Unforgiveable and dark magic

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 79228

If I might return to this item having read a number of the posts on 
the thread.

Crouch/Moody in GOF describes the three as either "unforgiveable 
curses" or "illegal curses". I took the first as it is the chapter 
heading.

My dictionary defines "curse" as "an appeal to a supernatural power 
to inflict harm on someone or something" or "a cause of harm or 
misery".

Assuming that the Wizarding World uses a similar definition, Avada 
Kevadra, Cruciatus and Imperius are /not/ seen as being used in a 
positive way. Other spells are referred to as hexes or jinxes or 
charms.

I hope that there is no death penalty in the WW -  we saw too many 
examples of miscarriages of justice in the UK while the penalty was 
still in force and one gets the impression there has to be the right 
degree of hate or power behind it - as Crouch/Moody puts it "Avada 
Kevadra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it - you 
could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the 
words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nose-bleed."

Again, some folk have suggested that the Cruciatus curse could be 
used on limited areas or in limited ways. I get the impression that 
the Cruciatus curse is a very blunt instrument:

"...before Harry could do anything to defend himself, before he could 
even move, he had been hit again by the Cruciatus curse. The pain was 
so intense, so all-consuming, that he no longer knew where he was.... 
white-hot knives were piercing every inch of his skin, his head was 
surely going to burst with pain; he was screaming more loudly than 
he'd ever screamed in his life -"

Doesn't sound very positive.....

Perhaps unforgiveable is too strong but certainly worthy of a prison 
sentence in my view.

Geoff