8 Severus Snape**

Draco's routine was usually quite busy. During weekdays, just like children in school, Draco had lessons. However, it wasn't like he enjoyed all of them.

Particularly, he didn't care much for Finance or Mathematics. It wasn't that the subjects themselves were uninteresting. The thing was, in his last life Draco worked as a financial consultant in a pretty big company. He already knew all there was to know about elementary math and finance, however, it wasn't like he could show it to his tutors.

It was abnormal enough that he knew Russian and French, even though he never learned these languages as Draco Malfoy. That was a fun thing to explain to his parents. He didn't want a repeat.

These repetitive lessons constantly put Draco to sleep, so it was understandable that he didn't feel quite awake when he went out of his study room, where a lesson on managing personal finances just finished.

Draco was yawning loudly, with a hand covering half of his face, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a giant black shadow standing right in front of him in the dimly lit corridor. Draco loudly yelped and swung his hand as if to defend, or to attack (he himself didn't know what he wanted to do with it). The boy's inattention resulted in him tripping over his own feet and falling backwards, pulling with himself a stand on which a porcelain vase was placed.

'CRASH'

Silence.

Draco carefully opened his eyes, which were subconsciously closed during the circus-worthy fall. Now, feeling very much awake, he carefully squinted at the 'black shadow' which almost caused his second death in a few months.

Wouldn't that bring shame to all transmigrators out there?

"Well," a smooth male said slowly. "I certainly didn't expect that our first meeting would be so dramatic."

Before Draco was standing Severus Snape, his godfather.

"Mother will kill me when she finds out I broke her favorite vase," was the only thing Draco came up with in response.

---

As it turned out, Narcissa Malfoy wasn't worried about the vase since it could be easily repaired with magic.

Draco, who was once a muggle: ...

Severus Snape came to visit the Malfoy manor for the first time in six years. It was also the first meeting between him and his godson (if one doesn't count the visits when Draco was still a baby).

After Voldemort was vanquished, the Death Eaters were actively pursued and put to Azkaban. Even though Severus was also one of the Dark Lord's servants, during his trial Albus Dumbledore announced that he was innocent because during the war he provided intelligence to the 'Light side'.

To avoid suspicion that came with the Dark Lord's mark, Severus avoided families that were known or suspected to have sided with Voldemort during the war. Malfoy family was one of them.

Now, after years of proving himself, Severus Snape could finally restart his interactions with pureblood circles. Malfoy family was, of course, one of the few he was actually close to, so it came as no surprise when, after receiving Lucius' invitation for dinner, Severus agreed to come. He could also finally see his godson, who was already quite grown up.

"So, Severus, you have already met Draco," Narcissa started the conversation when everyone was finally seated around the table for dinner.

"Yes, it was a very... unforgettable meeting," slowly replied the dark-haired man as he cut into his steak.

Draco coughed awkwardly and eyed his father for help. It seemed that Lucius caught his son's glance because he changed the topic with the following words:

"Severus, Draco started learning Potions a few months ago and he is already quite proficient for his age. Just last week, I believe, he made Burn-healing paste with his tutor. Do you have any advice for him?"

Draco sighed with relief and turned his attention to the Potions Master, who started discussing Burn-healing paste preparation's variations.

The dinner turned out to be unexpectedly pleasant.

---

After his first visit to the Malfoy manor, Severus Snape became a frequent guest. Draco found the man to be quite alright, despite his constant mocking and sarcastic words.

Sometimes, the boy and the man stayed a long time after dinner, discussing Draco's classes - particularly Potions. Often times they also discussed magical theory, news which they read in Daily Prophet and Severus' students. The last topic was a sore spot for the man, so Draco learned to avoid it.

One time the conversation stopped at Dark magic.

"My tutor never really explained - why is Dark magic getting banned by the Ministry?" Draco asked, curiously leaning in to hear the answer.

