The Dark Lord's Lesson

Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom, (Nov. 10 th )...

Harry knew this was his chance. Quirrell was Vanishing the birds Harry had sent at him and was slightly distracted. With a vicious jab of his wand, Harry cast Incendio, sending a stream of fire at the feat of his professor. Quirrell continued Vanishing the birds, and, to Harry's surprise, ignored the fire at his feat. The fire engulfed Quirrell's robes and shoes, but the professor just stood there, seemingly immune to the inferno that was surrounding him.

As Harry looked on in awe, Quirrell slashed his wand across his body and sent a very menacingly looking orange and red spell that seemed to burn the air as it flew towards Harry. Having no clue what the spell did, Harry levitated a nearby desk into the path of the spell. The desk was instantly blown into several pieces, and the shards fell to the ground in front of Harry.

"Duro," Quirrell said, pointing his wand at Harry's feet.

Harry danced out of the way of the spell, which impacted the stone floor and seemed to have no effect.

"Petrificu-"

Harry's spell was immediately countered by Quirrell before he could finish the incantation. A moment later, Quirrell conjured a large net and Banished it toward Harry.

The sheer size of Quirrell's net made dodging impossible for Harry. With a slash of his wand, Harry sent a cutting curse at the net; however, the net was unaffected by the spell and soon Harry found himself tangled in the cords, completely helpless.

"Accio," said Quirrell, summoning Harry's wand into his hand.

With a sigh, Harry looked up through the net at the victorious professor.

"I suppose you have questions?" Quirrell asked.

"Why didn't my flame spell affect you?" Harry practically demanded.

Quirrell snorted. "Fireproof charms on my clothes."

"Why didn't my cutting spell work?"

"Impervius charm on the net made it resistant to simple cutting spells," Quirrell said as he Vanished the net and returned Harry's wand.

"How was I supposed to know that, though?" Harry asked. "I didn't even see you cast the Impervius charm after the net was conjured."

"There are ways you could have sensed the extra spell, but you are far too young to notice the subtle traces, magic leaves. It takes years, if not decades, to learn." Quirrell paused a moment before adding, "So you couldn't have known."

"But if I couldn't have known, there is no way I could have stopped it," Harry said angrily.

Quirrell seemed to appraise Harry for a while. "You could have used a more powerful spell."

"Burnt it?" Harry asked curiously.

"If you know a powerful fire spell that tactic could have worked; however, the incendio and blue ball flame spells would have been repelled."

"But incendio and diffindo are the only powerful fire and cutting spells that are mentioned in my book."

"That doesn't mean more powerful spells don't exist," Quirrell said ominously.

"But I don't know any, and I just learned those spells."

"Sit," Quirrell commanded with some authority.

Reluctantly, Harry took a seat in a fairly battered up looking desk.

"What is the purpose of the spell diffindo?" Quirrell asked.

"To cut or to cleave," Harry replied verbatim from his charms book.

"Cut what though?" asked Quirrell.

Harry thought back to his book. "The book mentioned several uses. Cutting pieces of parchment…"

"Yes, yes, yes," Quirrell said, waving him off. "It cuts simple things. It isn't a spell that is particularly powerful or dangerous. It wouldn't be taught to second years if it was. The spell I sent at you was a dueling spell. To cut that net, you would have needed to utilize a spell that was created for the purpose of being used in a duel."

"Um, sir, can't dueling spells sometimes be considered…dark?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Quirrell again seemed to appraise Harry for some time. "What is dark magic, Potter?"

"Any spell, potion, artifact, or magical creation whose purpose is to maliciously harm another," Harry replied with another text book answer.

"Only half right, Mr. Potter," Quirrell stated. "While a lot of dark magic is designed to hurt people, the idea that the intent behind all dark magic is inherently malicious is ludicrous."

"But my father said tha– "

Quirrell held up his hand, stopping Harry from speaking. "I am not going to argue with whatever your father told you, Harry. I am simply going to tell you what I know."

"I don't understand. Don't dark spells need to be fueled by...evil?" Harry knew he sounded stupid the moment the word 'evil' left his mouth.

Quirrell laughed. "No, and I'll prove it to you. Tell me, when you used the cutting curse, what was your intent?"

"To cut," Harry said obviously.

"Exactly," Quirrell said. "If you were to use a dark cutting curse, the intent behind the spell would be the same, a desire to cut. The only difference would be the power of the spell. If it is evil to use a dark cutting curse, it must also be evil to use the spell diffindo since they share the same intent behind the spell. Do you understand what I'm saying Harry?"

"Sort of," Harry said slowly. "You're saying that while some curses are considered dark, they aren't really bad to use since other spells require you to have the same intent behind them in order to work?"

"Good, you do understand. There really is no good or evil in magic, only varying levels of power," Quirrell said with a smile on his face. "A lot of dark magic is considered wrong because it has tremendous potential to be more powerful and dangerous, not that the spell itself is bad."

"So, it's not wrong to use a dark spell in some cases?" Harry asked. "So if you sent that net at me again, I could have used a dark spell to avoid it, and it wouldn't be a bad thing to do?"

Quirrell nodded, pleased that Harry had come to that conclusion.

"What spell would you have used to cut through the ropes then?" Harry asked curiously.

A very sinister smile slowly spread across Quirrell's face at the question. "There are many powerful severing or slashing spells that would have been good. For example…"