Real Danger vs. Perceived Danger In HP-land

[Tessar]

Since I'm trying to come up with a Harry Potter adventure (my sisters and a friend expressed some interest in trying a pen and paper RPG, and they thought HP would be really fun) I've been puzzling over the idea of the real dangers of magic and what seems to actually happen most of the time in the books.

Except for a few rare occasions, the magic used in the books only resulted in comical things happening. Backfiring spells usually only had amusing results. It was only when there was an actual intention to harm that the spells seemed to have more serious results, and then it was usually different spells which were used.


Just to blow an example slightly out of proportion, using a stun spell could actually be quite serious if you think about it. Use it on someone when they're near the edge of a drop, near something sharp, or on a very hard surface and their fall could cause a considerable amount of damage. Or even having five or more stun spells hit her right in the chest didn't finish off McG., although we're to understand she was a tough old bird . I'd think something of that magnitude (and the 'intent' of the wizards was definitely hostile) would be much more serious.

If you're trying to call something to yourself, using the accio charm, and it backfires... you could accidentally send something sharp, heavy, or just generally dangerous whizzing towards yourself faster than you can dodge.

What if you use the teleporting spell incorrectly and end up with your body in one place, but your head underwater. From what I recall it was rather difficult to fix your own teleporting mistakes, although of course once you know the spells the chance of them backfiring under normal circumstances is supposed to be fairly rare.


So how do you feel the 'dangerous' side of the magic they were using was represented in Harry Potter?