Chapter 37. Cutting-Edge Dark Magic
It was the weekend, and Lynn had a free day.
After completing his daily spell training with Cedric, Lynn ate breakfast in the Great Hall and went straight to Professor Fawkes's office.
Yesterday, Lynn finally completed his study of poison spells, a mainstream magical art.
This wasn't just about being able to use them; it meant fully understanding and mastering this type of spell.
The completion of poison spell training meant that Lynn's dark magic studies had reached the final stage: cursing!
"The concept of 'dark magic' is subjective. Some believe any spell with malicious intent that harms the human body falls under the category of dark magic.
Others believe that for a spell to be called dark magic, it must cause immense harm, such as pulverizing or exploding. Still others believe that only the three Unforgivable Curses can be called dark magic, while the others are simply dark spells."
Before beginning the actual lesson, Professor Fawkes explained the definition of dark magic in the wizarding world to Lynn in detail.
"So what's your boundary, Professor? What spell do you consider to be dark magic?" Lynn asked proactively.
Professor Fawkes, however, countered with another question.
"What do you think is most important for a wizard when casting spells?"
Lynn thought for a moment and tentatively offered an answer.
"Magic power?"
Professor Fawkes couldn't help but laugh.
"Your answer isn't wrong, a wizard can't use magic without magic power, but similarly, a wizard without magic power can't be called a wizard, so your answer is also incorrect."
"What is that?"
Professor Fawkes didn't keep him in suspense and answered seriously,
"It's emotion.
All magic requires the wizard to have strong emotions, even Transfiguration.
Every transformation requires unwavering belief, a constant conviction that you will succeed.
The same applies to spells. If a wizard has no emotions, then no matter how skillful their spellcasting, they cannot use any spells."
He then shifted the topic to dark magic.
"In my opinion, the boundary of dark magic is that if a wizard uses a spell with a subjective, hurtful emotion, then even if it's just a cleansing charm, it still falls under dark magic."
Fawkes continued, looking at Lynn, who seemed lost in thought.
"Actually, the curses and poisons you learned before are already considered black magic by some people.
But the curse we're about to learn has a special name."
Lynn listened intently and couldn't help but ask,
"What's it called?"
Professor Fawkes took a book from his drawer and pointed to the cover, which featured a skull and a string of strange English words:
*Cutting-Edge Black Magic: An Exploration*
…
That evening,
Lynn and Cedric met in front of the greenhouse.
"So it's just us? Professor Sprout isn't here either?"
Lynn looked behind Cedric and asked curiously.
"The professor is in greenhouse number two. The Devil's Web there seems to be having some problems; she's not feeling well, so she gone to take care of it herself."
The two put on their dragon-skin gloves and picked up their special pruning shears before starting their work for the evening.
Dictamnus dasycarpus is a very effective herb for treating external wounds.
After it matures, its leaves are harvested and, after special processing, can be made into Dictamnus dasycarpus extract, a white powder that is easy to carry and has an even better effect on treating wounds.
Lynn and his partner's work for the evening wasn't complicated; they only needed to carefully cut the entire leaf along the veins at the base.
"Lynn, what are you doing going to Professor Fawkea's office every day?"
Cedric chatted with Lynn while they were pruning the leaves.
"The professor opened a small stove for me to learn extra spells." Lynn made no attempt to hide it, as there was no need to.
"You're really lucky.
Professor Fawkes was already a famous spell master twenty years ago."
Cedric unconsciously scratched his forehead with his fingers, forgetting that he was still wearing dirty dragon-skin gloves, resulting in his forehead being covered in dust.
Lynn laughed heartily, then suppressed a laugh and asked Cedric, who was awkwardly wiping his forehead.
"You don't have any prejudice against Professor Fawkes?"
"Like you told me before, don't look at things with prejudice. Actually, the reason others dislike Professor Fawkes is simply because he killed those people related to them."
"You know that the people Professor Fawkes killed were all purebloods? What about you? I remember you're a pureblood too, right? Those purebloods that Professor Fawkes killed before, there must have been some distant relatives of yours, right?"
Cedric said very seriously.
"Those people will subconsciously avoid the fact that those five people were Death Eaters, but I won't. People who do evil should be punished. I don't think Professor Fawkes is a bad person. On the contrary, I think he is a hero."
Lynn looked at Cedric quietly, remained silent for a while, and then suddenly laughed.
"You really are an anomaly among pure-blood wizards,"
Lynn said, carefully putting away the cut white leaves.
"You seem to know a lot about Professor Fawkes' past. Can you tell me why he killed those five Death Eaters?"
Cedric shook his head.
"I've only heard about it from my father. I don't know the specific reasons, but Professor Fawkes killed them right after the Man of Varian lost power.
The identities of the five wizards who died were unknown, and Professor Fawkes was immediately identified as a Death Eater by the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic and imprisoned in Azkaban.
Fortunately, Professor Dumbledore worked tirelessly to find evidence for him, and finally, two years ago, he overturned his conviction, proving that the five dead were indeed Death Eaters, and that Professor Fawkes had been wrongly accused."
Lynn listened silently, frowning, lost in thought.
There was quite a bit of white sap to process in the greenhouse, and the two of them were busy until after eight o'clock, just before curfew.
Professor Sprout gave them each a bottle of white sap essence as a reward; the quantity was considerable, and even if they didn't use it, they could sell it for a good price.
Under the moonlight, Cedric and Lynn walked back to the castle together.
Just as they passed the Black Lake, Cedric suddenly pointed in the direction of the Whomping Willow and said,
"There seems to be someone there!"
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(End of Chapter)