Defence and Mayhem

The Guide for Aspiring Dark Lords 101

The next update is as mentioned on my profile page, with the explanation of my absence

Between organising his ideas for the Dark Arts session, grading the papers of the second-year students, and reading a book about various ward types that he wanted to check for his cottage, Harrison was quite busy.

It was Saturday morning, eight in the morning to be exact, and Harrison already felt the need to pour himself a glass of the Blishen's Firewhisky bottle that Slughorn gave him as a welcoming gift. But unfortunately, he has things to do and he will do them, as he wanted to have a completely free of work Sunday. That was why he started his day at six in the morning, after all.

So he continued working. It took him half an hour to finish the last few papers he had to grade, and while he hated the task, he was proud of the second-year students as they all managed pretty well on these essays, he ought to congratulate them on their efforts the next defence sessions he'll have with the two classes of second years… But now was not the time to rest, he still had to finish both his remaining tasks before lunch if he wanted to have time for that much-needed glass and the even more needed break before the Dark Arts session he had this evening, with over half the entirety of the fifth- years and up students of Hogwarts no less! 

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Tom was reading under the magically powered light of the chandelier that was hung up on the ceiling above the armchair he was seated on. He was at the library once again, but not the library on the school's second floor, he was at the one way down below the ground, the one connected to the chamber of secrets. It was much more extensive than the well-known library of Hogwarts, mainly because it wasn't limited to general knowledge and study material for eleven to seventeen-year-olds. It had books on old forgotten magic, on creatures that no man can see today, on rituals and customs that only a few pureblood families still follow, and on creative uses of runes that make the material taught in class look like a joke.

The first time Tom entered the Chamber of Secrets, he was disappointed by the care in which it was kept, in this case, the distinct lack of it. The long path bordered by statues of snakes was dirty, the dark grey stone looking stained with brown, wet with the water that spilled over on it from the murky algae-filled body of water on both sides of the room. The snake statues themselves had a thick layer of dirt and lichen, the intricate details of the scales barely even seen. The big statue of Salazar Slytherin at the end of the stone path was damaged by the water that covered all but its head, said head being stained with dirt and mud.  

It took him a good amount of time to bring the chamber to glory, clearing the water to clear color, setting a few green magical glowing crystals to the bottom of the now clean pond to make the water glow a soft green light and give the whole room a mysterious feel that his flare for the dramatics required. The path was now polished shiny grey stone, completely dry, as he set a few charms on the water to make them move in gentle swirls but never spill over. The snake statues were polished to perfection, any speck of dirt gone, the details on them clearly seen. The statue of Salazar Slytherin was completely undamaged, its body seen clearly under the glowing water's light. 

After he took care of the main room's condition, putting several preservation wards on it, he set to find the rest of the secrets the chamber held, aside from the basilisk that he spoke and reached an agreement with her so that she can hunt in the forbidden forest past midnight as long as she doesn't reveal herself. He was ready to explore the rest of the chamber, and that was when he found the potions lab, the extensive living quarters that had a secret door that somehow led to the Slytherin common room by a parseltongue password used on a hidden door connected to a huge snake portrait in the common room(he was glad for that one, as he no longer had to go to the girl's bathroom to get there), the dueling chamber, and the library in which he was right now. 

He was researching. Researching how to become a true Dark Lord.

After that first defence lesson that challenged his entire understanding of the subject, he decided; he would still be a Dark Lord. He just had to understand the true meaning of that title, and achieve the means and pass the trials it took to gain it. 

He had only a few clues from the numerous tomes he has read on the subject as to what it took to become a Dark Lord.

The history of dark lords was repetitive. In most cases, it was a man (although there were a few women) who decided to rise against the situation with the Light or the muggle issue of the time. Sometimes it was laws that restricted dark magics, sometimes it was the torture muggles caused to witches, and sometimes wizards who were found out.

In most cases, they rose to power with the help of allies in the form of other dark wizards and fought against the Light side. The Light appeared to be pro-muggle for many centuries, as they always prevented the Dark from harming the brutish muggles who tortured wizards, even during the witch hunts.

Apparently, the Light believed that if the wizarding community left the muggles be, they will eventually forget the existence of magic, while the Dark believed that they should have the muggles who learned of magic killed or at least have their memories altered (the Light hated the idea because there was no 'Obliviate' at the time and memory wipes made the person it was used against forget any and all memory from a period of time depending on the castor's power. It could even be years, and there was no way to fully control how much was erased).

The end result was war between the two sides, either with magic or politics (in more recent times). When the Light won, the cycle repeated at the next presented opportunity, and when the dark won, they were eventually overthrown, and then, once again, there was a repetition. 

At times, there was more than one Dark Lord, and it seems as though neither lord liked it, as they always had wars between themselves until the death of one. 

What Tom managed to gather was this: Dark Lords rise when there is an imbalance between the Light and the Dark, the imbalance always in favour of the Light. According to Harrison, there could only be one true Dark Lord at a time, and they have to be chosen by Lady Magic for the effects of their Lordship to occur. All that was what Harrison mentioned in his lesson, but the books gave him another fact; right now was the perfect time for the rise of a Dark Lord, and that Grindelwald wasn't a true lord. Grindelwald didn't want balance and had no real appeal to dark wizards who didn't want a part in 'world domination' and such. Dark wizards felt a pull towards true Dark Lords, and there was no mention of any such thing about Grindelwald. He was self-proclaimed, meaning Tom had a chance to be chosen as the true Dark Lord. 

The only problem was figuring out how to do that. He had already made a change in his goals, and now truly believed that he shouldn't take over the British Wizarding World but work for its betterment for the sake of all dark wizards and creatures and for the sake of his own comfort (he did care about that last part slightly more, but can anyone blame him?), But what requirements must he fulfill to gain the title? 

He ought to ask Harrison for his sources the next convenient opportunity he gets.  He was pretty confident that Harrison wouldn't judge him for it, as he came to have something akin to trust towards the man…

Updated on Friday, 14th of October, 2022