Overview

Wingardium Leviosa, also known as the Levitation Charm, was a charm that caused items to float or fly. First-year students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were taught it.
The Levitation Charm remained the original and best of levitation magic, despite several inferior variants, including the Levitation Spell, the Hover Charm, the Rocket Charm, and the Floating Charm.

Effects

With the ability to both raise objects high into the air and move them around magically while in the air, the Levitation Charm seemed to be an enhancement over the Levitation Spell, Locomotion Charm, and/or Hover Charm. As demonstrated when Ron Weasley used this spell to hoist a troll's club—something a first-year Hogwarts student would never be able to do without magic—it also conveniently defied gravity, lifting objects that were heavier than a person would typically be able to carry.
Although the spell's final result was dependent on the object's weight and the caster's skill, it could raise almost anything. Although raising up to three objects at once was thought to be extremely challenging, it was even able to levitate numerous objects simultaneously using the same casting.
The wizard's wrist should be kept relaxed to facilitate the "swish and flick" motion of the wand.
But despite all of its advantages, the Levitation Charm had one fatal flaw: it didn't work on people. Although this charm may make a human levitate, the real effect was on the person's clothing. The charm did not permit the genuine flying that most other items could experience, presumably because it was not strong enough to enable a human to do more than float a few feet off the ground using this technique.
The General Counter-Spell could undo the effects of this charm.

History

Warlock Jarleth Hobart is credited with creating the Levitation Charm, which was initially devised in the sixteenth century.
In a public display of his own revolutionary charm, Hobart invited a sizable group of wizards, including the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, to see his "maiden flight" on July 16. After giving a number of speeches and a stirring rendition of the national anthem, he ascended to the roof of his neighborhood church and, after casting the spell, he leaped to the air. He appeared to have been successful at first, but after he had been hanging in midair for almost three minutes, the audience became impatient and jeered him.
Hobart attempted to move in midair in reaction to the catcalls, beginning to swim vigorously, but this had little effect. The clothes, not Hobart, were holding him up in the air because they had been charmed by the Levitation Charm. Hobart stripped because he thought that his clothing was making him heavier and limiting his movement, which caused him to plummet ten feet to the ground below. In 1544, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot fined him for "outrageous silliness" after he broke sixteen bones when he fell on the ground entirely nude.
After being embarrassed, Hobart went home and discovered that, depending on the object's weight and the spellcaster's skill, his spell might cause it to levitate for variable periods of time. He also came to the conclusion that while it was possible to levitate tiny animals or even children, once they were in the air, they had no control over their movement.
As a result, he made a second announcement, and a larger audience showed up to witness his second spell performance (hoping for another chuckle at his expense). Initially, Hobart's demonstration was far more effective than the first one because he demonstrated to the audience how simple it was for him to levitate everything from small rocks to fallen trees. Hobart made the decision to float the Chief Warlock's hat as a finale; nevertheless, he was able to levitate the Chief's wig, revealing his bald head to the assembled audience. The Warlock levitated the Chief's robes over his head and fled, while the Chief was not amused and was adamant about dueling Hobart.

During their first year of Charms classes, pupils also learned how to perform this spell for the first time. In their second and third years, they made revisions. The Levitation Charm was one of the questions on the theoretical Charms O.W.L. exam. To Ronald Weasley's chagrin, Hermione Granger was the first pupil in her class to levitate a feather.

Credits/References

Written by Desmond Gray
Base code by Andrew Sutherland, edited by Iselin Merilä and Desmond Gray.