The Crossroads of Fate

Chapter 6: The Rune of Partnership

Albus woke up early the next morning to Scorpius and Riley chatting casually. They stopped briefly as Albus opened the hangings but when he did not berate them for waking him up, they continued. It seemed to be nothing more than a casual debate about the upcoming Dueling Tournament. Scorpius was wondering openly whether more information would be announced that morning and whether they would have to wait until it actually started. Riley was just annoyed that Astronomy class was cancelled and hoped that the Dueling Tournament would be worth his time. Albus stayed on the bed, the morning still being too young for breakfast, and continued listening to the conversation.

"What I'm really bummed out about is Quidditch," Scorpius sighed. "Why ruin the teams."

"Just set up your old team," Riley shrugged.

"Until he decides Quidditch sucks a bans it forever?" Scorpius groaned.

"Not likely, he wants to merge flying and dueling from what I got from him," Riley suggested.

Albus sighed and took out the Marauder's Map and activated it the old fashioned way. He looked around at the dots in the castle. Most students seemed to be up and moving. His eyes traversed over to the Headmaster's office where Lysander's dot was. He had spent the night there, he saw. Lorcan's dot was with him. He moved his eyes to Gryffindor tower next. All of James' dormitory was finally out. The seventh year dormitory was now filled with Mark, Alex and Eric. Only the dots of Mark and Alex seemed to be moving. Neil on the other hand was moving back and forth along the corridor alone. Albus moved his eyes from Neil's dot to the third year dormitory. It was empty. Very empty. Did Neil sleep alone? It was not every day when Albus regretted not paying attention to the Sorting ceremony, but he definitely wished he was more attentive in fifth year.

Albus' eyes rested for a minute on Mark's dot as it left its dormitory. He watched as it descended from Gryffindor tower. It passed Neil's dot and stopped for a second before continuing. It moved all the way down to the Entrance hall and waited by the entrance to the dungeons. Albus looked up. Scorpius and Riley were still talking. He moved his eyes back down to the map and over to the Astronomy tower where Incommodo took up residence. That was why Astronomy was cancelled. Incommodo wanted the tower for himself since the Headmaster's office was sealed against him. Incommodo's dot was pacing too. Albus also saw the dots of Ernie, Draco, Theodore, Rojer, Tyro and Marius in a single room, alone. It was not clear what they were doing alone but Incommodo was definitely not with them.

Albus' eyes moved back towards the dungeon entrance and to his surprise, still saw Mark's dot there. Deciding to see what he was up to, Albus got up, leaving Scorpius and Riley to their talk. He walked across the Common room, ignoring two whispering students and Seth who decided to make himself the first student to sign up for the Dueling Tournament. Albus added his name quickly and left, ignoring Seth's stare. He climbed out of the snake hole leading to the dungeons and walked up to the usual warmth of the castle. As the map said, there was Mark, leaning against the wall beside the dungeon corridor. He met Albus' eyes and sighed, "Map?"

"Yeah, need something?" Albus asked.

Now Albus got a really good look at Mark. The boy was still down in the dumps. His voice was not as raspy as last year, and his eyes were their normal blue but he still had a wooden leg and his skin was no longer its fair color but tinged with yellow. Mark still stood steadily as he regarded Albus calmly, as if what he said did not really hold any importance. "Gonna enter the tournament?"

"Already did," Albus said. "You?"

"Of course," Mark said casually, standing up straight. "The winner gets closer to the Minister." He lowered his voice, "I'm not finished with them, yet."

"You- Mark, we can't take him as he"-

"I know," Mark groaned as if Albus was stating the obvious. "But that doesn't mean we stay away from him. Al, he's the Minister. And he's in Hogwarts. This is our one chance to take him out. We've done more damage against him than Dumbledore's Army did, and we actually managed to defend Hogwarts from the Reservation. We need to do some research into how to defeat beings with two souls and do it. We can't let him out. Here," Mark reached into his robe pockets and passed him a list of passwords. "You were sorted into Gryffindor once, remember?"

