Underage magic

Harry Potter inadvertantly speaks to a boa constrictor in 1990.

Snape: "...and the Ministry can punish you if you do magic outside school, you get letters."

Lily: "But I have done magic outside school!"

Snape: "We’re all right. We haven’t got wands yet. They let you off when you’re a kid and you can’t help it."

— Severus Snape and Lily Evans as children

Underage magic is any magic used by a wizard or witch who is under seventeen years of age outside of school, where children are permitted to use magic as part of their education. It has been banned under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery since 1875, and compliance with the Decree is monitored and enforced by the Improper Use of Magic Office at the Ministry of Magic using the Trace Charm. Children under the age of eleven, who have little control over their abilities and no wands, are exempt from the law, though their parents are expected to keep them under control in wizarding families. Most experts believe that if a child has magical abilities, they will exhibit them by the age of seven.

Accidental Wandless Magic

Magical children are prone to using magic accidentally when feeling angry, scared, or confused, as a form of self-defence. They typically have no control over this magic.

Marge Dursley being magically inflated.

Known Examples

• Ariana Dumbledore was attacked by Muggle boys after they saw her performing magic, and the trauma affected her to the point of preventing her from ever learning to control her magic. In one of her fits, she accidentally killed her mother in a magical explosion.
• As a boy, Severus Snape made a branch of a tree snap and strike Petunia Evans in the shoulder when she made fun of him.
• Before Harry Potter went to Hogwarts, he did several things accidentally using his magical powers. He turned his teacher's wig blue, shrunk one of Dudley Dursley's old sweaters that Aunt Petunia was forcing him to wear, and found himself on the roof once when his cousin, Dudley Dursley, and his gang were chasing him. He managed to grow all his hair back when his aunt Petunia gave him a dreadful haircut. He also magically let a boa constrictor free from a zoo after he spoke to it in Parseltongue.
• Neville Longbottom's uncle Algie accidentally pushed him out of a second story window in one of his many attempts to get Neville to perform magic. Luckily, on this occasion he did and bounced away instead of hitting the ground in what would have been a terrible fall otherwise.
• In 1993, Harry Potter lost control of his magic when Marge Dursley insulted his late parents; his anger caused her to magically inflate.

Intentional Wandless Magic

Tom Riddle was able to control his magic from a young age.

Riddle: "It's. . .it's magic, what I can do?"

Dumbledore: "What is it that you can do?"

Riddle: "All sorts. I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to. . . I knew I was different. I knew I was special. Always, I knew there was something."

— Tom Riddle telling Albus Dumbledore of his magical abilities at eleven years of age

Some magical children exhibit mild degrees of control over their magic and are able to use it with intent, but not to cast specific spells, which is an advanced ability (to do magic wandless, not to cast spells) possessed by some adult wizards and witches. According to Albus Dumbledore, it is unusual and even somewhat worrisome for a child to be able to control their magic before the age of eleven. When discussing Tom Riddle's exceptional degree of control over his magic as a child, Dumbledore remarked that his powers were "surprisingly-well developed for such a young wizard and — most interestingly and ominously of all — he had already discovered that he had some measure of control over them, and begun to use them consciously".

Known Examples

• As a child growing up in an orphanage, Tom Marvolo Riddle learned to somewhat control his magic. He could manipulate the minds of animals and creatures (for the free will, thoughts, and minds of animals are quite weak), enchant objects to make them move or travel floating with his mind, inflict harm on those who annoyed him, and speak Parseltongue.
• Lily Evans displayed some control over her magical abilities as a girl. She floated off a swing set and manipulated the petals of a flower in front of her sister Petunia.

Underage Magic with a Wand

Harry Potter at his trial for using underage magic.

"Dear Mr. Potter, the Ministry has received intelligence that at six twenty-three, this evening, you performed the Patronus Charm in the presence of a Muggle. As a clear violation of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, you are hereby expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hoping you are well, Mafalda Hopkirk."

— Harry Potter's notice from the Improper Use of Magic Office in 1995

Witches and wizards between the ages of eleven and seventeen are permitted to use magic within school, but not outside it, as legislated in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. When any magical activity is performed in the vicinity of an underage individual, the Trace Charm notifies the Improper Use of Magic Office as to the spell that was used and its location. Small infractions of the law will be met with a warning, but knowingly performing magic in a Muggle-inhabited area or in front of a Muggle is considered a crime punishable by expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as it violates the Statute of Secrecy. Exceptions are permitted in exceptional circumstances, such as self-defence.

There have also been examples of underage magic being performed aboard the Hogwarts Express without penalty, perhaps suggesting the train is considered an extension of the school grounds (such as when Ginny Weasley used the Scouring Charm to clean up a compartment following a mishap with one of Neville Longbottom's plants .

Also, an underage wizard or witch may perform magic outside of school if given permission by a recognised authority figure, as Dumbledore gave a sixteen-year-old Harry Potter permission to use any form of defensive magic during their journey to Budleigh Babberton in case of an attack.

Known Examples

• Harry Potter received a warning after a Hover Charm was detected in his home in Little Whinging, though it was actually performed by Dobby the house-elf.
• In 1995, Harry used the Patronus Charm to ward off Dementors that attacked him and his cousin Dudley Dursley. He was expelled from Hogwarts for it, though this was rescinded in his Wizengamot hearing, as he was acquitted on the grounds of self-defence, and because the Ministry does not have the authority to expel Hogwarts students.
• Lily Evans occasionally used magic outside of school, despite living with her Muggle family, and received a few warning letters, but nothing “too serious”.
• Hermione Granger mentioned having successfully cast "a few simple spells" upon learning that she was a witch and before her first year at Hogwarts, but apparently she was not given a warning.
• In 1994, a boy named Kevin took his father's wand and enlarged a slug before his mother caught him.
• Sirius Black secured the decorations of his room with a Permanent Sticking Charm against alteration by his parents. As he left his parents home at the age of sixteen, he must have performed underage magic.

Other Underage Magic

• At the age of five, Fred Weasley turned his younger brother Ron's teddy bear into a "great big filthy spider" after Ron broke his toy broomstick. This incident triggered Ron's lifelong fear of spiders. It is unclear if Fred did this without a wand and with some degree of control, or if he took the wand of one his parents or older brothers to perform the spell.
• In 1995, at the age of fifteen, Harry Potter cast Lumos despite the fact that his cousin Dudley Dursley had punched him moments before and knocked his wand from his hand. The spell caused the wand's tip to light up. This was a specific spell, which differentiates it from the intentional wandless magic of children who have not yet learned spells, and it also involved a wand, though it was not in Harry's hand at the time.

See Also

• Wandless spell
• Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery
• The Trace

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows