Extraordinary UnSupported Flight

> And then Harry saw him. Voldemort was flying like smoke on the wind, without broomstick or thestral to hold him, his snake-like face gleaming out of the blackness, his white fingers raising his wand again —
>
> Lord Voldemort flying unsupported, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This form of **flight** Template:Incantation unknown was a spell that allowed a witch or wizard to fly without the use of a broomstick or other form of support. The spell was notably demonstrated by Lord Voldemort.

## History

### Early attempts

Attempts to fly unaided had been made by wizards since ancient times. Levitation had been possible at least since the invention of the Levitation Spell in ancient ***England***, and an attempt to improve upon this and achieve true flight made by ***Jarleth Hobart*** in ***1544*** led to the invention of the Levitation Charm. The flying broomstick, which allowed wizards to fly with relative ease and convenience, was invented around ***962 A.D.***, and seemed to satisfy most wizards' desire to fly. Unaided flight of a human being, however, was long considered a magical impossibility, discounting any animagi whose form take on ***flight-able species***.

### During Successes

Quirinus Quirrell was shown flying without any visible support on several occasions. He flew though the air to tackle Harry in the last of the seven Underground Chambers, was levitating and gliding along the ground while consuming the blood of a ***unicorn*** in the ***Dark Forest***, and Harry encountered, before flying off into the sky when escaping Firenze.

### Discovery

Sometime prior to ***1997***, Tom Riddle succeeded where most other wizards had failed and managed true flight. He first publicly demonstrated this ability during the ***Battle of the Seven Potters***, using the spell to great effect and almost managing to defeat Harry Potter while he was fighting him from the sky. It was likely that he would have killed Harry if not for an ***odd reaction involving their wands***.

## Nature

Unsupported flight was different from levitation, which only allowed objects to fly a few feet off the ground and did not work on humans. Unsupported flight was specifically designed for human use, giving one the ability to fly far up without the aid of an object. It is unknown how long a person could stay airborne or if it worked over vast distances.

## Known practitioners

Lord VoldemortQuirinus QuirrellSeverus Snape
## Behind the scenes

* In the *Harry Potter* films, Apparition is often depicted as similar to flight, with those using it even able to cast spells, physically fight, and affect the stability of the ***Millennium Bridge*** while flying closely around its support cables, causing them to break off telekinetically. In this form, characters are shown to be able to impact and collide with things hard enough to launch other humans several yards away or even break through wooden or stone walls, causing them to catch fire, as seen in ***Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince**,* when three ***Death Eaters*** crashed through ***The Burrow***, which, as a result, caught on fire and burned down. The characters that do so, namely the Death Eaters or Order of the Phoenix members, can turn into long pillars of black smoke or white steam that rush through the air. As it is portrayed in the books, however, this sort of application of Apparition would be impossible, and thus this cannot be considered canon. Also, in every film with the ***Dark Mark*** in the sky, Death Eaters are shown Apparating inside and outside of its mouth in smoke form. This allows them to fly out of it and appear wherever it is cast, allowing them to use it as a sort of portal.
* Also in the films, Voldemort can turn into and emanate black smoke, especially from his cloak, allowing him to levitate, float, and shoot through the air, even while partially transformed into it, while his version of flight in the books did not involve any smoke effects.
* Many of the Death Eaters during the ***film version*** of the ***Battle of the Seven Potters*** also were using brooms, despite seemingly all of them demonstrating the ability in flying in smoke, as well as demonstrating being able to use magic while flying.
* In the films, ***Dementors*** also appear to possess the ability of unsupported flight, which differs from the books, where they are described to merely glide over the ground.
* In the film adaptation of *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone (film)*, Quirinus Quirrell was shown flying without any visible support on several occasions. He flew though the air to tackle Harry in the last of the seven Underground Chambers, was levitating and gliding along the ground while consuming the blood of a ***unicorn*** in the ***Dark Forest***, and Harry encountered, before flying off into the sky when escaping Firenze. It is likely that for his own convenience, Voldemort himself, who was sharing Quirrell's body at the time, had taught him the secret (which is consistent with his having done so for another trusted underling and Quirrell being described as a very bright wizard by Hagrid). However, Quirrell's version of flight did not involve any smoke effects, unlike Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
* It is unknown how ***Delphini*** learnt the skill of unsupported flight, and whether it was biologically inherited, passed down through writing, or learned independently.

## Appearances

* *Harry-Potter and-the Sorcerer's S Stone* (film) (First Entire Appearance)
* *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*
* *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*

## Notes and references

1. ↑ J.K. Rowling on Twitter @dwmw24601: @jk\_rowling @bluesrgt So would that work the same for brooms? Would more advanced wizards/witches not need a broom to fly?
@jk\_rowling: @dwmw24601 @bluesrgt Exactly. Wands and brooms (and flying cars) are tools that channel magic. The most gifted can dispense with them.
2. ↑ *Wizarding World (website)* - The hardest wizarding world spells
3. ↑ Cast-a-Spell kit found in the Library section of the Harry Potter Official Site.
4. ↑ "Wonderbook - E3 2012: Game Debut" from GameTrailers
5. ↑ Template:QTA
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (film)*
7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `PSF`