Dangling Jinx

Levicorpus
Incantation	levi-COR-pus
Type	Nonverbal Jinx
Effect	Lifts the victim into the air by the ankle.

"That one had a great vogue at my time at Hogwarts. There were a couple of months where you couldn't move without being hoisted into the air by your ankle."

— Remus Lupin about Levicorpus

Levicorpus is a jinx invented by Severus Snape under the guise of the Half-Blood Prince. It causes a victim to be hoisted into the air and dangle upside-down. It is better performed nonverbally. The counter-curse is Liberacorpus. Given its use in duelling and in the Lestranges' vault in Gringotts, the spell and its counter-jinx have the same effect if cast non-verbally as well as spoken aloud.

Known Uses

Luna Lovegood uses Levicorpus on a Death Eater.

• James Potter hung Severus Snape in the air to embarrass him in front of his classmates in their fifth year.
• This was likely the spell used by Death Eaters to levitate and humiliate Muggles during the riot at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup.
• Harry finds the spell written in the Half-Blood Prince's textbook during his sixth year. He tries it without knowing what it is and accidentally wakes up Ron by levitating him up into the air.
• The D.A. used it in practice but gave up soon because the recipients complained that they were being dropped too often
• During the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, Harry attempted to use this spell against Severus Snape as he fled from Hogwarts.
• Lord Voldemort suspended Professor Charity Burbage upside down in the air above a table in Malfoy Manor in 1997, perhaps using this spell to do so.
• In 1998, Hermione Granger used it on Harry Potter so that Harry could reach Helga Hufflepuff's Cup in the Lestrange Vault when she, Harry, and Ron broke into Gringotts.

Behind the scenes

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and the videogame, Levicorpus is a verbal spell that Harry teaches to Dumbledore's Army. In the film, Cho Chang is seen using it on Nigel, and later, Luna Lovegood uses it on a Death Eater in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. ( This spell was not learned by Harry Potter until Half Blood Prince because it was contained in the Half Blood Princes note book.
• Also, in the film the spell seems to levitate people rather than hanging them by the ankle. In the video game the spell remains like it is in the books.
• Levicorpus was used verbally by Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This is unusual not only because the spell is best used non-verbally, but also because Hermione is noted to be highly skilled with nonverbal magic.
• As this spell has come to be fairly well-known,it may be true that some other common spells were invented by Snape.

Etymology

The spell's name may come from the Latin words "levare", meaning "to raise", and "corpus", meaning "body".

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Notes and references

(not supposed to be heard of until the 6th book)