The moon shone bright amid a field of stars.
Inside the quiet little cabin.
Soft moonlight slipped through the half-drawn curtains and fell in dappled patches across the wooden floor, draping the tranquil night in a veil of silver. The air was faintly scented with pine.
Ian sat at an oak desk that might have been older than he was. He held up his Elder Wand, its tip shining down on the forbidden book spread across the desk.
Secrets of the Darkest Art
This "Black Bible" had been written by Orle Brock, a notorious Dark Wizard from a bygone age. It had cast a shadow over every major event of the late twentieth century.
Voldemort, whose rise had plunged the entire wizarding world into fear and panic, had gained the power he sought from this book. It had also laid the groundwork for the thread that ran through all of the Seven Steps of Magic.
Many people might know only that
Voldemort had learned how to make Horcruxes from this book, successfully splitting his soul into seven pieces and giving himself the confidence to face defeat at Dumbledore's hands.
However,
the book clearly contained more than instructions for making Horcruxes.
It also held advanced knowledge of Dark Magic. But because the original story was limited in scope, that forbidden knowledge had remained a little-known secret.
Now,
by a twist of fate,
this forbidden book—one that could get you sent to Azkaban for so much as a glance—lay quietly before Ian. Of course he couldn't help wondering what was inside.
Admittedly,
the magic recorded in this book was bound to be dangerous. After all, Dark Magic was forbidden not only because of its power and the harm it could do to wizards.
You had to understand:
there were plenty of powerful spells.
However,
most spells classified as Dark Magic were dangerous not just because of the harm they could cause, but because the magic itself could corrupt and threaten the person learning it.
One small mistake,
and you could fall into ruin, your mind corrupted beyond saving.
It was hard to say that the reason most of Voldemort's Death Eaters were raving lunatics wasn't the effects of dabbling in Dark Magic. After all, their leader had studied himself into becoming a madman with no nose.
"The book Grindelwald left for her descendants can't possibly contain anything that dangerous, can it?" Ian knew very little about the first Dark Lord beyond the few meager lines in the original story.
He had actually leafed through his A History of Magic textbook earlier, but its account of Dumbledore's nemesis, Grindelwald, contained little more than vague information.
The wizarding world's upper echelons clearly didn't want to talk about that period of history. Still, one thing could be gleaned from the few records available: Grindelwald hadn't been mad like Voldemort.
She was a Dark Wizard.
An ambitious schemer.
A genocidal maniac.
The source of chaos in an entire era.
But even her enemies couldn't deny her extraordinary talent. Unlike Voldemort, they didn't describe her as a dangerous, irrational madwoman.
This woman
had treated her followers far more kindly than Voldemort had.
On that point alone,
Ian figured Grindelwald probably wouldn't casually endanger her descendants with dangerous knowledge.
Of course,
letting a child who had only just reached the age to enter Hogwarts read a textbook like Secrets of the Darkest Art was already well beyond what most people could comprehend.
"Knowledge might be poisonous, but it's clearly not guilty."
After a long internal struggle, Ian finally opened the book, his heart full of trepidation.
Many Dark Wizards might spend their entire lives searching for knowledge that the book mentioned only in passing. Now it lay right before him, and few wizards could resist such temptation.
Ian was no different.
He wasn't interested in splitting his soul, but he did want to learn all Three Unforgivable Curses. They could serve as a trump card while he studied at the dangerous Hogwarts.
No-Nose would come sooner or later.
Even if Ian had no intention of getting entangled in the Chosen One's fate, Hogwarts itself was full of unpredictable dangers. Having a few more ways to protect himself would put him at ease.
"Look at it critically, take a dialectical view. This doesn't mean I admire the Dark Arts. It's just like General Kim playing Steam critically or driving a Maybach critically."
Repeating this dubious self-justification,
Ian brought his wand a little closer to Secrets of the Darkest Art.
Compared to a dim oil lamp,
the light from Lumos was steadier and brighter. It could also help Ian build up his proficiency before bed, so he usually used it for light at night.
The wizarding world had convenient lighting tools, too, like the enchanted object called a Deluminator. It could absorb light and produce light.
The trouble was,
a priceless enchanted object
was clearly a luxury Ian, a penniless young wizard, couldn't afford.
Besides,
wasn't Lumos better than a Deluminator?
It couldn't increase his proficiency!
"I'll just look. I won't learn anything... I'll try not to learn too much."
As Ian murmured these words, whose sincerity was open to question, he brought the light from his wand closer to the book. The writing on the open page came into clear view.
The book had been written in modern times.
Although many of the Dark spells in it had traces of Ancient Magic, they still belonged to the realm of modern Charms, so they weren't as complicated or difficult to learn as Runes.
"Just as I thought."
Ian had only turned to the first chapter, but it had already confirmed his suspicions. The book's first page contained notes and stern warnings written in Quill.
And that wasn't all.
He turned more pages.
Almost every page had detailed explanations and warnings written in ink... The instructions were so thorough that their author seemed to understand the material even better than the writer of Secrets of the Darkest Art himself.
This was clearly a textbook Grindelwald had prepared especially for her descendants.
It was even more valuable than the original.
Just as Ian had imagined, the instructions for making Horcruxes were only one small chapter in Secrets of the Darkest Art.
The book's author might not have cared much about Horcruxes, either. Compared to the knowledge about Horcruxes, the other Dark Magic made up the bulk of the book.
Starting on the first page,
the lessons progressed step by step,
beginning with the simple and moving on to the difficult and complex.
As he read the first page and saw a spell marked [Simple and not dangerous] and [Best performed with the Elder Wand], Ian instinctively began to take it seriously.
"Revenant Resurrection..."
The focused young wizard
may have forgotten that he was already holding his wand.
At the same time,
he may have underestimated the quality of Grindelwald's notes, as well as... his own talent in certain areas.
[Corpse Control Curse (Level 1): 2/100]
He didn't notice the panel update.
The flow of magic was simply too clear to miss.
Ian was startled.
He watched as the light at the tip of his wand changed from a warm white glow to a sickly green. It seemed to bathe the entire room in an eerie hue.
"Crack... crack... crack..."
The old floorboards
were rising.