Motivations for Joining DEs (Was: Bullying)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 141127

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nrenka" <nrenka at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Kemper <iam.kemper at g...> 
wrote:
> 
> >  Kemper now:
> > Snape suggests Sectumserpra is Dark Magic:
> > "Who would have thought you knew such Dark Magic?"
> > Sure, Reducto used on someone (if it works on living beings) 
could 
> > be could be used for Dark purpose, but it is not Dark Magic. Dark 
> > Magic is about the intent of the Magic being created. 
Sectumserpra 
> > cut always?) wasn't created to shred paper, it was created with 
> > the intention of hurting/maiming another human being, and that is 
> > what makes it Dark.  Is there any consensus?

Nora:
> Upthread someone else asked about Obliviate, so now I think I have 
> what could be used to make a distinction, although I'm not sure I 
buy 
> it.  It's the classic difference between necessary and sufficient; 
or 
> another angle on the same idea is whether it has any other 
> purpose/use.
> 
> I believe you are right in saying that Sectumsempra is necessarily 
> Dark--it has no other good uses, and it always hurts/maims another 
> human being.  Obliviate *can* be used to harm another human being, 
> but it's not necessarily used that way.
> 
> This is by no means airtight, but I think it's a criterion worth 
> considering.

Geoff:

I commented fairly recently (in message 140757) on a discussion on 
Latin in spells....

<quote>
He had already met Rictusempra earlier:

'Harry pointed his wand straight at Malfoy and shouted "Rictusempra". 
A jet of silver light hit Malfoy in the stomach and he doubled up, 
wheezing...

...Harry had hit him with a Tickling Charm and he could barely move 
for laughing.'

(COS "The Duelling Club" pp.143-44 UK edition)

This may have been a fairly harmless spell but its structure is of 
note. "Rictus" is a "grin" or "open mouth" and "sempra" is derived 
from "semper" meaning "always".  "Sectumsempra" shares part of its 
name. "Sectum" is the supine of the verb "secto" - to cut and 
means "in order to cut". Add on "sempra" and you have a spell which 
apparently makes permanent cuts. It is fortunate that Snape was 
around otherwise I think it possible that Draco could have bled to 
death. It was certainly very stupid of Harry to use an untried spell 
without attempting to determine its meaning.
</quote>

The very use of the "-sempra" suffix implies that this was meant as 
an attacking spell and that is underlined by what is written in the 
Potions book...

"Harry was about to put his book away again when he noticed the 
corner of a page folded down; turning to it, he saw the Sectumsempra 
spell, captioned 'For Enemies', that he had marked a few weeks 
previously. He had still not found out what it did..."

(HBP "Sectumsempra" p.484 UK edition)

Surely, this should have screamed out "Danger" at Harry if he had 
really thought about it because how can it have any use other than a 
dark purpose?