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

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 161389

Betsy Hp wrote:
> > 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.

Carol responds:
I did mention the entrail-expelling curse recently, but I got the idea
from Sydney:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/147903

I do think it could do some nasty damage in a duel or battle, but Jen
could be right that it's a crude form of (or attempt at) healing. I
don't really see it, though.
> 
> Potioncat:
> Oh, I have some canon, only I cannot get to it. JKR recently updated 
> her website with a description of hexes, jinxes, charms, etc. I 
> cannot navigate that very busy page on my very dark monitor. Can 
> someone find it and post it?
> 
> JKR says that hexes and jinxes are sort of Dark. In my mind it was 
> along the line of a little Dark...or maybe it's the difference 
> between Dark and dark (someone here uses that comparison)
<snip>
> 
> So Dark Magic could start out innocently enough. A jinx here, a hex 
> there. Someone like young Snape with a great deal of resentment and
a bit of paranoia could go too far.
>
Carol responds:
It does seem that there's a continuum, with the Unforgiveables near
the Dark end and Horcruxes as Darkest of all. The spell/potion that
resurrected Voldemort, and for that matter, the potion and spells that
gave him fetal form, are also extremely Dark. Most Charms, OTOH,
especially Wingardium Leviosa, which only causes an object to float or
hover, seem like what might be called Light Magic.

I looked up "black magic" on the Internet to see if it would help me
to define JKR's Dark Magic and discovered several definitions ranging
from evil to unnatural, with a component of selfishness on the
practitioner's part in some cases. But it seems to me that *all* magic
is "unnatural" in the sense that it doesn't occur in nature, which is
why characters ranging from Vernon Dursley to LOTR's Sam Gamgee
("Don't turn me into anything unnatural!") are afraid of it. So evil,
selfishness, degree of permanence and harm to other, degree of
violation of nature, tampering with the will or rights of others (the
Unforgiveables) all might be components. I would think that curses
without a countercurse would be Dark, as would poisons without
antidotes. There seems to be a component of gruesomeness as well, from
the items on sale in Borgin and Burke's to (I htate to say it) the
slimy things floating in jars in Snape's office. And yet almost the
very first thing we see in Diagon Alley is a shop that sells beetle
eyes to the general public as potion ingredients. It's all very confusing.

It's apparent, though, that the WW has a pretty good idea of what the
Dark Arts consist of. Durmstrang teaches them, Hogwarts teaches
defense against them. Draco says that "we" (Death Eaters) don't need
defense against them (perhaps at this point he's still wishing to
learn the Dark Arts instead of DADA). Harry knows instantly when he
enters 12 GP that he's in a house belonging to Dark wizards (all the
Slytherin symbols in combination with gruesomeness, I suppose). And
yet I think it's possible to misjudge a witch or wizard based on
appearances, for example, little James assuming that little Severus is
infatuated by the Dark Arts. All those "curses" he knew or invented at
eleven must have been hexes or jinxes along the lines of the toenail
hex. Sectumsempra, invented when he was about sixteen (late fifth year
if it's really the spell used in the Pensieve scene, sixth year after
the Prank if it's a Darker revision of that earlier spell) is the
first sign that he's heading toward Darkness. Maybe that and an
"unnatural" gift for Potions, which does not seem to be James's forte.

It may help to look at the creatures that are classified as Dark,
which also seem to be ranked as minor (Boggarts, Kappas, Grindylows)
and major (Basilisks, Werewolves [sorry, Lupin!], Dementors). Inferi,
though not creatures, are also very Dark, the creation of Dark
wizards. The distinction here seems to be degree of danger combined
with willingness or desire to kill. (A Basilisk or an Inferius is
essentially a killing machine with no other purpose.)

Does that help at all, Betsy? If you or I were struck with a hex that
caused tentacles or fungus growths to sprout from our face, we'd think
that was pretty Dark magic because we'd be helpless against it, but to
a wizard, who could probably cure it with Finite Incantatem or some
other simple countercurse, it would be only slightly darker than Jelly
Legs. Possibly any hex or jinx or minor curse that can be fended off
with a Protego isn't very Dark, in their view? But a cursed object
like the opal necklace would be Dark because it appears innocous but
is actually deadly to the touch. There's no defense against it for the
unwary or unwarned (unless you barely touch it through a hole in your
glove and Snape is on hand to identify the curse and stop it in its
tracks before it does further harm).

Carol, who also finds the "counterjinxes" passage confusing and is
aware of no *specific* counterjinxes or counterhexes in any case, only
finite Incantatem and Protego (and whatever Snape is silently doing to
deflect Harry's hexes, which is self-defense and harmless to his
opponent and therefore not Dark)