Chapter 44: The Unforgivable Curses

Today was Saturday. After finishing his morning training, Bell did not leave for the dining hall as usual.

After a simple breakfast prepared by Kreacher, Bell went to the Room of Requirement for spell training.

After years of study and training, Bell believed he was adequately prepared. He decided to work on developing a new spell.

To say he was developing it was not entirely accurate; it was more like refining. The spell in question was the "Imperius Curse."

Most wizards regarded the Imperius Curse with repulsion, considering it dark magic that should be avoided. However, Bell disregarded such views.

In the magical world, dark magic was defined as spells that required the infusion of negative emotions. However, not only dark magic could kill; spells like "Cutting Curse," "Crushing Curse," and "Fire Curse," categorized as white magic, could also take lives easily. Did white wizards performing these spells not have negative emotions?

In Bell's view, magic was just magic, regardless of its alignment.

The current wizarding aversion to dark magic, even fear, was primarily due to the accumulated fear from the Voldemort era, exacerbated by the actions of the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore.

When it came to dark magic, most wizards immediately thought of the "Unforgivable Curses": the Killing Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Imperius Curse.

However, Bell had no intention of studying these curses at the moment. He considered them too weak, requiring too much time and effort to enhance their power further.

Bell was busy with his "grand plan" and couldn't afford to waste time.

Yes, the curses dreaded by all wizards were considered too weak by Bell.

The official explanation for the Unforgivable Curses' notoriety was that they were "unblockable" and "unbreakable."

Clearly, this explanation was nonsense.

Bell had studied the Unforgivable Curses and knew they were unblockable, but that didn't mean they were powerful. They were simply unnecessary to counter.

Firstly, the Imperius Curse was a spell used to control the target completely.

So why was there no need for a counter-curse? Simply put, with strong enough willpower, anyone could resist the Imperius Curse without needing magic.

The Imperius Curse was deceptive; its greatest strength lay in its invisibility. However, this invisibility was also its weakness. To maintain secrecy, the caster couldn't sense whether the target had broken free from the curse's control.

Thus, it was hard to tell who would be betrayed in the end.

To prevent betrayal, one must master Legilimency and continuously monitor the target's thoughts. If the target's thoughts became clear, it meant they had broken free from the Imperius Curse.

But then, what was the point of casting the Imperius Curse to control the target?

The second Unforgivable Curse was the Cruciatus Curse.

Many people, including Voldemort's Death Eaters, feared the Cruciatus Curse because of the excruciating pain it caused.

But why didn't it need a counter-curse? Simply put, the Cruciatus Curse was purely designed to torture. To maximize suffering, it caused no physical harm to the body!

Some, like the famous Longbottom couple, went insane from the torture of the Cruciatus Curse. It was indeed tragic, but Bell didn't blame the curse.

If Voldemort's followers had used spells like Transfiguration to torture the Lestranges, they probably wouldn't have survived long enough to be rescued, let alone in good health.

From this perspective, it was hard to say whether the Cruciatus Curse was cruel or merciful.

At this point, some might wonder, "Why not use magic to heal the mental issues caused by the Cruciatus Curse? Wouldn't that completely break the curse?"

Because the human mind was complex and fragile, magic could interfere with it, like with the Memory Charm, which could interfere with memories.

However, human psychology was complex and delicate. If magic were used for treatment, the result might be worse than before.

For cases like the Lestrange couple, the best solution was to erase all their memories. But then, that would be no different from killing them, something their families wouldn't agree to.

Lastly, and the most powerful of the Unforgivable Curses, was the Killing Curse.

Unlike the previous two curses, Bell admitted that the Killing Curse was indeed powerful. Its unblockable nature was challenging for most wizards to deal with.

Moreover, the Killing Curse's instant lethality meant that once it hit the target, either they died or it had no effect.

Because of these two characteristics, counter-curses were meaningless against the Killing Curse.

However, the Killing Curse wasn't as terrifying as wizards imagined. It had two significant weaknesses.

The first weakness was common to many modern spells: it was a single-target spell. Against a skilled wizard, such spells were challenging to land.

The second weakness was that the Killing Curse required a strong magical foundation. In the increasingly theory-oriented modern era, wizards capable of casting the Killing Curse effortlessly were becoming rarer.

To Bell, the Killing Curse was not terrifying at all; it could even be considered the conscience of the magical world, environmentally friendly in color, too.

"Dying instantly without any pain, with the body intact," versus "dying in agonizing flames, leaving no remains." Which would anyone choose?

So, the Unforgivable Curses were not unforgivable, and what wizards truly feared were not these curses, but Voldemort, who liked to use them, and his Death Eaters.

Bell couldn't understand why someone as cruel as Voldemort preferred to use "kind" spells. Wasn't that what they called "madness beyond guessing"?