His godfather's cup of tea paused midway to his mouth when he heard the question. After a short, contemplative silence he replied:

"It has a lot to do with muggleborns coming to our world. Muggles create a lot of stories where anything, which has the word 'dark', is considered as 'bad' or 'evil'. When muggleborns are introduced to magic, they automatically categorize Light magic as good and Dark as evil. Of course, at school they should learn how it really is, however, it's not that simple. When muggleborns come back home during their summer vacations, to their muggle parents, and tell them how they learned Dark magic in school..."

Severus paused and took a big gulp of tea. Then he continued:

"When muggles find out what their children are learning, they get scared and, in some cases, even try to pull out their children from school. This creates a lot of trouble because the Ministry can't exactly let untrained magical children roam the country. However, erasing muggle parents' memories also creates conflicts and muggleborns protest such actions. Thus, schools tend to ignore Dark magic altogether in their curriculum. This is also the reason why magical theory is not a separate class - teachers only tell students the basics of the magical theory which is required for their subject to be understood. If muggleborns learned about Dark magic and what it really is at school, they would naturally want to practice it, so a vicious circle is created."

"Well, I understand now why it isn't taught at Hogwarts... and why Durmstrang Academy is well known for teaching Dark magic and not accepting muggleborns. However, what I don't get is why after witches and wizards finish school, they aren't allowed to practice it as they want."

"There are three reasons," said Severus. "The first reason is related to what I already explained - muggleborns, who don't learn about the Dark magic at school, naturally still hold some misconceptions about it and frown upon its use."

"And the rest?" asked Draco.

"The second one is a bit more complicated. To put it simply, when a witch or a wizard uses a Dark magic spell, its first requirement is emotion. As you know, magic is everywhere around us. Witches and wizards are only containers, which can store magic inside themselves and have the ability to use it directly.

Some magical theorists believe that emotions come from the soul, therefore while our magical cores, restricted by physical bodies, can only hold a small amount of magic, souls can hold a lot more. So when we cast a Dark magic spell, we actually use emotions to access our soul's magical reserves.

However, such usage has a cost - the more Dark magic one uses, the more it affects our emotions and through them - even the soul can be affected. This influence is not always positive.

For example, if someone likes to use Cruciatus curse, which causes pain, they have to imagine their target in pain every time they cast it. This desire to cause pain drains some of the soul's magical reserves every time and gradually, the soul 'understands' that its container, the physical body which casts the spells, likes to cause pain very often. So the soul starts to affect emotions of the caster to make it more convenient for them to use this type of magic.

You could see it as soul being cost effective - because the caster doesn't have to concentrate as much on feeling the required emotions, he or she also wastes less magical energy, which disappears if the caster's emotions are not quite suitable for the spell."

Draco was a bit horrified.

"So if a wizard casts a lot of Cruciatuses, they will gradually want to cause pain even when they normally wouldn't?"

Severus nodded.

"That's correct. That's why Dark magic is generally stronger than Light magic, which only uses our magical core's reserves. Dark magic has to be practiced with caution and there must be some variability of spells, so that soul doesn't start to reflect only one emotion. However, witches and wizards have to use one spell a lot of times and practically without rest for their souls to be affected to such an extent. So learning Dark magic is not that dangerous if the caster is aware of the possibilities and knows the limits. Ministry considers only the bad points when it bans certain types of magic. Of course, spells such as Patronus are allowed, however, no one acknowledges the fact that they are actually 'Dark'."

For a while, the two of them sat in silence as they contemplated the absurdness of the world they were living in.

"The third reason, is it that the Dark magic can be addictive?" Draco hesitantly whispered.

Snape's dark gaze wordlessly confirmed it.

That night Draco had a hard time trying to fall asleep. He wondered whether the Death Eaters, such as Bellatrix, turned out this cruel because they weren't careful with practicing Dark magic. Maybe even Voldemort, who split his soul into many pieces, has gone insane mostly because of Dark magic. Afterall, with his soul pieces being smaller and with him practicing more Dark magic, his soul would be affected more. And with the addictive properties, all aftereffects would only be amplified.

At least, that was Draco's theory.