Fire-Making Spell

Fire-Making Spell
Incantation	Incendio (in-SEN-dee-o)
Type	Charm
Hand movement
Light	Orange/red
Effect	Conjured flames

"From lighting a warm hearth to igniting a Christmas pudding, the Fire-Making Spell is always useful around the wizarding household. However, the ability to produce fire with the flick of a wand can be dangerous to your fellow students (and worse, your books)."

— Miranda Goshawk, Book of Spells

The Fire-Making Spell, also known as the Fire-Making Charm (Incendio) was a charm that conjured a jet of flames that could be used to set things alight.

History

This spell was listed in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk. This spell was also taught to students during their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Charms (and revised during the second year) and Herbology class to deal with the Devil's Snare and other dangerous plants, and was reviewed in the fifth year for students sitting their O.W.L. examinations.

This spell was mentioned in the lyrics of Celestina Warbeck's song "A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love".

Known uses

"Flames rose at once in the fireplace, crackling merrily as though they had been burning for hours."

— Arthur Weasley uses this spell at the Dursleys' house

Caster(s)	Dates	Notes
New fifth-year student	1890–1891 school year	Used it to burn away the canopy of the Horntail Hall tent in order to help set free a Hebridean Black dragon.
Anne Sallow	1891	Used it to incinerate an army of Inferi in Feldcroft Catacomb, creating a stream of fire from her wand.
Albus Dumbledore	1895 or 1896	He may have used this spell in his fourth year at Hogwarts, "accidentally" setting his bed curtains on fire.
	1938	Used it nonverbally combined with a Flame-Freezing Charm, to demonstrate his magical ability to eleven-year-old Tom Riddle in a Muggle orphanage.
Carrow	Late 1932	Used it to set Vicência Santos campaign banners on fire during a rally outside the German Ministry of Magic for the ICW election.
Minerva McGonagall	1985–1986 school year	Used this spell to save Ben Copper from the cursed ice.
Severus Snape
Jacob's sibling		Used this spell to break down the door to the Vault of Ice.
Bill Weasley
Jacob's sibling's friend (possibly Penny Haywood, Rowan Khanna or Ben Copper)
Charlie Weasley	1986–1987 school year	Used this spell to pretend to put fake Occamy eggs (actually Ostrich eggs) in danger so as to lure Squawk out.
Jacob's sibling		Attempted to use this spell on Corrine Cribb with wandless magic in Knockturn Alley, although Cribb was able to dodge the spell.
		Used this spell in the Great Hall on a stack of bread in order to make toast
Rubeus Hagrid	31 July 1991	Used it nonverbally to light a fire in the grate in the Hut in which the Dursleys and Harry Potter were staying to avoid the barrage of Harry's Hogwarts letters.
Minerva McGonagall	1 September 1992	Used it nonverbally to light a fire in the grate in Severus Snape's office before Dumbledore arrived when Harry and Ron smashed a Flying Ford Anglia into the Whomping Willow.
Tom	7 August 1993	Used it nonverbally to light a fire in the grate in the Leaky Cauldron.
Arthur Weasley	August 1994	Used it to light a fire in the grate in 4 Privet Drive.
Death Eater	August 1994	Used it nonverbally to set fire on tents during the attack at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup.
Rita Skeeter	13 November 1994	Used it nonverbally to light the candles in the Broom cupboard.
Peter Pettigrew	24 June 1995	Used it nonverbally to light a fire under Voldemort's cauldron in the Little Hangleton graveyard.
Alastor Moody	5 August 1995	Used it nonverbally to burn a piece of parchment used to reveal the location of 12 Grimmauld Place to Harry Potter.
Dolores Umbridge	2 September 1995	Used it nonverbally to burn a flying paper bird charmed by Padma Patil.
Thorfinn Rowle	30 June 1997	Used it to set fire to Rubeus Hagrid's cabin, with a cast which was so powerful it ignited the hut in a fiery explosion.
Hermione Granger	1 August 1997	Used it nonverbally to ignite some old gas lamps in the drawing room at 12 Grimmauld Place.
	4 August 1997	Used it nonverbally to light a fire in the grate in 12 Grimmauld Place.
	3 September 1997	She used this spell to try and destroy the locket of Salazar Slytherin.
Harry Potter		He, too, used this spell to try and destroy the locket, though without any incantation (nonverbally).
	31 October 1981 (alternate reality)	Harry cast this spell nonverbally while duelling with Delphini after time-traveling.
Delphini		Delphini cast this spell while duelling with Harry Potter after time-travelling.
Tom Riddle	2 May 1998	Used it nonverbally to burn the Sorting Hat on Neville Longbottom's head during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Albus Potter	1 September 2019	Used it to set fire to his Hogsmeade permission form — and surprised himself as it was not usually a charm he could perform successfully.

