Domain: Eukarya

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebreta

Class: Mammalia

Subclass: Theria

Infraclass: Eutheria

Order: Primates

Suborder: Anthropoidea

Superfamily: Hominoideia

Family: Hominidae

Genus: Homo

Species: sapiens

One theory of magic: Electricity and Magic are incompatible. Magic is like anti-Electricity, except a little different in some ways. Like we have electricity powering our brains, wizards have magic. The incantations of spells are calculated based on what they do. Certain effects of magic are tied to different parts of the brain - the magical brain, which is structure differently from ours. These parts, in turn, send messages to the mouth to say different combinations of letters. When the signal is sent down the neurons, if the person concentrates on preforming magic as well, more magic rides those neurons, out of the brain, and split up to hurtle down the wand. The wand understands the intent and drew on whatever magic was available (generally the wizard’s) to make it happen. This is why Arithmancers (and Hermione) generally became very annoyed when people use Latin to make up spells. In Roman times, wizards and Muggles coexisted (albeit unequally - legends of gods had come from somewhere, after all) and Latin had been taken from spells and edited, not the other way around. Oh, and untrained magic drives people insane. The girls who started the Salem Witch Trials were actually witches, driven insane by their magic.