Petrificus Totalus

The Full Body-Bind Curse — Petrificus Totalus, despite the name, is more often classified as a Charm — locks a target's body completely rigid for the duration of the spell. Arms snap to the sides. Legs press together. The eyes stay open and aware. If the target was standing when struck, they fall like a felled tree, conscious the whole way down.

What makes Petrificus Totalus distinct from other immobilization spells is what it doesn't do: it doesn't render the victim unconscious. They can see, hear, think, and feel everything happening around them. They simply can't move. That awake-and-trapped quality makes it less useful in pure combat — where you usually want the target out of the fight entirely — and more useful in stealth and capture situations, where you may need the target alive and intact for questioning.

Hermione Granger's first-year demonstration of the spell on Neville Longbottom is the textbook image. The trio were trying to sneak out of the Gryffindor common room past the Stone, Neville had stationed himself in their path on principle, and Hermione, after a moment's regret, dropped him with a clean cast and stepped over him. The whole sequence captures the spell's everyday utility: efficient, non-lethal, and just embarrassing enough that the victim never quite forgets it.

The counter-spell is the standard Finite Incantatem, which releases the binding and lets the target move again. Strong-willed wizards can sometimes shake off the curse on their own as the caster's concentration fades, particularly if the cast was rushed or weak. But against a confident Body-Bind from a competent witch, you are simply going to lie there until someone comes to release you.