Dark Magic and Snape (was:Re: CHAPDISC: HBP24, Sectumsempra)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 161365

> >>k2listmama:
> > A love of Dark Arts from a young childhood would be an          
> > indication, I think, that Snape's first term as a Death Eater   
> > was a willing service, and that would then be an argument for    
> > Evil!Snape, being that you could argue that his nature didn't    
> > change. 
> > <snip>

> Carol responds:
> <snip>
> We're meant to realize that young Snape was a genius with a dark  
> side and yet, IMO, to sympathize with him, too. We understand in   
> part why he was attracted to the DEs and yet we see affinities     
> with Harry as well.

Betsy Hp:
I guess my main issue is, and has been for a while, what exactly 
*is* dark magic?  Is it evil?  Snape identifies his curse as dark 
magic so I'll take him at his word.  But as has been pointed out 
before (by Carol, I think?) the celebrated healers in St. Mungos 
invented some pretty frightening sounding curses.  So a hurtful 
curse (which I guess is dark magic?) doesn't preclude someone from 
being good.

What I got from this particular curse is that young!Snape was 
angry.  And I'm sure that anger made him quite susceptible to 
Voldemort's temptations.  But I don't connect Voldemort with dark 
magic so much.  Mainly because JKR has failed to do so.  She's 
connected Voldemort to perversion and chaos.  But not to a specific 
form of magic (I'm comparing to Darth Vader here.)

IIRC, Hermione gets into an argument with Umbridge over this exact 
thing: what makes a spell bad or dark?  Hermione seemed to conclude 
that it depended on current fashion.

So yeah, I doubt anyone would think twice about Snape's having 
invented the Sectumsempra.  Especially as it doesn't seem to have 
required a certain mindset (as the Unforgivables apparently do). 

(I discount Hermione's opinion of the Prince here, since she was 
reacting more out of jealousy than rational thought, IMO.)

Betsy Hp