"Yeah, I do," Albus said quietly, looking down at the list. Mane was the password that week. He looked up at Mark again. "Third year."

"Don't forget that," Mark said. He cleared his throat once and turned to walk away. "Ever."

"How can you do this? We'll get in trouble."

"I'm Head Boy, I can do whatever I want," Mark mumbled shortly.

"Fine, and Mark," Albus called back. When Mark turned back to him, Albus said, "You're a Slytherin, yourself. You shouldn't forget that."

"I don't intend to," Mark said shortly.

Albus was still in the Entrance hall when students started filing out of the dungeons. Albus decided to just go for the Great hall and start breakfast. It was probably best and he could save himself and Scorpius a seat. Albus spotted Lucy Weasley sitting beside Roxanne. She seemed her usual haughty self and no longer as moody and forlorn as she was the night before. Roxanne was animatedly chatting up the dueling tournament excitedly with Lucy. Gabriel and Nate were sitting across, not joining in but listening to her with interest. Albus took a seat beside her and sighed as he started on the porridge in front of him.

He just began eating when Scorpius came up and squeezed himself between Lucy and Roxanne. "Hey, Al. Hi, Lucy."

Albus and Lucy answered back lowly but Lucy actually turned to him and started talking about her entry. Albus was considering joining in when Mark joined them next and sat at the Slytherin table. "Hey, guys. Gonna sit with you for a bit, Aries is annoying me."

"Hmm, what's with"-

"What do we have here?" a low, wispy, deathly voice said behind them, eliciting a sudden, involuntary gasp from Albus. Their acting Headmaster, Mors Incommodo was standing behind them. Mark's shoulders tensed up and Scorpius froze in place. Lucy's face actually switched to that of anger. "What would a Gryffindor be doing sitting at the Slytherin table?" Scorpius zipped his mouth shut and Lucy determinedly kept her eyes on the plate. Albus and Mark found themselves at a loss for words. "If there is nothing for you, Mr. Wallader, you will place yourself at the Gryffidor table where you belong and Gryffindor house will lose"-

"I was sorted here last year," Mark blurted out. "By- by Phoenix as a reward for- as a- for when I got over my Curse."

"He pulled through a deadly Curse last year," Albus said truthfully, keeping his eyes off Incommodo's, not daring to meet them. Incommodo knew he was alive, now. He would be questioned soon, he knew it. "When he pulled through, Phoenix had him sorted again."

The silence was almost ominous. Incommodo said nothing just yet. Scorpius started shifting uncomfortably in his seat and Lucy started on her drink, trying very hard to ignore her sister's killer. "How many students are in the Slytherin dormitory now, Mr. Malfoy?" he asked as Lorcan Scamander sat across from them beside Gabriel.

"Th-three," Scorpius stuttered.

"Gryffindors, Mr. Wallader?"

"Three," Mark mumbled.

"Family members in Gryffindor?"

"Just my cousins"-

"Slytherin?"

"My sister," Mark answered, folding his arms.

"Sister trumps cousin," Incommodo said. "You will henceforth on be considered a Slytherin student for the rest of your Hogwarts education," he said as Master Tyro started handing out timetables. "If I ever see you on the Gryffindor table, you will be very sorry."

"Didn't you say the house championship is being dissolved?" Mark said pointedly. "I'm sitting with my friends. Besides, I have a fiancée in Gryffindor house so at the very least, we're even. And both my fiancée and I are the most talented students you can hope to meet in this prison you call a school, you leave me the hell alone and boil your head wherever it is you sleep these days."

Lorcan cleared his throat as he turned the page of the Quibbler Magazine. Incommodo looked beside himself but his thought suggested thoughtfulness. Talented. Mark looked on the point of arguing but before he could say a word, Incommodo shot him a dangerous yellow glare that almost petrified him. Incommodo turned back to Albus. Here it came. Albus knew it. "Mr. Potter, you will meet with me tomorrow at five in the evening on the top of the Astronomy tower. There is something we must discuss."

