Bubble-head charm

I’ve been building a series of MOCs lately to cover different scenes from the Goblet of Fire, including the Second Challenge of the Tri-wizard Tournament. The Rescue from the Merpeople set from 2005 gave us contestants Harry Potter and Viktor Krum. To allow them to swim underwater for an hour, Harry used gillyweed, and Viktor transformed partially into a shark. The other two contestants, Fleur Delacour and Cedric Diggory were however not included in the set, and both used the bubble-head charm to help them. This is how I added them…

This is the first in a series of posts covering various charms in the Harry Potter universe. For this, I’ve chosen the bubble-head charm, which were used in both the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The bubble-head charm is a charm that produces a bubble around the caster’s head, giving them a supply of fresh air in environments, where this is not otherwise available, including underwater. Its most well known from its use during the second challenge of the Tri-wizard Tournament, which took place in the Great Lake.

The four contestants were to rescue persons dear to them. Both Cedric Diggory, who was to rescue Cho Chang, and Fleur Delacour, who should rescue her little sister Gabrielle, used the bubble-head charm to allow them to breathe underwater for the full hour the challenge lasted.

The challenge is also discussed in my post about the merpeople, where I presented a MOC (my own creation) of the challenge based around the old set 4762 Rescue from the Merpeople from 2005. But that MOC did not feature the bubble-head charm – I’ve added that since. The additions include Cedric and Fleur both with bubble-head charms as well as Cho, who is being rescued by Cedric.

To simulate the bubble-head charm, I used the transparent Cylinder Hemisphere piece. You will need two half pieces for each character.

The piece is somewhat rare, as most sets it was included in are dating back 10 years or so. It was for example used for lampposts in one of the early Winter Village sets.

The pieces are almost perfect to simulate the bubble-head charms, though the size of the hair piece you can fit underneath is rather limited.

“Harry looked up and saw Cedric swimming toward them. There was an enormous bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched.”

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

It should be noted that in the movie adaptation, the charm instead creates a bubble around the mouth and nose only, similar to the area covered by an oxygen mask, not the entire head.

The bubble-head charm was also used by older Hogwarts students in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when walking from class to class. This was to avoid the smell of the dung bombs and stink pellets bought from the Weasley Twins, which were used regularly at the school as a sign of resistance against Delores Umbridge.

I’ll add more stories about charms in the coming months. I will also showcase some of the Goblet of Fire MOCs I’ve been building.

Till then, Build the Magic!