Typically, the term "dark art" or "dark magic" refers to any magic where the aim is to harm or enforce control on a target in any way. While one often thinks of the horrific and extreme uses upon hearing "dark arts" (such as the killing curse and the infamous Death Eaters), the dark arts are actually fairly commonly used. For example, I would bet that for many of you - especially those who grew up with siblings - one of the first spells you mastered was likely a dark one. By this definition, your average bat-bogey hex or revulsion jinx is dark magic, as well. In this lesson we will discuss a bit about what the dark arts really are, and why it is we hear that they are banned or strongly discouraged despite being practiced almost daily by (arguably) innocent children.

The above example illustrates the first and perhaps the most important point, in a sense, that you will learn this term. The Dark Arts themselves are not inherently evil or extreme, and it does not always take a wholly wicked person to perform an excellent dark spell or brew a powerful dark potion. Many brilliant and good witches and wizards excelled at dark magic, and we will discuss some of these people later on in the term. However, the dark arts are a branch of magic wherein the lines between good work, work for education and skill-building, and work for "evil" personal gain, control, and power are very, very difficult to find. It is quite possible that they don't exist at all. As such, the dark arts should be studied with extreme caution, and only those with great self-control and self-awareness should study them extensively.

The dark arts have been theorized for some time now to draw their power from the tarnishing, damaging, and destruction of one's soul. We have three pieces of evidence to support this theory. First, those who practice them extensively may see physical changes in their body: for example, one of the most prominent users of all time, Tom Riddle, gained a serpentine appearance and red eyes after many years of practice (among other horrible consequences). Second, dark magic is known to be one of the most difficult branches of magic to perform as it requires intense emotional and psychological investment into the aim of the spell. It is not enough, for example, to simply say the incantation "crucio" to cast the Cruciatus curse - the caster must have a deep, personal desire to cause lasting pain and harm for its own sake, and the stronger they desire it, the more effective the curse will be. It can be easy to see, then, how one might damage their soul in practicing dark magic; continually allowing yourself to intensely feel and act upon your negative emotions towards others is a slippery slope. Being in that hateful and vengeful frame of mind so often could easily corrupt a person and blind them from the far more fruitful areas of life. The final bit of evidence we have for the theory that the dark arts draw their power from harming the soul is from a key to the creation of the most powerful dark artifact: a Horcrux. A horcrux requires the splitting of one's soul to be successful, and in order to do this, the person who wishes to create a horcrux must commit murder. As the horcrux is considered the darkest artifact, killing with magic has come to be known as "the darkest art" (technically, along with horcrux creation - killing to gain immortality). Thus, the ultimate act of soul-tarnishing is literally ripping it into pieces, which not only requires what is considered the darkest magic, but results in the darkest magic/artifact being produced. This is our final and perhaps most convincing piece of evidence to support our theory of dark magic.

Injuries caused by dark magic may never fully heal. Sometimes this is because the injuries are deeply psychological - for example, someone who has been under the Imperius curse for a long time, carrying out another's likely sinister commands, would be very psychologically damaged. The precise reason why physical wounds inflicted by dark magic do not properly heal is currently unknown, however. Based on how dark magic works, my personal theory is that the malicious intent behind a curse lingers long after the curse itself is "gone" (or cast), and this interferes with or prevents the healing magic. There is, however, one type of magic (or power from the soul) which is strong enough to offer substantial protection against the dark arts: love. If the road to being corrupted by the dark arts is staying in a negative frame of mind and taking your frustrations out on other people, then the opposite is letting things go, seeking the support of people you can count on, and giving support, too. As such, I hope those of you who wish to pursue further studies of the dark arts are also surrounded by dear friends and/or family. Our greatest evidence for the power of love to protect against dark magic is, of course, Harry Potter and his mother, Lily Potter. Lily sacrificed her life to protect Harry's, and as such, Harry Potter survived a killing curse - the darkest spell - with just one rather small scar on his forehead. While fascinating, the nuances of sacrificial protection are a bit outside our intended topics; I'm sure many of you have learned about it, or will, in Defense Against the Dark Arts class or Charms, anyways.

As I mentioned before, dark magic is not inherently evil or bad. People, from children to magical law enforcement alike, practice forms of dark magic; children in the form of minor jinxes and hexes, and law enforcement like Aurors may cast the killing curse or other more severe jinxes and hexes from time to time. Likewise, there are many types of magic that are not considered dark, but which could also cause serious harm; the severing charm could seriously injure or even kill a person if the caster wanted, as could fire-creating spells. One might cast the Disarming Charm on their opponent with the intention of making them utterly defenseless from further attack, rather than mainly attempting to cease a fight. You might heal someone only in hopes of them owing you. On a magical level, it is currently unclear whether these bad intentions would make the spells "dark", which is to say, that they would damage the soul in order to draw power from that process. On a legal level, the lines are just as blurry. While the dark arts are strongly discouraged (for both study and practice) by the Ministry, there are no laws in place for the majority of dark arts: only three curses are illegal, where casting them results in a lifetime sentence to Azkaban Prison. Additionally, an entire strip of shops (Knockturn Alley) is dedicated to different facets of the dark arts and its patrons, so some aspects of the dark arts must be considered socially and legally acceptable, in some ways at least.