Lorcan turned the page again, catching Incommodo attention. "Enjoying yourself, Scamander?" he snapped, making Lorcan jump slightly before continuing reading. Lorcan paid the acting Headmaster no mind whatsoever. Incommodo did not look too happy about this but there was little he could do about it in a school full of teenagers. Lorcan continued ignoring him, reading the magazine, raising his eyebrows interestedly at an article claiming Goblins had developed a device to destroy the world. Incommodo turned, "I ought to have the magazine banned. Pity it will only raise the trouble I am trying so hard to avoid."

"I'm sorry, did you need something?" Lorcan asked casually.

"Learn respect, Scamander, or you shall be made to," Incommodo whispered as Tyro made it to their end of the table. He handed Albus' timetable to him. Incommodo turned back to Albus, "I do expect you in my office tomorrow without fail. I will speak to you then."

The talk was so ominous and shocking that Albus found himself shaking afterwards and Scorpius violently shook his head to bring himself back to normal. Tyro had moved on and gave timetables to other students. The only one who seemed unaffected was Lorcan who watched him go casually, like Lysander would. Then, Lorcan gave off a very Lysander-like smile and said in his twin's purposely softened voice, "Sorry. I had to do that."

"Lysander?"

"The Headmaster's job is so tiring, even if it's just keeping the office," Lysander yawned. "Lorcan's taking my place to help me out. He's at the Gryffindor table. We needed this switch. We're going to be switching places this term to keep the charade up so he won't know which one of us to come after."

Albus, Mark and Scorpius stared in surprise at Lysander's guilty smile. Gabriel and Nate were paying no attention now, instead keeping their attention on Maria Prince, who was complaining once again about the food. Mark turned his head towards his sister and sighed, "Well, what do you know? I ask for a meal here, I get a frigging year."

"You seemed to have made your point," Maria sighed. "Don't worry."

"I swear, I am liking this Headmaster more and more," Scorpius mused jokingly.

"Acting Headmaster, hi, Scorpius," Lysander said happily as he corrected him.

Mark sighed, "I hate Hogwarts."

"This year, we all do," Scorpius sighed.

"Don't hate Hogwarts," Lucy said sternly. "It's still important to our lives. You have NEWTs and I have OWLs. We can't afford to give it half. At all."

Albus and Scorpius stole a look at their timetables. As promised, Care of Magical Creatures was no longer relevant to them and the Dark Arts were no longer a subject taught by Professor Soot. Aside from Care of Magical Creatures, Albus did not see any major changes and neither did Scorpius. The only issue was their schedules were smaller now without Care of Magical Creatures. Albus had Ancient Runes, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, and Herbology. Tyro also went on to add Magical Artifacts to keep his schedule full. Scorpius on the other hand was stuck with Ancient Runes, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions and Artifacts like Albus.

The rest of the meal went by normally and soon enough classes were back in session. All students went on their way. Albus saw Proxima and Alpha throw their father a worried look and stuck close together as they followed him to his first class of General Magical Studies. Albus went off to Ancient Runes where, thankfully, Alexis was waiting. Inside were Mark and Aries and beside them were Alex and Eric. Albus remembered the previous year when Mark missed their first lesson due to his leg's illness. Albus gratefully gave Alexis a hug before Professor Sorrow, one of the few surviving teachers from the massacre the previous year, shooed them in. For the first time, Professor Sorrow prepared her students to practice some of the ancient spells they had spent years learning from. "Who can remember Wendell's Finite Rule of Connection?" she asked.

As expected, Alexis was able to answer, "Wizards desiring to form a partnership must draw the exact same rune on each other. Objects to be connected must be drawn by the same wizard. Wizards wishing to use those objects must possess the same rune as the object. Their power is the same as well as their fate."

