The guy thought he was being sneaky with his clear focus on giving small hints on dark arts in the lesson that went over almost everyone elses heads but I got thanks to the book of curses he had me read during my stay in the hospital wing. It literally couldn't be more obvious that he was specifically targeting me with this knowledge. Not that I minded too terribly much as even if I had no intention of really delving into that type of magic just understanding it would be helpful in countering it if I found any.-
The class period was torturous for me though as he really was mostly reciting lines from the textbook in that weird stutter of his while only occasionally dropping those nuggets of extra stuff that was the only reason I had to actually focus on him. If you ignored his stutter though from an outside perspective he wasn't a terrible teacher. The DADA class was a bit special in that due to it's constantly rotating set of teachers the actual textbooks for the class change. This was shown in the media of the books and movies especially so in the second year with Lockhart.-
By having actually memorized the tome chosen by Quirelmort I knew for a fact it was actually a solid foundational piece of knowledge. Even if the wraith on the back of the skull had not so good intentions for taking the job he still at least took it seriously to some degree even if the whole stuttering act was really annoying. A fact that probably only a few of my peers likely noticed even without knowing about who or what exactly was teaching them.-
"P-please s-stay after m-m-mister D-drake." the Professor finally said as I tidied up my notes at the end of the class.
This drew confused looks from Terry and Mike who as far as they could tell having been seated next to me knew I was genuinely paying attention.
"He probably wants to talk about my progress with the book he gave me in the hospital wing. Go on without me, we'll catch up later." I said and they both looked relieved before nodding and heading out.
Soon enough it was just me and the Professor in the room with an unspoken tension present.-
"Have you made any progress on the task given to you?" he eventually asked without even a hint of stutter.
I chose not to react to that and merely answered casually.
"I've read the book and understand it's contents, most of it's fluff without much practical uses but a few could see more powerful impacts if tweaked slightly. The flu hex for example would be especially bad if it could be made immune to the standard cure potion for the disease. People tend to forget that those symptoms can be fatal if given enough time or a certain amount of innate weakness of the body." I said and he looked pleased.
"Indeed and that is the crux of magic. It's not just about the brute force to cut the matter to it's end but the finesse of doing so with the smallest effort. This is especially so for the dark arts. Do you know why?" He said with a hint of maddened passion.
"It's control. Most everyone knows that dark magic can corrupt it's user but they probably don't know how it does that right?" I said and he nodded with a pleased smile.
"Yes, dark magic requires true malicious intent. The deeper the intent the stronger the effect. The problem is that we wizards cast magic with our very souls as a key aspect in this process so that malicious intent partially brands itself on our souls with each use of dark magic. Without knowing this and countering it most who start using dark magic slowly slide after that initial use until the magic is practically second nature due to how absolutely corrupted their souls are." he explained casually.
"How does one counter this "branding" as you call it exactly?" I asked knowing well he was trying to tempt me down that dark path with half truths or flat out lies.
"In theory four methods exist." he said raising four fingers and walking over to the board and writing down four phrases.
Purification force
Counter branding
Inviolable soul
Scape goat
"The first method is to find some form of pure power that can scrub the dark magic from ones soul. A unicorns blessing for example though obviously easier said than done. The second method is to use more "white" magics that also brand your soul but with positive magical inclinations such as the Patronus charm. This method can be tricky as it takes far more time and effort to erase the original dark magic brand this way than it does to create the brand in the first place." he said with a sneer of derision like the very idea of rejecting dark magic like that was repulsive to him.
"The third method is to change the very nature of your soul to one where no external force, even an emotional brand, can effect it." he sounded particularly proud of this one but I inwardly scoffed as I knew damned well his soul was pure black from complete branding rather than inviolable.
"Finally is the most tricky method to pull off, scape goating. Like the name suggests this is effectively shunting the brand off to someone or something else rather than branding yo{Author note: New Skyrim story out now!}ur own soul. You effectively remove the consequences from yourself in exchange for damning someone else." he said neutrally when explaining this one.
{Author note: New Skyrim story out now!}