Known practitioners

Unidentified 19th-century Hogwarts student

Anne Sallow

Severus Snape

Bill Weasley

Charlie Weasley

Jacob's sibling

Penny Haywood

Rowan Khanna

Pieter Talli

Merula Snyde

Filius Flitwick

Minerva McGonagall

Tom

Alastor Moody

Albus Dumbledore

Arthur Weasley

Rita Skeeter

Colin Creevey

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Harry Potter

Remus Lupin

Peter Pettigrew

Dolores Umbridge

Hermione Granger

Neville Longbottom

Pomona Sprout

Ron Weasley

Rubeus Hagrid

Thorfinn Rowle

Tom Riddle

Winifred Whittle

Delphini

Albus Potter

• Unidentified Muggle-born Hogwarts student

Etymology

• In Latin, incendio is the dative or ablative singular of incendium, "fire", and can mean "to fire" or "for fire" (dative), "by fire" or "with fire" (ablative of instrument or means). Thus, the incantation is a way of calling upon fire to burn a desired object, since the spell caster wills harm to be done to an object "by (means of) fire."
• The magic word could also be a variant of the Latin incendo, "I set [something] on fire", with an "i" added before the final "o" for euphony.
• "Incendio" is the Spanish and Portuguese word for "wild fire". Also, in Italian, the word "Incendio" refers to a great fire similar to that one made by Thorfinn to Hagrid's house.
• "Incendio" is also the first person singular of the present of the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian verb "incendiar(e)", meaning "to set fire to".

Behind the scenes

The wand movement for the Fire-Making Spell as seen in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

This spell's icon as seen in Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells

• This may be the spell Remus Lupin used on the Hogwarts Express 1993, combined with a Flame-Freezing Charm when the lights went out as he is described as "holding a handful of flames" though it is more likely that he used the charm for Bluebell Flames.
• In the video game adaptations of Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Goblet of Fire, Incendio is incorrectly called the Bluebell Flames, which is in fact an entirely different, but similar charm. It is used primarily to wilt dank-loving, threatening plants, burn through cobwebs and light torches. In the later games, it resumes its use as a spell to conjure a small burst of normal fire.
  • Also in the second game, the manuals, and in-game info states it can be used as a duelling charm, despite that in the console versions it is the last spell to be learned in the game, thus duels are no longer as abundant. However, proof of this can be seen in that if the player times it right, they can cast their own Disarming Charm on the incoming mis-cast Indencio (as it flies back to hit the player) and thus catching the spell and mitigating it. This also works with the Knockback Jinx.
• This spell is the first known spell to be cast in the series, although magical devices (Dumbledore's Deluminator), abilities (Animagi) and beings (Hagrid) appeared before.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bellatrix uses this spell to set Hagrid's hut on fire instead of Rowle.
• This spell's wand gesture given in Pottermore is identical to its wand gesture given in the PC version of the Philosopher's Stone video game.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) (First identified as Fire-making Charm) (Not in PC version)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Possible appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) (Not in PC or console versions)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First identified as Incendio)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game) (GBA and NDS versions only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• 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 Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game) (NDS version only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (play)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Nintendo DS and iPod/iPad version only)
• Harry Potter: Spells
• Pottermore (First identified as Fire-Making Spell)
• Harry Potter (website)
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• Wonderbook: Book of Spells
• Harry Potter for Kinect
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault (Mentioned only)
• Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells
• Harry Potter: Magic Awakened
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand

Notes and references

The Standard Book of Spells
Grade 1 · Grade 2 · Grade 3 · Grade 4 · Grade 5 · Grade 6 · Grade 7
Charms included in the series: Dancing Feet Spell (Tarantallegra) · Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus) · Engorgement Charm (Engorgio) · Fire-Making Spell (Incendio) · Freezing Charm (Immobulus) · General Counter-Spell (Finite Incantatem) · Levitation Charm (Wingardium Leviosa) · Locking Spell (Colloportus) · Memory Charm (Obliviate) · Mending Charm (Reparo) · Nonverbal spell · Severing Charm (Diffindo) · Skurge Charm (Skurge) · Softening Charm (Spongify) · Substantive Charm · Summoning Charm (Accio) · Tickling Charm (Rictusempra) · Unlocking Charm (Alohomora) · Wand-Lighting Charm (Lumos)