Spell of the Month (Diffindo)

By Trinity Langton

Yo fellow Slytherins!

I dunno if I'm more annoyed or relieved about the school term coming up so quickly. I'm glad if only because it's been relatively boring ... unless Atticus has visited me. But after just finishing OWLs, thinking about returning to more difficult classes doesn't overly appeal to me.

Such is life, I suppose. It's one of those things filled with routines, traditions, and other stuff we don't all wanna do. Ah well.

But enough of my bitching and ranting.

For the spell I chose this month, it's one that started out to help with more mundane tasks. However, with enough knowledge and being able to use this spell correctly, it can be applied to Dueling and thus used against opponents. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm going to tell you all about the Diffindo spell this month.

Before I give you guys a history lesson, here's the basic information about the incantation in question.

Incantation: Diffindo
Pronunciation: deef-IN-doe
Type: Charm
Hand Movement:
Light: Light green or hot pink
Effect: Cuts the target

Don't ask me why it has the ability to be one of two light colors. I don't know. The best advice I could give is ask Delfina herself but .. well ... I'm sure you see the obvious problem with that.

Who's Delfina?

Don't worry. I was getting to that part.

Now then, the Diffindo spell was created by a witch named Delfina Crimp. The 'mundane task' I hinted about this being made for, originally, was making dresses. Delfina, a seamstress, made the spell in order to help make the task of cutting fabric, cloth, and thread all easier for her.

Alas, this time frame wasn't a friendly one. The fifteenth century, especially in England, had many witches and wizards being persecuted.

In order to try to 'fit in' with the crowd, Delfina pretended to be a Muggle herself.

For a while, this tactic seemed to work and her success continued to increase, as did her wealth. Naturally, people got jealous, especially if they were competitors in the tailor industry. One rival in particular was especially determined to prove Ms. Crimp wasn't normal.

Whether it was her uncanny wealth and success or something else, it still grabbed the attention of a male tailor by the name of Snickerton.

His first attempt consisted of applying for a job in Madam Crimp's shop; however, all he saw for two to four weeks was that Delfina never used scissors. Apparently though, that was enough and he was convinced she was somehow using magic.

Crazy, huh?

What's more bewildering is the fact that it almost worked.

After selecting a day, Snickerton entered Crimp's shop with a group of men to arrest her. She was bound and kept restrained while the men began to search through her shop. As the investigation continued to reveal nothing out of the ordinary, things began to look horrible for Snickerton.

So how does this story end, you may be wondering?

Delfina actually got away after asking to be released so she could scratch a wart. The men saw no harm in this and allowed her request to be fulfilled. The moment she touched the same mark on her face, it popped out and revealed the same wand Snickerton had been looking for over the past weeks. She quickly grabbed a bag of gold and Disapparated away, never to be seen again in London.

Snickerton, meanwhile, continued to try to copy her method, only to fail. Legends say he died an insane man, believing a massive pair of scissors to be following him wherever he went.

So did Deflina actually stalk Snickerton around?

I dunno. But quite honestly, I wouldn't blame her. I'd do something similar myself. Bastard got what he deserved, after all.

.... Anyway, that's my Spell of the Month!

Until next month,
Trinity Langton