"Very good, ten points to Ravenclaw," she said approvingly. "So, what we'll do is attempt to perform this Ancient spell." Sorrow traversed the class, correcting their wands and overseeing their incantation. "Like so," she instructed. "Creatio Ehwaz! Now, if we go by Wendell's Finite Rule of Connection, the rune must be on both wizards who wish to form a partnership," Sorrow lectured.

Alexis nodded quietly and bent down to take notes when a knock on the door sounded. Sorrow stopped everyone for a minute and held herself up straight before bidding for the knocker to come in. Opening the door was none other than Mors Incommodo. Scorpius might've been paler if he had not been naturally pale from the beginning. He still looked scared being in the Headmaster's presence. Incommodo held his hands in his pockets as he regarded the small class.

Sorrow looked up at Incommodo, "Headmaster… what a pleasant surprise…"

"This is a subject of utmost importance," Incommodo said in a quiet voice. "I will be supervising this lesson to witness what sort of spellwork the seventh years are performing."

"V-very well, we will- we will continue then, continue on," Sorrow said hesitantly. He walked right in, showing no care for the shivers passing through the class. Even Alexis tensed up and kept her eyes determinedly on her parchment.

Incommodo took a seat at the back of the room and watched, yellow eyes resting on each and every one of them.

The class returned to what was relatively normal as Incommodo rested his eyes mainly on Sorrow. "We will take a few moments off to go over what we learned last year in regards to this lesson. Potter, can you manage a summary of what we learned last year in regards to what we're doing this lesson?"

"The actual Rune for Partnership is on Page 126," Albus said, flipping through his pages with Alexis using her fingers to keep the noteworthy pages they were still studying. "In case we need to copy the rune. Wendell's Finite Rule of Connection was… erm…" he hesitated and Alexis smirked and happily recited it again.

"Wizards desiring to form a partnership must draw the exact same rune on each other. Objects to be connected must be drawn by the same wizard. Wizards wishing to use those objects must possess the same rune as the object. Their power is the same as well as their fate."

"But it's only temporary, as long as the runes were there," Albus added, reading from the book.

"Exactly, and if we take this rule as fact for the Ancient Futhark spell, we have a powerful partnership. Let us attempt this with objects once again as we did last year to make sure we're all up to speed. Malfoy…"

"Right…" Scorpius said uncertainly, getting out his wand and quill. He drew a rune on the table. Next, he redrew it on his hand in it exact likeness. When he was finished, Sorrow took stage again, "Now, if drawn correctly and the spell said correctly, Mr. Malfoy's hand will be made of a substance similar to…" she knocked on the table. "Wood. Incantation is Creatio Ehwaz. Now, Mr. Malfoy."

"Creatio Ehwaz," Scorpius cried, wand on hand.

Albus was actually impressed and Alexis smirked as if she had known he could do it all along. The wand glowed to the color of the wood and Scorpius' hand briefly changed. Sorrow flicked her wand to make the rune disappear, thus breaking the connection. "To this day, a very simple Transfiguration spell exists to replicate these effects with just about any substance." Albus saw Alex and Eric give each other five as they recalled Mark transforming Eric's skin to iron in fifth year. But Sorrow was talking about something far more powerful.

"Generally, Rune Spells are so powerful, continuous usage of them on human beings is very unhealthy," she warned. "So most of our practices will be done on objects. Who can remember why it is unhealthy?"

"Intense magical power through written word on a part of the body other than our hands slowly decomposes that part of the body," Mark said. "If used in large amounts. Recommended usage on a human being is only once every other month."

Incommodo had gotten up and looked at the different runes through the book, spending a good five minutes bookmarking different pages as Sorrow continued lecturing. "What we just witnessed Mr. Malfoy do is far more powerful. The Ancient Wizards used to use such partnership runes in their weddings for magical effect, Dark Witches and Wizards used such runes with Permanent Ink Quills to defend themselves a great deal from most Curses thrown at them, hiding Runes on objects. However, this created a drawback. Who can remember"-

"You made a mistake, Symphony," a wispy voice said suddenly. "You left practical spellwork till seventh year. Fifth years should be capable. You should have introduced Wendell's rule in fourth year for students to attempt the forthcoming spells in fifth year. This is a subject I intend to make core come next year so update your syllabus. Make sure to not repeat this mistake again lest I find a more suitable Ancient Runes Professor."

