Drowning Tw - Blog Posts

This is a list of curses Severus crafted for the Dark Lord during the last six years of their Death-Eatership. These spells are commonly used by Death Eaters, and experienced Order members came across them often in the last 6 years. There are no set counters for these curses yet – they’re mostly dealt with through a patchwork of obscure spells and potions that work as often as they don’t. There’s a rumor among Order members that Severus crafted spells for the DE, but it was neither confirmed nor denied.

Feel free to include these curses in threads,  plots, and backstory in whatever way you like! If you have any questions, let me know. (pls heed the warnings)

Battle spells:

Frigus —

Freezes the major blood vessels connected to the heart. Turns the blood to ice, spreads outwards. This spell is used in battle, and the victim of this curse loses consciousness immediately. If the counter is not cast shortly after the curse, or a healer had not found a way to keep the victim alive long enough for the ice to be melted, the victim will die.

The counter for this spell was crafted shortly after Severus Snape joined the Order of the phoenix.

Sectumsempra —

Always cuts. The wand movement is ambiguous – a quick and decisive slash, in any direction, upward or downward or sideways. The victim is cut in broad slashes, like a sword flying in broad arcs. If the wand is thrust forward instead as the spell is cast, then much like a sword the magic will stab through the victim from one side and come out the other. A clean cut.

Wounds from this curse can bleed for hours and hours, and are particularly resistant to common healing spells. The spell was created by Severus Snape during his sixth year at Hogwarts, and the healing spell was created some time after his graduation, but is still an almost total unknown.

Submerso —

Fills the victim’s lungs with water so they drown while standing in land. This spell is used in battle, and the victim will react much like a drowning person would. Except, unlike a drowning victim, the water can’t be coughed back up, and the common spells used to treat drowning victims in such an emergency only increase the amount of water and hurry the victim along towards their death.

There is no known counter for this curse. Healers have begun using bastardized cleaning spells to remove the excess water instead, but the victims are often left extremely dehydrated as a result, and the struggle is always getting there in time before it’s too late.

Putredine –

Purple flames wrap around the victim like thick ropes. They don’t burn. They weaken the flesh, poison the blood. Extremely painful upon impact. If left unhealed for long periods of time the flesh rots and must be amputated. There is no designated healing spell for this curse, and healers have had to use creative and various methods to treat it’s victims. Effectiveness of treatment methods is inconsistent.

Ave –

Spell leaves small but deep wounds in the victim, like holes. The number and depth of holes depends on wand movement and strength of the spell cast. The wounds are deeply reminiscent of bullet holes. 

Flamma pulmintra –

The precursor to Cinere, the ash spell. Turns the air in the victim’s lungs scorching hot, burns the victim inside out. There is no designated healing spell for this curse, and healers have had to use creative and various methods to treat it’s victims. Effectiveness of treatment methods is inconsistent. 

Naufragi tumet –

Attacks the nerves of the affected area of the body. The nerves swell and twist into new shapes. Extremely painful upon impact, and for a time afterwards the affected body part would be useless. Healers have had to use creative and various methods to treat it’s victims. Effectiveness of treatment methods is inconsistent. 

Lapise –

Turns the victim’s flesh to stone. Upon casting will transfigure the part of the body it hits to stone, and begin a very slow and gradual spread throughout the rest of the body. The speed and duration of the transfiguration depends on the caster’s skill. it can take anywhere from hours, to days, to weeks to spread out in a noticeable rate, by then the battle will have long been over. A skilled healer or wix knowledgeable in human transfiguration can slowly and painstakingly undo the effects of the spell, but the effectiveness of that process depends on the skills of said healer itself. The spell has no official counter, as it doesn’t officially exist in any text, and is only known and used by Death Eaters.

Pavor –

The victim is suddenly and unexpectedly overwhelmed by intense, all-consuming fear and panic. The effects of this spell last anywhere from minutes to hours, and the echoes of fear linger for long afterwards. Victims of this curse would do anything from freeze mid battle, drop their wand and curl up in a ball and rock back and forth, scream, weep, run and run and run amid spellfire with no direction or logic or thought. Nothing but fear. Nothing but panic. Very few people give this spell the weight it deserves – it has no permanent physical effects and as such, survivors of this curse are given a calming draught at most and dismissed as healthy afterwards without a second thought. 

Interrogation spells:

Flore —

Seeds twist into existence within every joint of the body. They grow, and bloom, and by the end of the spell flowers have pushed their way out of shoulders, elbows, and knees, in full bloom. The only thing that will stop the flowers’ progress is speech: talk, and the pain stops. Talk, and maybe they’ll finally kill you. Victims of this curse retain full awareness and mental clarity throughout this process. The pain settles without the haze to dull it.

If the spell is canceled before the flowers have pushed their way out, the victim may live. They may suffer permanent injuries, most notably in the knees, wrists, and elbows. The seeds will remain embedded in every joint.

Shortly after joining the order, Severus Snape crafted a healing spell that heals most of the wounds inflicted by the curse, depending on the severity, and a potion to dissolve the seeds and mend the joints back together. Full recovery is not guaranteed.

Dolor —

This spell is used for torture and for extracting information from victims. When cast, the lightest of touches upon the skin would cause the most excruciating pain. Running a feather down a victim’s arm would send them screaming and weeping themselves hoarse. A sharp gust of wind would cut like knives. The weight of their clothes, the press of their shoes, the texture of the earth against the soles of their feet. Everything will cause relentless waves of pain. Being under the effects of this spell for too long is known to send victims into shock, and in extreme cases, lose their minds.

Interrogations using this spell are usually conducted by two or more Death Eaters. One to cast the spell and keep it going, and the other to ask the questions and make sure they receive an answer. Victims of this spell are treated with the same remedies a victim of the cruciateus is. Non-Death Eaters who have seen or heard of this spell often refer to it as the other cruciateus.

That one mf-ing spell:

Cinere —

The victim turns to ash. First the skin, then the muscle, then the tissue, then the bones. It's a slow and meandering process, unsteady and certain only in it’s inevitability, picking up speed and intensity only to jolt to a near halt, then meander for a while longer as if to play some more. It may take, on average, from three to seven days to complete. The victim remains alive through the entirety of the process. There is yet no known counter for this curse. Once a victim has been hit, the only thing that can be done to stop the pain is a mercy kill.

This curse was created to send a message. Powerful enemies of the Dark Lord would die slowly and painfully in plain view of their loved ones, begging for death. This curse was not used frequently so as to not reduce its impact.