When it first appeared…
The lesson where the Harry and his classmates learnt Wingardium Leviosa might not seem like an obvious example of a time when this spell was useful. Yet it was this lesson that acted as the catalyst for Harry, Ron and Hermione becoming the golden trio. If it weren’t for Ron being irritated by Hermione and her excellent spellcasting, he (probably) wouldn’t have insulted her after the lesson. And if he hadn’t done that and upset Hermione, she wouldn’t have hidden in the girls’ bathroom. Harry and Ron wouldn’t have gone to warn her about the troll… and we all know how that ended up…
‘You’re saying it wrong,’ Harry heard Hermione snap. ‘It’s Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the “gar” nice and long.’
‘You do it, then, if you’re so clever,’ Ron snarled.
Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand and said, ‘Wingardium Leviosa!’
Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.
‘Oh, well done!’ cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. ‘Everyone see here, Miss Granger’s done it!’
Ron was in a very bad temper by the end of the class.
‘It’s no wonder no one can stand her,’ he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor. ‘She’s a nightmare, honestly.’
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
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When the trio used it to knock out a troll
When Harry and Ron found Hermione in the girls’ bathroom, she had some company in the form of an ugly, smelly, large and dangerous troll. As three first-years, they were no match for such a scary creature. Yet they managed to defeat him. And it was mainly due to Ron remembering his earlier lesson and using Wingardium Leviosa to knock the troll out with its own club.
Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand – not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: ‘Wingardium Leviosa!’
The club flew suddenly out of the troll’s hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over – and dropped, with a sickening crack, on to its owner’s head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
When Harry used it to stop the brains from getting him
The Department of Mysteries was home to some very sinister and strange things. The brains that lurked in one of the rooms were no exception. With their long creeping tentacles, you would do well to avoid them – as Ron discovered when they left their mark on him. However, Harry was luckier. As he was chasing Bellatrix after Sirius’s death, she tried to stop him by using the brains. Thanks to this savvy spell Harry was able to dodge them.
And he was off, scrambling up the stone benches; people were shouting behind him but he did not care. The hem of Bellatrix’s robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were back in the room where the brains were swimming...
She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped. Harry was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within: the brains slipped and slid over him and began spinning their long coloured tentacles, but he shouted, ‘Wingardium Leviosa!’ and they flew off him up into the air.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
When Harry used it to keep the sidecar airborne
When Harry left 4 Privet Drive for the final time, he found it to be a trickier journey than anticipated – what with being surrounded and attacked by a whole bunch of Death Eaters. As the Dark wizards tried to find the real Potter (amongst the seven that were flying across the sky), a battle broke out. With spells flying everywhere, it was only because of Harry’s quick thinking and this useful Levitation Charm that he didn’t meet a sticky end…
There was a deafening bang and the sidecar broke away from the bike completely: Harry sped forwards, propelled by the impetus of the bike’s flight, then the sidecar began to lose height –
In desperation Harry pointed his wand at the sidecar and shouted, ‘Wingardium Leviosa!’
The sidecar rose like a cork, unsteerable but at least still airborne: he had but a split second’s relief, however, as more curses streaked past him: the three Death Eaters were closing in.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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When Ron used it to freeze the Whomping Willow
In the midst of the Battle of Hogwarts, it was crucial that Harry, Ron and Hermione made it to the Shrieking Shack to find and slay Nagini. Without the death of the snake, Voldemort could not be vanquished. And while we know that they did not kill the snake at this particular moment, it was when Harry collected vital memories from a dying Snape. Nevertheless, with the Whomping Willow guarding the tunnel that led to the shack, they had to find a way to get past it. Luckily Ron remembered he was a wizard and used the spell that had brought them all together in the first place…
Panting and gasping Harry slowed down, skirting the Willow’s swiping branches, peering through the darkness towards its thick trunk, trying to see the single knot in the bark of the old tree that would paralyse it. Ron and Hermione caught up, Hermione so out of breath she could not speak.
‘How – how’re we going to get in?’ panted Ron. ‘I can – see the place – if we just had – Crookshanks again –’
‘Crookshanks?’ wheezed Hermione, bent double, clutching her chest. ‘Are you a wizard, or what?’
‘Oh – right – yeah –’
Ron looked around, then directed his wand at a twig on the ground and said, ‘Wingardium Leviosa!’ The twig flew up from the ground, spun through the air as if caught by a gust of wind, then zoomed directly at the trunk through the Willow’s ominously swaying branches. It jabbed at a place near the roots and at once, the writhing tree became still.
‘Perfect!’ panted Hermione.’
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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