Thank you, Guest, I have tried to think through every change. I wrote it as a whimsy when I was unwell but I'm now getting to the point where I have been seriously thinking of extending it to a series, which will be easier than 'Narcissa Malfoy's twins' which was equally a foray into fun but is largely complete... but the end of this year will leave a lot of loose ends. I couldn't resist using the Hubbles [drawn from 'The Worst Witch' series by Jill Murphy, whence also comes Con Hardbroom, whose appearance in this series has been requested. I'm always very equivocal about Dumbledore, but he does have his darker manipulative side which can be pretty sinister.]
Chapter 18
The Marauders were all looking forward to their first DADA class with Mr. Prince. They might actually learn something!
"The dark arts," said Tiberius Prince to his first year class of Gryffindors and Slytherin, "are many headed and mutable. They are ever-changing and dangerous because to fight them one has to be as adaptable as they are. And they are not always easy to recognise. Who can define the dark arts for me? Miss Evans?"
"The dark arts are defined by an intent to cause harm," said Lily.
"Very good, five points to Gryffindor. And intent to cause harm can take many faces. Is the tickling charm a dark art? Mr. Mulciber?"
"No, sir, of course not," said Mulciber, scornfully.
"Oh? You say 'of course not', but there are very few spells which cannot be twisted to darkness. Supposing I had given someone diuretic potions and made them drink a lot, and then cast the tickling charm? Many people would pee themselves, which is a deliberate humiliation. Deliberate humiliation is dark. Suppose the tickling charm were aimed only at the private parts. That is abuse and violation, and decidedly dark. What if a child were in pain from being hurt and the tickling charm was used to make it seem that they were happy and laughing, to prevent a parent or guardian being accused of abuse? What, Mr. Mulciber, if I held the tickling charm on you for hour after hour after hour, even day after day? Would you then be so convinced it was not dark?"
Mulciber flushed, but there was an eagerness in his eyes that showed he wanted to try this. Tiberius made a mental note of this.
"No sir, I see that it could be made dark," said Mulciber.
"As Miss Evans says, the dark arts reflect intent," said Tiberius. "I think that cheering charms are exempt, but I suspect that to a sufficiently warped imagination, most other innocuous spells could be twisted to be dark. Now, will someone define dark creatures for me? Mr. Avery?"
"Those that mean you harm?" said Avery.
"Very good, five points to Slytherin," said Tiberius. "A dangerous creature only wants to be left alone, and will attack you only if you represent a threat to it, whether by threatening its young or its territory or its food supply, or if you happen to be delicious and that animal is hungry. A dark creature will attack you for the sheer pleasure of it – from the creature's perspective, that is. Of course you are just as dead if you have been devoured by a tiger as if you have been smothered by a lethifold, but most dangerous creatures can be confunded to go away and leave you alone. Dark creatures often need quite specific counters. You may take down your homework for this lesson, which is to pick three dark creatures from your text book, briefly describe them, and suggest a counter or counters to them. I will not require you to know how to produce the counters at this early stage, merely to know what you are working towards. Mr. Prince?"
"Isn't the counter to the lethifold the same as for a dementor, sir, a patronus?"
"Yes, five points to Gryffindor. I don't suppose any of you will manage a patronus of any kind at your age. Mr. Potter?"
"I can kind of manage a patronus, yes, I can Mulciber and if you scoff I'll …."
"You will do nothing Mr. Potter. Show me your patronus."
James managed something white and wispy.
"I worked on it over the hols," he said. "I don't like dementors."
"They aren't on anyone's Christmas card list so far as I know," said Tiberius. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Can anyone else match that? No? well early days. Well done Mr. Potter."
James glowed; he liked receiving praise, and his own set murmured their own congratulations. All of them had been trying to get a patronus since Fabian Prewett had explained about them, but he was the first to succeed. Severus swore he would not remain beaten for long! Still, Severus reflected, it was good for James to shine, as he also did on a broom, because he could be a bit sulky if not receiving attention.
Malfoy kept his head down. He had heard the comparisons between him and the Weasley child, and he didn't like it any more than Ignatius Weasley had. How dare they compare him to that ignorant peasant, because peasants the Weasleys surely were, even if they were pure blooded. He looked forward to DADA classes with someone who knew something of summoning, even if Professor Prince had declared he would not answer questions on demonology or necromancy. That was just what he said in public, of course. Naturally he had taken the job in a school to gain disciples since his grandson, or whatever Prince might be, was a namby-pamby Gryffindor.
Tiberius kept his introduction very similar for all the classes, and also checked whether they could define the dark arts and dark creatures. Some of the DADA teachers had been better than others, and the knowledge was distinctly spotty. However since the OWL class, which included Lucius, was distinctly uncertain, Tiberius decided that they needed more work.
In answer to his question about what constituted the dark arts, he discovered that most of the class believed this to be the Unforgivable curses.
"Demonology," said Lucius.
"Demonology is a small portion of the rest of the dark arts, yes, five points to Slytherin," said Tiberius. "At least if one assumes the summoning of the unseelie fae and jamming them into pseudo bodies, or indeed summoning lesser forms such as Dementors."
"Dementors are lesser forms?" Lucius was taken aback.
"Oh yes, some of the weaker great form spirits," said Tiberius. "Any half competent wizard or witch of sixteen could summon and control a dementor and a great number of half competent witches and wizards at Durmstrang do so, since they study the dark arts, not the defences against them. And there are occasional fatal accidents there when they lose control of their dementors and receive the kiss from irritable spirits. Because they don't actually teach how to control their dementors by means other than willpower. Because sometimes willpower is not enough, or wavers before the feelings of despair engendered by dementors. If you've never got up close and personal with them, nothing prepares you for the way they bring up your worst memory, even in the summoner, and this is why the teaching of a patronus should always precede any exposure to them. Mr. Malfoy, I believe you managed to control two, which is a remarkable feat of will, but I imagine it was hard."
