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

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 161388

> Betsy Hp:
> But it's the lack of precise definition that I'm harping on.  And
> honestly, I don't think it's a *bad* thing that the Dark Arts or
> dark magic is hard to define.  It's a bit more realistic, IMO.  But
> it also means that it's harder to judge someone based on their
> interests.
>
> And I worry that JKR is trying to eat her cake and have it too.
> She's shaky on what exactly dark magic is, but she'll have
> McGonagall praise Dumbledore for not using some unnamed powers.
> She'll have Harry think about how he despises Draco for Draco's
> interest in "dark magic" without any indication of what exactly
> Draco has expressed interest in.  (Somehow I doubt Harry caught
> Draco pouring over books telling him how to create a horcrux.)

Magpie:
Yes, that was--I snipped this part but--that's why I knew I'd remember an 
actual conversation about the subject because so many of us have wondered 
about it.  But it actually doesn't really seem to be an important part of 
the Potterverse.  Not in the way it is in something like Star Wars where you 
have it laid out as a danger and something a hero could fall to.

JKR just put up that bit about hexes and curses etc., and said they sort of 
get darker and darker, but of course we see our heroes using hexes all the 
time. There's no connection drawn between Snape making up attack curses and 
Ginny's bat bogey, which is all kinds of awesome. And when it comes to them 
doing things that we might agree are pretty dark there's always the defense 
that it's okay because it was done in righteous anger--which I admit always 
confuses me because righteous anger is a perfectly good ticket to evil. 
Snape's the kid who did seem to get seduced  by the Dark Arts and he always 
strikes me as having plenty of righteous anger.

Harry's obviously not been seduced by anything here, but it's not like he's 
not tempted.  Ironically, the first magic he's ever tempted to do is curse 
Dudley, which Hagrid cautions him against "not because it wouldn't be a good 
thing" but because he might get caught using Magic in a Muggle zone. 
There's no noting of curses as Dark Magic, just a level higher than Harry's 
at that moment.

It seems like a lot of times Dark Magic is just the Potterverse version of 
pornography: We can't define it, but we know it when we see it, and when we 
see it it's going to be Magic done by a bad guy.  So Draco's starting to 
attempt a Crucio at Harry that never goes through (he doesn't complete it so 
we don't know how strong it would have been, though to me it seems far more 
like Harry's to Bella than Bella to Neville) is Dark Magic but Harry's 
throwing a Crucio at Bella that has a limited effect but isn't quite right 
is not a problem because Harry's anger is righteous while Draco's anger in 
the bathroom isn't (it's probably more desperate and a channel for lots of 
frustrations).  But still when Harry says that Draco's obsessed with the 
Dark Arts you can't help but think about it.  Obviously Draco's always been 
loudly pro-Voldemort, he says he thinks kids should learn them like they do 
at Durmstrang, and he's quite possibly learned curses at home along with 
Occlumency.  But it's not like we see Draco doing Dark Magic much more than 
we see other kids do it.  Even the Imperio, if he cast it, is something done 
in an extreme situation.  His whole project in HBP is definitely Dark, but 
most of the time his magic's pretty standard.

We don't even really get an idea from DADA classes.  They're called Defense 
Against the Dark Arts but the class is really more just straight 
Self-Defense Against Anything Trying to Kill You.  They study Dark Creatures 
with no explanation as to why these creatures are Dark compared to others 
that we hear.  Protection against things like Inferi seems to make sense as 
presumably they're made with Dark Arts. The Patronus makes sense, but as yet 
that hasn't been taught in class that I remember.  Shields and blocks 
counter hexes and curses, which are dark, but it's understood that in a duel 
you'll be blocking and throwing curses.

I guess the difference with many universes is usually Dark Magic comes from 
a different place.  The Dark Side is a different side of the Force than the 
Light Side.  Black Magic calls on different sources that White Magic, lets 
say.  The Potterverse seems to have all magic basically be the same, and 
define it more on how you'd judge the person's actions--if it seems kinda 
evil and bad, it's Dark.  It's not about showing good people seduced by evil 
magic (even Crouch who one could say went bad, wasn't exactly seduced by 
Dark Magic that I can see).  It's more like any baddie who's also a 
Voldemort baddie is by definition seduced by the Dark Arts.

-m