Episkey

Episkey is the working witch or wizard's everyday healing charm — the spell you cast on yourself or a friend when something has gone wrong but isn't disastrous. Cast at a minor injury, it produces a brief warm sensation and then a small, audible click as the body repairs itself. Broken noses straighten. Split lips close. Shallow cuts seal. Bruises fade.

The charm's most memorable on-page use comes from Nymphadora Tonks, who heals Harry's broken nose with a quick Episkey after Draco Malfoy stamps on his face on the Hogwarts Express in Half-Blood Prince. The casting is fluid and casual — Tonks barely thinks about it — and the scene captures something true about the charm: most adult witches and wizards know it well enough to use it on autopilot, and a properly trained healer can run through a dozen Episkeys in the time it takes to set up a single tea kettle.

Episkey has limits. It works on cuts, breaks, bruises, sprains, and similar small injuries. It does not work on serious wounds, on magical injuries (Sectumsempra, the Cruciatus aftermath, dark-magic damage), on broken bones requiring resetting, or on anything inside the body that the caster cannot see. For those, the wizarding curriculum reaches for dedicated healing magic — Vulnera Sanentur for dark wounds, the Skele-Gro potion for bone regeneration, the broader healers' repertoire at St. Mungo's.

The charm sits in nearly every working wizard's daily repertoire alongside Reparo and the cleaning charms — one of the small, useful magics that distinguishes a fluent witch or wizard from a hesitant one.