The rest of the class turned to stare at Lucius.
"So it was you who set them on Gryffindor Tower, was it?" demanded Edgar Bones.
"They got away from me," Lucius lied smoothly. "I wanted to see if I could raise them."
"And did you find them less easy to deal with than you had imagined?" asked Tiberius, fixing a steely gaze on the boy.
Lucius actually flushed.
"Yes." He said shortly, then added, "The feelings of despair make controlling them very hard. I meant to dismiss them but I guess I didn't do it properly and they went hunting."
"I see," said Tiberius. Lucius squirmed. He had a feeling that Tiberius did see, only too well. "Then you will be delighted to know that this term's project will be to learn to use a patronus, which is also the only known defence against a lethifold. A patronus may be of some use against great form spirits, especially in a massed defence against them. And you want defences against those, since what they can do make the dementor's kiss look merciful."
"Like what?" asked Lucius. He was the only one who was actually interested. Tiberius raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it can be as mutable as the fae themselves, who are all individuals, but I have to say I was cured of being interested in raising demons when the master I sought for lessons decided to show off. He summoned four demons to set on some enemy, but one of those who opposed him managed to use simple first year spells, the levitation charm on a wet sponge, to wipe out some of the demon master's protective circle. You don't need such for mere dementors of course, but these were real demons, not pansy little things like dementors. And when the circle went down, the demons turned preferentially on the man who had summoned them. Headed off in four different directions with a limb each. It was horribly slow. I didn't wait to see the end; I apparated out of there, covered my tracks and used every kind of transport I could, including muggle railways, to hide my aura amongst a lot of people, and was very pleased to have escaped with my skin intact. I was a foolish teenager. And it's why I won't be answering specific questions on the subject. You have to be a barking madman to mess with great form spirits."
The class were looking, unsurprisingly, rather sick, even Malfoy.
"You'd need something more permanent than chalk, I guess," said Lucius.
"Yes, but all media have some degree of risk," said Tiberius. "Casting the circle is a part of the ritual so you have to get the last bit of it up fast. Carving it on a stone is not enough, though you can use an inner circle to give you a chance to survive. Like I said, you'd have to be a barking madman. Of course, many dark wizards are barking madmen, but that's the nature of letting the dark arts rule you."
"Do you think Voldemort is a barking madman?" asked Lucius, daringly.
"I don't know, but his measure of success suggests he has more sanity than most," said Tiberius. "Gellert Grindelwald was eminently sane. A sane dark wizard is by far and away more dangerous than the usual idiots who let dark magic rule them. Because most people who feel a need to use dark magic are looking for a way to be one up and can anyone tell me why that makes them losers?"
"I can't see that it does so, one takes what advantages one can, surely?" said Lucius.
"Ah, Mr. Malfoy, perhaps you will think about what sort of person wants to be one up?" said Tiberius. Malfoy frowned, plainly puzzled.
"Oh, I get it, sir," said Narcissa. "Only someone who feels one down has to find an extra way to be one up."
"Excellent, Miss Black, and ten points to Slytherin for working it out. Anyone who is already any good at their craft doesn't need a short cut. The dangerous kind of wizard – or witch – is the one who is excellent at their craft, knows they are already one up, and studies the dark arts out of academic interest as an adjunct to their other studies."
"So unless one is already good, one is a loser for wanting to learn about the dark arts?" asked Lucius.
"Precisely, Mr. Malfoy. It is the same as being a bully, for a bully picks on those who are weaklings who cannot fight back because he is too pathetic to mix with those as strong as himself. The would-be dark wizard seeks to bully, by embarking on the study of the dark arts before ensuring that one is strong in all other fields. In doing so, one opens oneself to being more controlled by them than controlling them."
"Like my sister, Bellatrix, who is quite insane in her enjoyment of causing pain to others," said Narcissa.
"Indeed, Miss Black, if she has permitted herself to take pleasure in harming others. Those dark wizards who use such spells purely as a matter of expedient and neither enjoy nor are repelled by their actions are the only ones worth fearing. And in this kind of case one might defeat normal, dark-controlled dark wizards by taunting them until they lose their temper and therefore lose their judgement. This is something of a sidetrack, however, a subject I had planned to address later in the term," Tiberius lied smoothly, "But as we have addressed it now, it gets a lot out to clear the air. I want you all to read up on page 58 about what a patronus is, and how to achieve it, and your homework, which is for your own satisfaction only and to make the next class easier, is to list the things that make you happy. As a matter of interest, it is said by some that a dark wizard cannot make a patronus since the only things that make him happy are negative emotions over causing pain. However, few people are truly dark unless they have been possessed by the dark arts themselves. Dismissed!"
Lucius Malfoy was thinking furiously. He loathed and feared Bellatrix Black. He did not want to be a loser. And what he had heard of Voldemort suggested that the dark wizard did delight in causing pain. Serving someone as crazy as Bellatrix but more powerful was suddenly not such a good idea. Lucius had not yet been to any Death Eater Meetings, but had planned to go with Rodolphus Lestrange, along with Rabastan. Rabastan was sitting with his mouth half open and plainly had not understood a word. Lucius sneered. He didn't need Voldemort to do his thinking for him, like the Lestranges, he already knew that the Malfoys should be in charge if anyone was.
Tiberius had no liking for the Malfoy boy but perhaps, he thought, the brat was clever enough to at least be saved from the snares of Tom Riddle. There was no hope for either Lestrange, whether in this OWL class or for the older boy in the NEWT class. Neither was very clever and for either to assimilate ideas outside of what they had been told to think by their father was rather like expecting a fish to play quidditch.