Shield Charm(-Harry Potter)

The Shield Charm (Protego) was a charm that protected the caster with an invisible shield that reflected spells and blocked physical entities.It was apart of the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum and was taught to sixth years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There were also multiple variations of the Shield Charm.
==Casting and effects==
When cast, a (usually) invisible shield was conjured in front of the caster's wand, creating a protective barrier between themselves and their attacker. This shield could block and reflect a multitude of spells, such as most jinxes, hexes, and minor curses, as well as block physical forces. Exceptionally powerful Shield Charms were even able to knock people off their feet. However, this shield was not completely impenetrable, as it could not block Unforgivable Curses.
The difficulty of casting a Shield Charm was relatively moderate. Fred and George Weasley realised that most adult wizards, even those employed by the Ministry of Magic, could not produce a functional Shield Charm (something that not only could Harry Potter accomplish at age fourteen, but also imparted to members of the D.A.). They used this to their advantage when marketing their line of protective clothing (hats, cloaks, gloves), upon which permanent Shield Charms were cast.
==History==
===15th century===
The Shield Charm's origins were unknown, but was in use by the 15th century.
The most famous use of the charm took place in 1484, in the town of Poppleton, where the tyrannical Earl of Paunchley held a jousting match. He insisted that all the nobles for miles around must come to cheer him on at the tournament and "no excuse would be acceptable" for missing the event. But young Edmund Gaddlegate fell out of a tree that day and broke his leg, and his mother put him to bed. The Earl wouldn't hear of anyone staying home, so he dragged Edmund and his mother to the castle, and said the mother had to watch while her child was tied to a horse and forced to compete in the jousting.
The other knights left the tournament "in disgust" at the idea of jousting with a small injured boy, so the Earl vowed that he himself would attack Edmund. But a witch in the crowd named Hannah Cockleford had other ideas. Fed up with the evil Earl, she cast an extremely strong Shield Charm between Edmund and the Earl, who was "squashed flat in his armour" when the Shield Charm knocked him backwards and his horse landed on him. The Earl of Paunchley did not die, but when he came-to he was under the impression that he was a donkey named Hairy Cyril.
===20th century===
====Second Wizarding War====
==Known variations==
Other varieties of the Shield Charm included as followed:
*Protego Duo
*Protego horribilis
*Protego Maxima
*Protego totalum
*Protego DiabolicaKnown uses
Caster(s) 	Date 	Notes
Albus Dumbledore 	1932 	Dumbledore performed this spell multiple times while fighting Credence in Berlin, deflecting a spell and his obscurus attacks with ease. He also used this spell while fighting Gellert Grindelwald in the Eyrie in Bhutan.
Gilderoy Lockhart	1992 	Lockhart presumably attempted to demonstrate this charm, or something similar, to Harry during the first meeting of his Duelling Club, but all he truly wanted was to twirl his wand fancifully, which failed spectacularly, dropping his wand in the process.
Sirius Black 	1996 	Used it to defend himself whilst duelling Death Eaters in the Death Chamber.
Lord Voldemort 	2 May, 1998 	Voldemort used the Shield Charm when forcing himself into Hogwarts Castle during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Severus Snape 	30 June, 1997	Severus Snape cast this charm to deflect Harry Potter's spells during their brief duel after he killed Albus Dumbledore.
Hogwarts staff 	1998 	A magical shield was cast around Hogwarts just before the final battle in the hopes of delaying Lord Voldemort and his army, in order to give Harry Potter time to find the Horcrux hidden there.
==Known practitioners==
Harry Potter.jpg|Harry Potter
Hermione Granger.jpg|Hermione Granger
Ginny Weasley hbp promo.jpg|Ginny Weasley
Neville HBP 1996.jpg|Neville Longbottom
Fred HS TDH promo.jpg|Fred Weasley
DH promo front closeup George Weasley.jpg|George Weasley
OOTP promo front closeup Sirius Black.jpg|Sirius Black
Draco Malfoy Promo HPB.jpg|Draco Malfoy
Severus Snape.jpg|Severus Snape
LuciusMalfoy.jpg|Lucius Malfoy
Lord Voldemort.jpg|Tom Riddle
==Etymology==
Latin protego, "I cover" or "I protect".
==Behind the scenes==
*In the films, Shield Charms are used in nearly every duel shown, almost always used non-verbally and usually accompanied by a parry-like wand movement.
*Also in the films, Shield Charms are shown to be able to deflect material objects such as arrows which were shot using a bow. Also it has shown to be able to withstand dragon fire from a Hungarian Horntail.
*The book depicts the Shield Charm as only being capable of repelling "minor to moderate curses and hexes", although Harry Potter uses it to block the worst effects of Antonin Dolohov's curse in the Department of Mysteries. However, the film implies the Shield Charm to be significantly more powerful in that Harry is able to use it to completely deflect powerful curses cast by Voldemort himself.
*In the early video games, Expelliarmus incorrectly functions as a shield charm which also repels and deflects enemy spells, due to a lack of enemies to disarm. In these games, Protego is absent.
*In the books, Protego is also able to keep two quarrelling wizards from going at each other when a shield is cast between them.
*Protego is shown to be able to block the Killing Curse. Harry blocks multiple Killing Curses from Voldemort during their final duel. According to the books, this is incorrect as the Killing Curse is "unblockable" which is the main reason for its particular infamy, but within the context of the films, the fact is never mentioned. As the Killing Curse would instantly end any duel if it were unblockable, this might just be done for dramatic effect and for longer duels. Although it's very probable that this was respectively because of both Harry's mastery of the Elder Wand and Harry's blood being in Voldemort's veins, and because Bellatrix merely prevented Molly's curses from hitting her with either a Stunning Spell or the Disarming Charm, that they were able to block the Killing Curse. Bellatrix also uses the Shield Charm to block several curses cast at her by Molly Weasley in their duel.
*Harry and Voldemort can use this spell against each other in the final battle during Voldemort's Last Stand as they engage in a normal duel.
*As Shield Charms can be used as a bewitchment on objects, animals or wizards' clothing to indirectly protect them against many physical and Dark forces, it could be that this way of casting Shield Charms, along with their extended theory, is taught in Charms class.
==Appearances==
==Notes and references==
Category:Defence Against the Dark Arts
Category:Knownly Protective Spells
Category:Spells With-An Light
Category:Spells With Incantations of Latin Known Origin