Accio

Accio is one of the most useful spells a witch or wizard can master — the Summoning Charm. Cast with the target object clearly in mind, it lifts the object off whatever it's resting on and flies it across whatever distance separates it from the caster, landing in the caster's hand or at their feet. The Latin verb accire means "to call to oneself," and the spell does exactly that.

Accio is fourth-year Charms, taught by Professor Flitwick, and Harry's preparation for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament — practicing the Summoning Charm relentlessly with Hermione until he can summon his Firebolt from Hogwarts to the dragons' enclosure — is one of the major skill-acquisition arcs of the early books. The cast is straightforward in incantation but demands a clear, specific mental image of the target. A vague Accio summons the closest matching object; a specific Accio ("Accio Firebolt!") reaches across great distance to retrieve exactly what the caster wants.

Range scales with caster power. A weak Accio summons a quill from across the room. A confident one pulls a broomstick from a locked broom shed half a mile away. There is no theoretical upper limit on distance, but the charm gets unreliable past the caster's natural range, and certain materials and magical wards can block it entirely. Most importantly, deeply protected objects — Horcruxes, the Goblet of Fire during the Triwizard, Hogwarts's heavily warded artifacts — cannot be Accio'd at all. The charm assumes a baseline cooperation from the magical universe, and some objects refuse.

There is also a moral dimension worth flagging. Accio'ing something that doesn't belong to you is theft, and Accio'ing something out of someone's hand is closer to assault. The charm itself is neutral; the use is what's judged. In wizarding law, an Accio cast at a wand in someone else's possession is treated more or less the same as Expelliarmus, with similar legal consequences.