Sorrow looked momentarily flustered before continuing as if nothing had happened, "Who can remember the Famous Drawback of 1858?"

Alexis and two other Ravenclaws raised their hands. Sorrow picked one boy in their year who recited, "Varm the Vanished drew the rune in plain sight on a dragon's scale. His son summoned the scale from his possession and destroyed it with Fiendfyre, killing his father and bringing about the Infernal War of 1859."

"Which brings us a single warning before we continue our attempts on each other," Sorrow continued. "If the object is destroyed, so are you. As Wendell's Rule states, The power is the same as well as their fate. If two wizards draw the same rune on each other, those wizards share power levels, and magical skill. However, if one dies, the other dies too which makes this partnership as strong as the weakest link. Now, we will spend this lesson focusing on this spell so next week, we may be able to bring about Gregory's Rule of Defense and use the Rune Eihwaz for Defense. By the end of our fifth week together, we should be able to use both runes at once to recreate what became the most famous Dueler's Force of 1952 when Jacob and Joseph Courtney managed to stave off twenty Goblins at once during a scuffle at Gringotts. Carry on."

By the end of the lesson, Albus had managed one partnership rune spell with Scorpius before Incommodo deactivated it himself by erasing the rune in plain sight. "Failed to hide it correctly, Mr. Potter. Class dismissed! Symphony, meet me this weekend for a discussion about the way you run this class. I am extremely displeased with your methods and how extremely behind the class seem to be."

"Finally we learn Rune spells," Scorpius exclaimed once they got out. "Thought it would take forever."

Aries straightened her robes, "It will if the Headmaster"-

"Acting Headmaster," Mark corrected with a small, rare smirk. "Ever learn this in Salem."

Aries actually looked flustered for a second. She thought back hard, Albus actually guessed the answer before she said it, "No. We didn't. This is actually all new."

Mark smirked and Eric nudged Alex. Mark seemed pleased. "Very few schools actually bother with Rune spells because they're so difficult. Sorrow actually spent four years readying us for the spells before having us try them. It's no wonder we're managing for now."

"For now?" Scorpius asked.

The bell rang for the classes to end and Mark sighed, checking his schedule. It seemed almost strange, seeing Mark acting so normal again, checking schedule and thinking mainly about classes. He sighed, "Well, I got Potions. Scorps, you too."

"Right"-

"I'll walk you there," Alex offered. "Need to ask Nott something anyway."

Albus' thoughts took him back to Neil and opted to walk Mark to Potions as well. The Potions Master was Neil's father and Albus was hoping to ask him about Neil. "What about?"

"Well," Alex looked flustered. "To offer to help his son study up on Potions. He said he got over his allergy or something and needs to take Potions. I said I'd help."

"Oh…" Albus' thoughts trailed off. Alexis was verbalizing aloud how her brother might cope with the new system and worried openly about how he might be around the Headmaster. Albus could not blame her this time. Incommodo gave everyone the shivers. Well, almost everyone, Albus thought, thinking of Lysander. Once they got down to the dungeons, Albus and Alex hung back while Mark, Eric and Scorpius joined the class. Alexis walked off out of the dungeons alone to find her brother.

"Need something too?" Alex asked.

Albus sighed. How much could he say? He did not know why he was supposed to be interested in Neil himself. He just did what his late brother told him to do. Wondering once again what James had in mind when befriending such a little boy, Albus shrugged, "Made a promise to James that I'd befriend his son after he graduates. Well… I'm still keeping the promise…"

"Oh…" Alex said, cottoning on. "I'm-er… sorry, about him. I, eh…"

"Don't worry about it," Albus waved aside moodily, not wanting to be reminded of James at the moment. "Just consider this my way of making peace with"- Albus was interrupted by the dungeon doors opening up.

