Spells in Harry Potter
The Harry Potter series mentions sundry magic spells to perform such multifarious tasks as disarming one’s opponent, enlarging teeth, splitting seams, and turning small objects into birds. These spells also contain Latin roots that are reminiscent of myriad GRE vocabulary words!
Duro makes an object hard. You probably already know durable, but how about obdurate and duress?
Evanesco is a vanishing spell. Something that is evanescent doesn’t last long.
Expecto patronum creates a “patronus,” or protector. This comes from the Latin word for father, which gives us patriotic, as well as patronize, patronage, and patrician.
Fidelius is a secret-keeping spell, related to fidelity and infidel.
Wingardium leviosa is related to levitate and leaven, but also levity, a more metaphorical sense of lightness.
Incendio produces fire. Incendiary can be a noun (something that causes fire, such as a stick of dynamite or the person using it) or an adjective, and as an adjective it can mean either literally causing fire or metaphorically heating things up, as in, “Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense was viewed as incendiary by British Loyalists.”