What counts as Dark Magic? (was: Marauder's Map, the Marauders, and Voldemort)

[iamvine]

No: HPFGUIDX 108986

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...>
wrote:
> There are most likely, lots of ways to learn Dark Arts.  Polyjuice 
> Potion, I believe is Dark Arts. It comes from a book in the 
> restricted section and Hermione states, "This book is full of Dark 
> Magic..." paraphrased.
> 
> I am not convinced the map is not Dark Magic.  Although we're told 
> James hated Dark Arts, he liked to hex people.  And it's very easy 
> and very "human" to convince yourself that what you do is OK, but  
> what the other guy (Snape?) does is not OK.  And certainly, Black 
> would have been exposed to Dark Magic at home. Would he really know 
> where regular magic ended and Dark Magic began?

This brings up an interesting point.  Does _anybody_ know where
regular magic ends and Dark Magic begins?

Is there a definite difference, e.g. you have to be thinking evil
thoughts to perform Dark Magic?  Does it involve different techniques
from normal magic?

Or is there a continuum, with (say) the Lumos Charm at one end and
Avada Kedavra at the other, and a grey area in the middle?

Lupin calls Boggarts, Kappas and the other creatures he teaches
Harry's class about, Dark creatures.  I guess a werewolf is one of
those too.  What does being a Dark creature mean?

Is Hermione performing Dark Magic when she performs Petrificus Totalus
(sp?) on Neville?  Are Fred and George's Skiving Snackboxes Dark
magic, since they make people ill?  When is performing Dark Magic
okay?  Is Wilbert Slinkhard right to disapprove of counter-curses on
the grounds that they are curses too?

Can an otherwise good spell be used in such a way to make it Dark
Magic?  James turning Snape upside down might be one such.  If there
was a creature that could be killed by bright light, would performing
Lumos in its presence count as Dark Magic?

Arthur or Molly (can't remember which) at the end of CoS says that
Riddle's diary was "clearly full of Dark Magic".  Was it really?  If
the personality in the diary had belonged to someone good, and hadn't
tried to possess people, would it still have been Dark?  If the diary
is Dark, does that mean the Marauder's Map is too (aside from what
Snape says when it insults him)?

I do not believe that Dark Magic is the same thing as illegal magic. 
Being an unregistered Animagus is illegal because it's dangerous, like
Apparating without a license.  Professor McGonagall didn't do anything
Dark when she became an Animagus.  People who Apparate aren't doing
Dark Magic either, whether they have a license or not.

In some fantasies, magic is magic, and whether it's good or evil
depends only on how it is used.  In others, there are two separate,
mutually exclusive kinds of magic, labelled "light" and "dark"
regardless of the intentions of the people who use them.  Which is
Harry Potter?  The characters seem to think it's the second kind, but
are they right?

Any opinions?

Eleanor