At the doorway stood Theodore Nott. Alex got his attention quickly and Nott ordered the class inside shortly before walking up to Alex and Albus. "You're not Potions students?"

"No, sir, we- we wanted to talk about something else, actually," Alex said apologetically. Alex gulped and started explaining his position first. Theodore listened with attention at first, folding his arms as Alex mentioned Neil, but otherwise his eyes were alight with curiosity. He nodded shortly, "My son never had a Potions Steam allergy. That was a lie to get him off Potions with Era."

Albus, of course, already knew this. He knew more than Alex because Seth let on a couple of things. Nott was worried about half vampires in Slytherin house, had a vampire killed, and doesn't even like being touched. Nott is clearly frightened of vampires, I wouldn't be surprised if he was hurt by one a long time ago. And Al, if that's the case, no one really wants to know. Some things are better left unsaid…

"Why lie though?" Albus asked.

"Honestly?" Theodore told them. "You know more than me. Your Potions Mistress was the vampire, Era, correct? Neil had a vampire as a caregiver for five years in his youth. Beyond that, I know nothing. If he's interested in your lessons, I suggest you ask him. He's due for Potions in three days. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Theodore left them there. Albus and Alex walked back up to the main castle. Alex looked very thoughtful as well. Probably planning his lessons with Neil. Lucky Alex could use his free time as Alexis did and tutor someone who probably needed it badly. Albus wondered if perhaps Alexander might be able to tutor him. After all, Alexander was fine with Potions and had more time on his hands. Alex looked up again, "Well, that was interesting. There's clearly something Neil's not telling us about himself though. Vampires, faked an allergy to avoid one, a caregiver… he's obviously afraid of them. Probably based off the caregiver experience."

"So, you gonna tutor him?" Albus asked.

"Sure will," Alex shrugged. "I already said I would to both him and his father. Can't back out now, can I? Anyways, I'm off to our Common room. Wanna come? I know Mark gave you the passwords."

Albus considered Alex for a second and smirked shortly. "Sure. Why not? Been a while since I entered the Common room anyway."

It had been a while since Albus had entered their Common room and it would be quite empty at this time since most other years were in classes and Albus and Alex had the period free since Sorrow did not assign homework. Albus contented himself to relaxing by their cozy fireplace for once in his life, wondering how much longer he would have to endure stress and pain before he finally died. He lay awake on their sofa for an hour thinking about that, wondering quietly if his death would be painless. And how Alexis would take it…

Alexis reminded him. The book. She had given him a book. What was the betting the book actually would save his life? Did it have anything on symbiotic souls?

You know, this may sound strange, Alexis, but I think you did save my life."

"Al, of course I did," Alexis told him as if he was selling her short. "If I can't help my brother, the least I could do is help you." And she gave him a kiss on the mouth before smiling at him, "Congratulations on making seventeen. You grew up."

Well, Albus owed it to Alexis to read the book. At the very least, he might give himself a fighting chance. Albus left Gryffindor tower briefly to get the book he kept tightly bound and protected in his trunk before returning to the Gryffindor Common room, prepared to spend the rest of the break reading the book. Once he returned to the three-seated sofa by the fireplace, he opened the book and started reading, beginning, of course, with the first chapter.

The Dark Arts

Of all the magical arts that make up the abilities of witches and wizards, the most powerful, unbeatable and most controversial of all of them are the Dark Arts. The Dark Arts are immensely powerful curses created with the intention of causing pain but they were also the first of the Magical Arts to exist in the world. Dark Arts theorizer Joanna Melville spoke of them as the Darkness that came before the light. Dark Arts theorist, Herman Giggle used his own Muggle knowledge to shed light of those mysterious Arts. "Muggle science dictates that black, known as darkness to the magical world, is the absence of color; where white, known as the light, is the mixture of colors. The world existed in darkness before light was shed and therefore, it is logical to assume that the Dark Arts existed first."

