Daydream Charms

• Type: Magical Device, Patented Charm
• Owners: Customers of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
• Maker: Fred and George Weasley

Daydream Charms are a magical product sold at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. They are packaged in boxes that prominently feature the product's name and a description of its effects and limitations. The packaging seen by Harry Potter reads: One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under-sixteens. The physical form of the charm itself is not described in the novels. The product is the spell's effect, which is activated by the user after purchase.

The primary function of a Daydream Charm is to induce a powerful and realistic daydream in the user.

• Effect: The charm creates a high-fidelity, immersive daydream that lasts for a standardized thirty minutes. This makes it ideal for use during a typical Hogwarts class period.
• Activation: The user must speak a “simple incantation” to activate the charm. The specific incantation is not revealed in the books.
• Detectability: The charms are marketed as being “virtually undetectable,” making them a tempting product for students wishing to escape boring lessons without being caught by professors like Professor Snape or Professor McGonagall.
• Side Effects: While under the charm's influence, the user takes on a “vacant expression” and may experience “minor drooling,” which are the only outward signs of its use.
• Restrictions: Due to the powerful nature of the charm, its sale is legally restricted to witches and wizards aged sixteen or over.

Daydream Charms were invented and patented by Fred and George Weasley as a key product in their WonderWitch line, which also included items like Guaranteed Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher. The charms represent a sophisticated development beyond their earlier schoolboy pranks like Skiving Snackboxes, moving from faking physical illness to providing a complex mental escape. The fact that the charms are “Patented” signifies that the Weasley twins successfully registered their invention with the Ministry of Magic's Patents Office, cementing their status as legitimate and brilliant magical inventors. They were sold at the twins' wildly successful shop at Number Ninety-Three, Diagon Alley beginning in the summer of 1996.

Daydream Charms are introduced in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince during Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger's first visit to the bustling Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. The product serves as a powerful symbol of the defiant humor and escapism that the Weasley twins offered the wizarding world during the dark days of the Second Wizarding War. The existence and popularity of such a product highlight a collective desire for a temporary reprieve from the fear and gloom spread by Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The charms are a testament to Fred and George's creative genius and entrepreneurial spirit, showing how they turned their talent for rule-breaking at Hogwarts into a thriving business that brought light and laughter to a grim time.

• In the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game, Daydream Charms appear as a collectible item. However, their function is changed; they are used as an ingredient for brewing potions like Puking Pastilles in the Potions Club, which is inconsistent with their described purpose in the novel. (video game)