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"Magic for the witch or wizard in a hurry."
— Description[src]

Basic Hexes for the Busy and Vexed was a book containing information on how to cast basic hexes,[1] aimed at wizards and witches who did not have the time or patience to learn more advanced spells.[2]

History[]

Bartemius Crouch Junior kept a copy in the Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom while pretending to be Alastor Moody.[2]

Harry Potter read this book while trying to find a spell to use for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. He found the book while looking for simple spellbooks, prompted by Hermione's reminder that Sirius Black said that a simple spell would be enough to handle his dragon. Harry wasn't helped by the book, as the hexes listed were either unhelpful in dealing with dragons or would only complicate the task.[1]

Hexes covered[]

"Instant scalping... but dragons had no hair... pepper breath... that would probably increase a dragon's firepower... horn tongue... just what he needed, to give it an extra weapon..."
— Harry Potter scans the contents of the book[src]

Behind the scenes[]

  • In the Mainland Chinese translation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the title of this book was translated as 对付多动和烦躁动物的基本魔咒 (Duìfú duōdòng hé fánzào dòngwù de jīběn mózhòu), meaning "Spells for dealing with restless and fidgety animals". This was a mistake in translation, as the translator misinterpreted the sense of the proposition "for" (in this case, meaning "for the benefit of"), and the meaning of "the busy and vexed" (in this case, busy and vexed wizards).[3]
  • This book is similar in both title and subject manner to Jinxes for the Jinxed.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

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