The origin of the Dark Arts are unknown but the use of the modern Dark Arts have been set by none other than Ancient Greek wizard Herpo the Foul. Herpo developed a range of Dark Curses. Among those developed by Herpo was none other than the Unforgivable Curses which once numbered three but recently extended to number seven following the conclusion of the second war against the Dark Lord Voldemort situated in Great Britain. The Dark Arts also widen to include the Semper curses which deal lasting damage unless specially treated, the Corpus curses which mutate the body, the Essence curses which mutate the soul and Alchemy which mutate the forces of nature themselves. Semper curses are quite simple to understand as any curse has the potential to become Semper, meaning always. Add that very word before any curse and it becomes a Semper curse.

Herpo the Foul began with the Imperius Curse which controls the weak-minded, extended to intense torturous pain with the Cruciatus Curse, and finally concluded with death in the Killing Curse, a curse that ends the victim's life by expelling the soul from his or her body. Herpo also developed four more curses which were vastly unknown to Wizardkind due to the efforts of Albus Dumbledore to keep them concealed from study, that rule extending across the Atlantic. These were known as the Concealed Curses, the second half of the Unforgivable Curses. The first of the Concealed Arts became Fiendfyre, also known as Cursed Fire. The fire is never extinguished until it has either devoured everything in its path and has nothing left to add to its fuel, or a powerful Wizard manages to control it. It was discovered in 2006 that the smallest touch of the cursed fire is enough to kill even the most powerful, making it a very widespread, dangerous curse and punishable by a life sentence in whatever Wizarding prison native to the particular Wizarding world's nation.

Another of the Concealed Arts was the Retardation Curse. The Curse is a modified version of the Memory Charm. It is able to retard the mind in a way that renders the victim unable to process or comprehend even the most simple. It destroys most of the victim's brain cells to a particular level so even the most genius of wizards can fall victim to the Curse. The Retardation Curse also has the obvious effect of making the victim forget everything. He or she loses all memory of what they once experienced, restarting his or her life from the beginning, but with the inability to move on past a certain mental stage. The Curse has been banned following its rediscovery in 2010.

Another of the Concealed Arts is the Terminal Curse. Following the Salem War of 2019-2020, many killings were done against Muggles and successfully hidden from witches and wizards in the populace by use of the Terminal Curse. The Terminal Curse creates a terminal illness in the victim's body. The difference between Muggle terminal illnesses and one cast by witches and wizards is that the wizard's terminal illness cannot be undone, only recovered from and the recovery is extremely rare and can only be done if treatment is sought immediately. As this is not immediately apparent from the onset of the illness, the user can often hide his or her tracks even from the Ministry by use of that curse.

The only other curse is, even in modern days, so Unforgivable, the inclusion of it in the list of seven was a given once it was thrown in the air again. The Horcrux is a very repulsive type of Dark Art and even in modern days, it is forbidden by magical academics to give direction on how to create one. It splits the soul and encased it into another object, (see p. 652) to make the user immortal so long as the soul is bound to the earth. It can be reversed but the process is extremely difficult and dangerous. The side effects, of course are drastic as they make the effects of any Dark Curse physically. It warps both the appearance and the mind of the user so they are no longer stable.

The curses listed are only the most drastic of the Dark Arts. Curses such as the Scottish Curse of Depression and the Malaysian Breathlessness cannot be undone except by time or a counter curse cast specifically by the user. This leads to the first most important rule. The Dark Arts are difficult but possible to counter.

Elemental magic is magic that controls the elements. It is known to be able to conjure any type of gas or air and is also able to conjure fire, water, earth, wind and lightning which allow particularly adept users to change the very weather. This is a central basis of Alchemy where elemental magic is essential to the concoctions it creates.

