Counter-Spell

A **counter-spell** was a type of spell where the primary effect was to inhibit, remove, or negate the effects of another spell.

## Classification

Although the exact definition of a counter-spell is unclear, it can be assumed from the name, that counter-spells countered the spell type that replaces the "-spell" suffix in their name (if it did so). For example, a counter-charm should theoretically reverse a charm, a counter-curse should reverse a curse, a counter-jinx a jinx, a counter-transfiguration a transfiguration and so on.
For example, in their confrontation in the Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle asked Harry Potter how he survived the former's Killing Curse and then concluded that it was the result of Lily's Sacrificial Protection, which he mentioned was a powerful counter-*charm*. Similarly, in 1991, while Quirrell *jinxed* Harry Potter's broom, Snape was later revealed to have been muttering a counter-*curse*. Whilst this would suggest that counter-curse referred to a counter-spell that countered a spell of *any* type, this cannot be true due to the known existence of counter-jinxes.

Likewise, there was the term Untransfiguration (which reverses transfiguration) as opposed to counter-transfiguration, which would be expected. Therefore, the true counter-spell nomenclature is unknown, though (according to all canonical sources), it seems to go as such: counter-spells that acted like charms (regardless of the spell type they countered and regardless of whether they prevented or removed the spell in effect) were termed counter-charms; counter-spells that acted like Transfigurations were Untransfigurations; a counter-spell designed to foil another offensive spell was termed either a counter-jinx, -hex or -curse depending on how strong it was (similar to the offensive spell hierarchy); and counter-spells that *prevented* jinxes (but do not *remove* them) were termed ***anti-jinxes***.
For the purposes of this wiki, broad-spectrum counter-spells (such as the widely-used *Finite Incantatem*, which simply terminated spell effects in general) or ones that appeared to be counter-spells but are of unknown type are termed **undifferentiated** counter-spells. Although they could also be considered as more general counter-charms, to lessen or terminate any charms and minor dark spell effects.
***Wilbert Slinkhard*** once said that the term "Counter-Jinx" was improperly named, and that "*Counter-Jinx is a name wizards give their spells to make them sound more friendly*". Hermione Granger disagreed with this assessment.
It should be noted that the categories are not mutually exclusive either.

* *Finite* - Same as *Finite Incantatem*, but acted on a specified target.
* ***Meteolojinx Recanto*** - terminated magical weather effects.
* *Surgito* - counter-spell to remove several enchantments.
* *Offero* - counter-spell to return elements to their previous state.
* *Reverte* - counter-spell to reverse physical and magical actions and movements of objects.
* *Vipera Evanesca* for *Serpensortia*
* ***Counter-curse*** for ***Jelly-Legs Curse***
* ***Counter-curse*** for ***Curse of the Bogies***
* Counter-curse for Broom jinx
* ***Liberacorpus*** for ***Levicorpus***

* *Alohomora* for *Colloportus*
* Anti-Alohomora Charm for *Alohomora*
* An unknown charm counters ***Annihilare***, ***Dunamis***, ***Emancipare***, and *Liberare*
* ***Nox*** for ***Lumos***
* *Quietus for Sonorus*
* ***Counter-Charm*** for hiccoughs
* ***Rennervate*** for *Stupefy*
* Sacrificial Protection for the Killing Curse
* Animagus reversal spell for Animagi.
* ***Pig Into Desk*** for ***Desk Into Pig***.
* Ferret to human for ***Human to ferret spell***.

## See also

* Counter-Jinx
* Counter-Curse
* Anti-Jinx

## Behind the scenes

* Gilderoy Lockhart claimed that he knew the Counter-Curse to prevent the Petrification, in the second film, as opposed to the ***Transmogrifian Torture***, in the novel. Of course, due to his dishonesty, it is debatable as to whether such Counter-Curses exist in the first place, let alone whether or not he would actually know them.
* According to ***W.O.M.B.A.T.***, it may not be possible to Untransfigure a person or object without knowing what they were originally. However, in Template:GOF, when Draco Malfoy is turned into a ferret, Professor McGonagall Untransfigures him while only knowing that it was a student, not who it was specifically. This implies that either one does not need to know very specific details about what the object was before Transfiguration or that she guessed it was Malfoy due to his absence from his usual gang.
* Given the nature of these spells, as well the fact that counter-jinxes have only been heard of in a Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook, it appears likely that these types of spells comprise a large part of the syllabus of that particular subject.
* It is not known why there are specific spells to counter other spells, when one could theoretically counter any spell with a broad-spectrum one such as Finite Incantatem. It may be that certain spells have in built protections or are simply too robust for a general counter-spell to work against them and therefore might require something specifically tailored to work around their specific protections to remedy this. This should be especially true for the conjuration serpensortia, the snake produced by which was dispelled not with a simple Vanishing spell but a specific Untransfiguration and Counter-curse.
* Since it does not appear that the categories of counter-spells are mutually exclusive (in the same way that the categories of spell types are not) it may be that all counter-spells the counter-curse, -hex, -jinx nomenclature classifies the counter-spell based on its strength and counter-charm/Untransfiguration are used to refer to its M.O.
* Similarly, there may be an identical series of counter-spell labels for counter-spells that *prevent* certain magics, e.g. anti-jinxes, anti-hexes, anti-charms etc. These may be largely taught about in Charms class as part of several protective enchantments.

## Appearances

* *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (film) (First appearance)
* *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film)
* Template:POA
* Template:GOF
* Template:OOTP
* Template:HBP
* Template:DH Template:Mention
* Template:DH

## Notes and references

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film), Chapter 17
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (film), Chapter 11
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* (film), Chapter 17
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Template:GOF
5. ↑ Template:OOTP
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)*, Chapter 11 (*The Duelling Club*)
7. ↑ Template:WU
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Template:COG
9. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets* (film)
10. ↑ , Chapter 13 (*Nicolas Flamel*)
12. ↑ Template:HBP
13. ↑ Template:POA
14. ↑ Template:OOTP
15. ↑ Template:GOF
16. ↑ Template:POA
17. ↑ , Chapter 8 (*The Potions Master*)