Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 594: Symbolic Punishment

Chapter 594: Symbolic Punishment

As Caresius said, people who used black magic were not necessarily Dark wizards.

Many decent wizards had more or less studied black magic, and only on the basis of in-depth understanding could they accurately defend themselves. This was the essence of Hogwarts’s course of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Lessons in the lower grades were not really apparent. In the course of Defense Against the Dark Arts after passing the Ordinary Wizarding Level test, senior students were required to read relevant books on black magic for reference.

As for a veteran Auror like Moody, he was a master of Dark Arts.

He even knew more than many Dark wizards, and only by knowing the enemy could he defeat his opponents. He didn’t just need to recognize the dark arts; he needed to master them.

For a long time, restricted Dark magic had been defined as a gray area in the wizarding world.

These magic are more lethal and unsuitable for most  wizards to master and use. But they were not so evil in themselves; they did not distort the user’s mind and the essence of life.

The Ministry of Magic was cautious about such magic and strictly controlled its random use and spread. However, they would not sentence someone to Azkaban just because he had used it.

The most obvious examples were the Imperius Curse, Legilimency, and the Memory Charm. They were all common magic that acted on the human soul, and were classified as Dark magic.

However, according to the degree of harm, they were different in nature.

The first was the Imperius Curse, which required evil thoughts to be used on somebody’s soul. This evil spell might addle the victim’s mind, and whether or not there were good reasons, nobody should control another’s actions.

Therefore, it had been listed as one of the Unforgivable Curses, the most evil Dark magic, completely forbidden.

As for Legilimency, this spell allows the caster to delve into the mind of the victim, permitting the caster to see memories, emotions and thoughts.

Dumbledore and Voldemort were masters of this magic. One must be careful when talking to them. If not cautious, the secrets hidden in their minds might be known and seen clearly by them at any time.

This magic and Veritaserum were strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic, but Evan was sure that Dumbledore certainly did not take the Ministry of Magic’s restrictions seriously and that he used it every time he talked to him before he mastered Occlumency. 

Even after learning Occlumency, he had to be careful in every conversation, for fear of being caught by him.

There were so many secrets in Evan’s head, some of which he wanted the Headmaster to know, and some others he did not want to divulge.

This was also the main reason why he was not willing to go to Dumbledore once something went wrong.

Of course, in many things, Dumbledore would not take care of them in order to hone Evan and Harry. For example, when the Basilisk was raging in the castle, he must have known about the Chamber of Secrets, but in the end he only sent his own phoenix to help them.

Unlike the Imperius Curse, Legilimency would not addle the minds of the caster and the victim. This spell was not so evil, so it was not a completely forbidden black magic, but a restrictive black magic.

Not to mention Obliviate, its function was to make people lose memory, either a specific memory or all memories. Since this process was reversible through a counter-charm, the damage was minimal, and there was no restriction on it.

After passing the Ordinary Wizard Level test, the young wizards would learn how to use this charm in the Charms class.

Of course, the use of the Memory Charm on others must be under permission, otherwise they would be pursued.

One of the conditions to be employed at the Ministry of Magic’s Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes was to be proficient in the Memory Charm.

The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, the Obliviator Headquarters, and the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee were the three Divisions of this Department, with the main responsibility of constantly changing the memories of the Muggles and letting them forget the magic they saw by chance.

The use of restrictive black magic by two students could be considered a big deal or a small incident. Karkaroff knew that as there was no obvious damage, there would be no punishment, and he didn’t continue arguing.

What’s more, the root of the problem was that his student Krum had taught Ron the Dark magic he used. If Ron was guilty, Krum couldn’t get away with it and would be involved.

Everyone knew that Durmstrang had been teaching and encouraging students to learn Dark magic, and not only restrictive Dark magic. Any investigation would really be unfavorable to them.

No one wanted to go any further. Professor McGonagall did not impose any penalties on Evan and Ron here. She just symbolically gave them detention for a day and added 50 points to Evan as a reward for his performance just now.

“The two spells you used were excellent, Mr. Mason. They saved many people!” said Professor McGonagall with a smile on her face.

These words from her mouth were an extravagant praise. Evan noticed that her right hand on his shoulder was shaking slightly. He had been performing well in the Transfiguration class, but Professor McGonagall just nodded every time, at best saying ‘Not bad!’, rarely giving ‘Excellent!’ as a comment.

Of course, the points to be added were never small. That was Professor McGonagall’s style.

“Especially the move to repel the dragon … both beautiful and straightforward, Evan!” Sirius also said happily.

Except for Snape, Professor McGonagall, Sirius and Caresius did not leave with the judges.

“Keep going, Mason!” said Caresius, using Moody’s tone.

He looked highly interested in Evan’s performance, and his magical eye was dancing in its socket.

The only one that wasn’t so happy in the tent now was Ron, who looked uneasy and didn’t recover from the blow.

The tournament was originally a good opportunity to help him regain his courage. Unfortunately, this happened all of a sudden, which immediately suppressed Ron’s newly-rising courage and confidence. He was now worried about his use of black magic.

“Well, Ron, don’t take it to heart,” said Evan with a sigh and patted Ron on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about the spell you used. As Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall said, you just performed very well!”

“But I used black magic?!” Ron turned to look at Evan with strange eyes.

“That was a restricted spell; it is not forbidden,” said Evan, and simply explained to Ron, “In a word, believe me, there’s nothing in this matter. You defeated the dragon and got the golden egg, and got a good score. You should be happy.”

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