaining his casting of this spell

The Age Line (incantation unknown) was a charm used to prevent people above or below a specified age from accessing a specific object or place.

History

On 30 October 1994, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore used this spell on the Goblet of Fire in the Great Hall of Hogwarts Castle to restrain underage students from placing their names within the goblet for the Triwizard Tournament; anyone under the age of seventeen was forbidden from entering. He then traced a thin golden line with a ten-foot diameter on the floor around the goblet to show how far out the enchantment reached. Fred and George Weasley of Gryffindor, Summers of Hufflepuff and S. Fawcett of Ravenclaw all used the Ageing Potion to attempt to bypass this line, believing that it relied on physical age as opposed to calendar age, and were all proven wrong; they all ended up in the Hospital Wing with long, fine white beards, as witnessed by Dumbledore himself, who found the notion amusing.

Despite this, the Goblet of Fire unexpectedly selected a fourth Champion: Harry Potter, who was also underage which caused great confusion to Albus Dumbledore. It was revealed that a powerful Confundus Charm was cast on it by Bartemius Crouch Junior, disguised as Alastor Moody that enabled Harry Potter to be selected as a part of the plan to revive Lord Voldemort. Because Barty Crouch Junior was a fully grown adult, he was not affected by the Age Line in the slightest.

Nature

An age line could not be fooled or bypassed, even by a powerful potion like the Ageing Potion, as proven by Fred and George Weasley, Summers and S. Fawcett; subjects who were not at the preset age and attempted to breach the spell regardless were thrown backwards and sprouted long white beards, regardless of gender.

Behind the scenes

• In the book, the thin golden line is a regular line and is gouged into the floor of the Hall; in the film, however, the line appears to be a circle of large rune-like symbols, glowing yellowish with power. In the Pottermore illustration (seen above) the runes are blue.
• Also, in the film, the diameter of the age line is much smaller than described in the book.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game) (Seen in Game Menu)
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• Pottermore
• Wizarding World