Albus spent most of the day inside the Gryffindor Common room. At least until lunch period. He sat up, intending to go down when the Fat Lady's portrait just opened and in came Neil Nott. Coincidentally, Albus was hoping to talk to him. He was hungry though and did not want to skip lunch. He had just started wondering how to initiate conversation with him when Neil chose to sit next to him. He said nothing though. Not even a 'hi.' Albus thought he heard something like "lo" but it was too low to make out or respond to.

Neil just sat on his bottom with his knees facing up, shoes still on the couch. Albus pat his back and got up. Neil almost fell off in surprise but said nothing. "Wanna take a walk?" Albus asked. "I wanted to talk to you."

Neil sat straight, staring at Albus through glassy eyes for a minute before laying down and turning his head the other way. "I don't want to talk to anyone."

Albus did not expect to be rejected like that. He half expected Neil to quietly come along. How did James do this? How did James expect Albus to do it? Albus spent his life being a terrible brother to Lily, how was he supposed to treat someone younger than her who apparently had some issues not yet resolved? Albus sighed and stayed sitting. Neil was still small, though he was third year. His feet barely reached up to where Albus was on the three-seat sofa. Talk to him. Even if he doesn't respond, talk. The more you talk, the more he listens, the more he listens, the more he has to say and the more he talks, the more comfortable he is.

Albus sighed again and gave it another go, "So… which courses did you sign up for this year?" Neil mumbled something incomprehensible. Albus went on, deciding to keep talking like James had suggested, "When I was second year, my family kept bugging me over my subjects. My Uncle Percy was pretty vague and unhelpful. Always saying play to my strengths, depends what I want to do. How is anyone supposed to know what they want to do at twelve? It was almost funny. And in the end, I finally discovered what I wanted to do and find out I did not sign up for the correct course. Sometimes, I think the system here is messed up but it's what we have."

Neil turned around but said nothing still. His eyes stared at the ceiling. Albus cast around some something else to go off on. "So, I ended up taking Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Muggle Studies. And Divination was probably the funniest of those classes."

"Trelawney predicted my death, today," Neil said suddenly. "I'm going to die."

Albus actually smiled, "That's… why they were funny. Know how long she's been teaching here?"

"How long?"

"Forty-two years," Albus told him. "And know how many deaths she predicted since she came? Forty-two. Know how many died?"

"Forty-two?"

"None," Albus corrected, to Neil's slight surprise. "It's just her way of greeting you. Don't take her seriously." Was it just Albus or did Neil almost look disappointed? He got up and sat straight. Albus sighed in relief, "So, you took Divination? What else?"

"Arithmancy," he said shortly.

"That's it?"

Neil nodded shortly and the boy got up. Albus followed up, "Ready for the walk?"

Neil shook his head and motioned that he wanted to eat. Knowing he could definitely use the food himself, Albus walked with him. It was as they walked out the portrait hole when Neil asked Albus his first question, "How did you get in Gryffindor house?"

"Honorary Gryffindor," Albus smirked.

"How do you become an honorary member of a house?" Neil asked curiously.

"You don't, I just had friends," Albus said simply.

"I wish I was Slytherin."

"I'll make you a deal," Albus said as they reached the Great Hall and the time for them to split finally came. "If you agree to talk to me… I'll give you the Slytherin Common room password. Think about it."

Neil sighed in more disappointment. Now it occurred to Albus, he never saw Neil crack a smile. Not once. Even during Hogwarts Guard meetings, even if everyone had motive to laugh, he just sat quietly. Just as they reached the third floor corridor, Master Tyro met them. The three stood facing each other for what felt like a long time, Master Tyro regarding each of them in what was supposed to be a kindly way. Then, he strode up and just as Neil started tensing up, he stopped and set his bags down, "I've… been meaning to partake in an experiment. I was curious if you, Mr. Nott, would be willing to take part. It takes no commitment on your part. A simple trial. Pass and you go on your way. Fail and you go on your way."