Vanishing Spells

• Incantation: Evanesco (The general incantation for the Vanishing Spell)
• Pronunciation: eh-vuh-NES-koh (for Evanesco)
• Wand Movement: Unknown
• Light: None described
• Effect: Causes an object to vanish, sending it “into non-being.” It does not merely become invisible or get transported elsewhere.
• Type: Transfiguration

Vanishing Spells are a form of advanced Transfiguration that cause targeted objects to cease to exist. They are considered difficult magic and are a key part of the Ordinary Wizarding Level curriculum.

• In August 1995, Bill Weasley used a Vanishing Spell to clear a pile of scrolls from the kitchen table at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. His brother Fred Weasley later vanished his empty stew plate in a similar manner.
• During the 1995-1996 school year, Professor Severus Snape non-verbally vanished a Potion made by Harry Potter that did not meet his standards.
• Professor Minerva McGonagall taught Vanishing Spells to her fifth-year Transfiguration students. She demonstrated by vanishing a student's inkpot and set the class to practice on snails, and later, mice.
• Hermione Granger was the first student in her class to successfully vanish her snail completely.
• Harry Potter initially struggled with the spell, only managing to make his snail fade slightly. He later became proficient enough to vanish a mouse.
• In a memory viewed by Albus Dumbledore, a young Tom Riddle told Dumbledore he could “make things disappear,” suggesting an early, untrained ability to perform vanishing magic.

Vanishing is considered a significant challenge for student wizards. It is taught in the fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in preparation for O.W.L. examinations.

• Difficulty: According to Professor McGonagall, the spell's difficulty is directly related to the biological complexity of the target. Vanishing an invertebrate like a snail is far easier than vanishing a vertebrate like a mouse. Vanishing objects that are not alive is seemingly the easiest form of the spell.
• Counter-Spells: There is no known direct counter-spell to retrieve a vanished object. The magical discipline that opposes vanishing is Conjuring Spells, which bring objects into being from non-being. It is implied that once an object is properly vanished, it is gone permanently or is, at the very least, extremely difficult to recover.

The primary incantation, Evanesco, is derived directly from the Latin verb evanescere, which means “to disappear,” “to fade away,” or “to vanish.” This is a participle form, evanescens, meaning “vanishing.”

• The relationship between Vanishing Spells and Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration is complex. While Gamp's Law states that Food is one of the five Principal Exceptions and cannot be created from nothing, it can evidently be vanished. This suggests that “non-being” is a state that does not violate this fundamental magical law.
• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Professor Snape vanishes Harry's potion with a silent, sharp flick of his wand, causing the contents of the cauldron to disappear instantly. (film)