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As a fifth year in Hogwarts, you’ve begun working as a part-time spellchecker, earning gold to pay off your costly tuition. First years and second years, who are just getting the hang of crafting their own spells, often have inadvertent misspellings in their magical studies. As a spellchecker, it is your job to determine what their mistake was in transcribing, and find the spell they intended to create. Today, you have six requests:

Habry Fotter: I wanted to summon a geyser to defeat my opponents in Dueling Club, but this spell only summons a little cookie monster that follows me around… I guess it’s cute, though.

Altus Fumbledore: I was trying to transfigure myself to be younger, but I ended up with a charm that protects my jaw from curses.

Don Geasley: I was trying to cast a new spell to make Buckbeak and the other creatures to follow me, but all I ended up doing was having incessant thoughts about supper!

Noville Langbottom: I wanted to become tougher and harder…you know, so those insults don’t get to me as much. I tested it out in the dining hall, but all it did was to make pastries around me rotate!

Odraco Malfo: I tried to revive this dead mouse I found—for, er, research purposes. But all it did was summon a loud voice saying “Good work, soldiers.” I’m confused!

Hormione Branger: I was researching alternatives for 'wingardium leviosa' and stumbled upon this spell. I tried it and instead of making me fly, it only summoned shining halos.

Can you help these students out?

For those who need a little hint, here's an example of a typical misspelling that you encounter daily:

the spell LEAD PIG is intended to make swines follow you, but a student may accidentally cast HEAD BIG, which has the effect of making your enlarging your noggin.

And another minor hint if you can't find the right incantation:

Look at the names of the students! They may suggest what types of errors were made in each of their spells.

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  • $\begingroup$ Oh, that first hint will doubtless prove very helpful! I'd been thinking of rot13(qbt Yngva). $\endgroup$
    – msh210
    Commented Feb 19 at 9:04

1 Answer 1

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The typos:

1 - Habry Fotter:

'I wanted to summon a geyser to defeat my opponents in Dueling Club, but this spell only summons a little cookie monster that follows me around… I guess it’s cute, though.'

WATER JET -> WAFER PET (Thanks @NoName for 'JET' -> 'PET')

2 - Altus Fumbledore:

I was trying to transfigure myself to be younger, but I ended up with a charm that protects my jaw from curses.

REGAIN YOUTH -> RETAIN MOUTH

or my original unintended answer:

RETRIEVE YOUTH -> REPRIEVE MOUTH

3 - Don Geasley:

'I was trying to cast a new spell to make Buckbeak and the other creatures to follow me, but all I ended up doing was having incessant thoughts about supper!'

BECKON BEAST -> RECKON FEAST

4 (found by @Stiv) - Novill Langbottom:

'I wanted to become tougher and harder…you know, so those insults don’t get to me as much. I tested it out in the dining hall, but all it did was to make pastries around me rotate!'

STONE SKIN -> SCONE SPIN

5 - Odraco Malfo:

'I tried to revive this dead mouse I found—for, er, research purposes. But all it did was summon a loud voice saying “Good work, soldiers.” I’m confused!'

RAISE CORPSE -> PRAISE CORPS (E)

6 - Hormione Branger:

'I was researching alternatives for 'wingardium leviosa' and stumbled upon this spell. I tried it and instead of making me fly, it only summoned shining halos.'

GROW WING -> GLOW RING

Note as @Stiv points out in the comments:

The letters that change have to match the letters that change in the characters name. So if the first letter of the name is wrong, the typo will be the first letter!

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  • $\begingroup$ I think it's an important consideration that rot13(gur yrggref lbh arrq gb punatr fubhyq zngpu gur cbfvgvbaf bs gur yrggref punatrq va gur UC punenpgre anzrf. Fb V guvax 4 fubhyq or F[G]BAR F[X]VA gb F[P]BAR F[C]VA jurer vg'f gur frpbaq yrggre punatrq va rnpu pnfr. Guvf zvtug punatr lbhe ivrjf ba fbzr bs lbhe bgure nafjref...) (I also have related alternatives - in that one word matches - for 3, 5 and 6. I wonder if this might take multiple answerers to land the intended answers!) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Feb 19 at 12:59
  • $\begingroup$ I was thinking of rot13(jngre->rngre) for that first one, but also could not think of the other word. $\endgroup$
    – Jaap Scherphuis
    Commented Feb 19 at 16:00
  • $\begingroup$ I think these look much stronger now :) FWIW my other 'solves' were rot13(YRNQ ORNFGF gb URNQ SRNFGF, ENVFR ENG gb CENVFR EN naq TEBJ JVATF gb TYBJ EVATF. V nyfb unq JNSRE naq ZBHGU sbe 1 naq 2 ohg abg gur frpbaq cnegf sbe rvgure, fb irel fvzvyne!) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Feb 19 at 16:50
  • $\begingroup$ Almost there! Your last three are correct, although for #6, my intended solution was rot13(TEBJ JVATF -> TYBJ EVATF). You are on the right track for #1, the first word is indeed rot13(JNSRE)! For #2 and #3, the first words are different from my intended solutions. For #2, think of word that means something more like rot13(gnxr onpx) and for #3, think of one that means rot13(pnyy). $\endgroup$
    – spherical-wug-in-a-vacuum
    Commented Feb 19 at 17:43
  • $\begingroup$ I've figured out the first one! A geyser is a rot13(jngre wrg), and a monster that follows you around is a type of rot13(crg) $\endgroup$
    – No Name
    Commented Feb 19 at 18:33

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