From mid 1995-1998, Voldemort worked to attain power after regaining a human form - a form which he lost when he attacked the potter family in 1981. By 1997, Voldemort had succeeded and the death eaters were in place and ready to change the world. 

Laws made the dark arts legal, these laws lasted from 1997-1998, but had a strong effect.

five categories of known dark magic :

• dark spells 


• dark potions 


• dark creatures 


• dark artefacts 


• dark practices 

a dark spell is any spell cast with the intent to hurt others.

dark arts: three spell categories:

The jinx is the first and lowest level of dark spell, they won't cause much harm and are only considered an irritation, common jinxed are the tripping jinx, the stinging jinx, and the knockback jinx , these can all be used as a distraction. Some people use them as practical jokes.

The hex is the second classification of a dark spell, can do more lasting damage than a jinx, some popular ones are the hat-bogey hex, the hurling hex, and densaugeo. Those can be reversed through the use of a hex breaker.

The curse if the darkest and most dangerous form of the dark arts. These can severely harm or potentially kill, the well known ones are reductor curse , full-body bind curse , and the conjunctivitis curse. There are also the unforgivable curses that will land you a one way ticket to Azkaban.

spell blocks- wand lighting charm and the wand extinguishing charm - help you navigate dark places where there could be dangerous creatures.