Severus Snape is the greyest character of the whole Harry Potter franchise. What side he is on during the second wizarding war was a question that many couldn’t answer. Snape was one of the most powerful professors of Hogwarts, standing right after Albus Dumbledore and before Minerva McGonagall.
Snape was specialized in Potions as well as Dark Arts, and always wanted to be on the position of the teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts but was kept on the position of the Potions Master for all the years of his teaching career except the last two, one of which he spent as the DADA teacher and the second as the Hogwarts headmaster.
Harry Potter was in their 6th year when Severus Snape became the DADA teacher and Horace Slughorn replaced him as the potions’ teacher. Harry and Ron, originally planning to drop potions as a subject in their 6th year, join Slughorn’s class at the last minute after being persuaded by McGonagall to do so.
Both of them didn’t have any books so Slughorn gave them two old, used books. While seeming like a normal potions book at first, Harry’s book turned out to be the opposite of a normal book. The previous owner, who called himself “The Half-Blood Prince.”
The book was full of extra tips and tricks to make potions which resulted in Harry excelling in this particular class, bypassing even Hermione. The book also contained some spells that Harry had never heard of. Concluding that the Prince must have invented those spells himself, Harry began reading that book and following all the tricks the book mentioned.
Throughout the year, Harry was figuratively worshipping the Prince until he used one of his spells, Sectumsempra, on Draco Malfoy which resulted in him being severely injured. Harry got rid of the book and after a few weeks, the night Snape killed Dumbledore, Snape revealed that the book belonged to him and that he is The Half-Blood Prince.
This proved that Snape was indeed in the line of the most powerful wizards. His excellence in potions was never questioned. But he invented spells, some of them being dangerous, at such a young age. The art of inventing spells is highly complicated, dangerous, mysterious, and requires a lot of skills. It is believed that Severus Snape created a total of seven spells while he was a student. These were Langlock, Muffliato, Sectumsempra, Vulnera Sanentur, Levicorpus, Liberacorpus, and Toenail Growing Hex.
Let’s discuss these seven spells created by Severus Snape in little more detail:
Langlock
Langlock is a jinx which causes the victim’s tongue to be glued at the roof of their mouth. The incantation is derived from the word langue which means tongue and the English word lock. This jinx is known to work on humans as well as spirits. It is used to prevent the victim from speaking. It can be used in duels so that the victim is unable to cast a spell.
Muffliato
Muffliato is a charm that causes the ears of any person, who is in the vicinity of the caster, to be filled with an unidentifiable buzzing sound. The incantation is derived from the English word, muffle, which means “to make a soundless distinct by covering its source”. This would allow the caster to have a conversation with someone without anyone else being able to overhear them.
Toenail Growing Hex
When the toenail growing hex is cast, the victim’s toenails start to grow at an alarmingly fast pace. The incantation of this hex is unknown.
Levicorpus and Liberacorpus
Levicorpus, or the dangling jinx, is a spell that is used to suspend the body of the victim by the ankles in the air. The incantation is derived from two Latin words, levare, which translates to lift, and corpus, which means body. It is a non-verbal spell but the incantation can also be said out loud and the jinx would work just fine.
The counter jinx for the dangling jinx is Liberacorpus. Its incantation is derived from the Latin words, liberare, which means to free or to liberate, and corpus. It would essentially bring the victim of Levicorpus back to the ground or free the victim from the dangling jinx.
Sectumsempra and Vulnera Sanentur
Sectumsempra is the most dangerous of all the spells that the Prince created. This spell has an effect of an invisible sword and slashes the victim when used. The incantation of sectumsempra is derived from the Latin words, Sectus, meaning cut, and Sempa, meaning always. It lacerates the victim, results in multiple, deep, slash-like wounds, and causes severe haemorrhaging.
The counter curse of Sectumsempra is Vulnera Sanentur. Its incantation is the combination of two Latin words, Vulnus, meaning wound, and Sanare meaning to heal. It is essentially a healing spell and has a song-like incantation that has to be repeated thrice for maximum effect.