The Founders Four

Chapter 23: A trip to the Forest

"Then how come that unicorn was talking to you? You are known as one of the darkest wizard in history." James asked tactlessly, earning himself sharp glares from his wife, two friends and Helga.

However, Salazar stopped looking at a plant, and slowly stood straight and looked at James, before speaking in a soft voice that sent chills down everyone's spines.

"History is always written by the victors, Mr Potter. Hence it is of paramount importance to keep an open mind whilst interpreting history. I realise that it is not always possible, but can you tell me what atrocities have I done for you to hate me? Except for burning the whole village. You know the real reason why I did that now. What else?"

When everyone seemed puzzled he continued

"One should never form an opinion on a person just based on books from single author. Always look for multiple opinions and see if you find what exactly that person has done to deserve such hatred. If you cannot find many concrete examples, than that will mean that the authors who called that person evil is not very reliable source. In this time, a practitioner of dark arts is automatically assumed to be dark or in other words evil. Can you tell me what the definition of dark arts is?"

By now everyone had stopped walking and was listening to Salazar with rapt attention. The fact that Salazar referred to James as 'Mr. Potter' was not missed by anyone.

When Salazar did not get any response from anyone around him he continued.

"The truth is that during my time there was no such thing as 'Dark Arts' or 'Dark Wizard'. However we had what was called forbidden arts. This included any form of magic where the main intent is to harm or control another being. However, as time passed by a new term developed called Dark Arts. Dark Arts now include any form of blood magic; any ritual and any form of magic that with intention to hurt others. This gave birth to grey magic or what it is now known as borderline dark arts. This includes any form of magic, which requires emotion to make it work."

Salazar look around to others before continuing

"Now Mr Potter, if I had given up blood magic or ritualistic magic, Mr Black would not be alive. So how was that practice evil? Why do you hate that branch of magic? The truth is there are very few spells that were actually created to hurt others. Most of the branches of magic can be used for both good and evil purposes. For example, the cutting curse that is used in battles to incapacitate the opponent can also be used domestically to cut hard meat when simple cutting curse is not effective. I am not justifying the invention of unforgiveable curses or other similar curses. In fact I do not know who invented then and why."

"I know how to do the forbidden rituals, but I never harmed anyone by it. The only time I have used those forbidden spells is to confuse the other person whilst we can escape a dangerous situation. Hence I will not deny that I can use them. Now coming to your question of how can the unicorn trust me if I use the so called dark arts. Well as I just explained there is a difference between using the dark spells and using it to harm someone. This small difference is what differentiates an evil person from a person with a good heart. This is the difference that humans are mostly unable to identify."

Saying so Salazar started to walk ahead, with others following his trail.

"People always fear what they cannot understand. This fear causes them to react in ways they normally never would. Muggles are the best example of this. Normally a muggle would not harm another muggle without any reason, but if they think that he/she is a person practicing magic, they will automatically go against that person and try to kill them. They would not stop to think that maybe that person is not harming anyone by practicing magic. For the muggles, just the fact that they are using magic and hence might be capable enough to harm them is enough proof. Magic users everywhere are against muggles for the very same reason; we have laws to keep our world a secret from muggles. But aren't we doing the same thing? We are banishing users of a branch of magic that is so powerful that not everyone is capable of using it. We have labelled it as dark arts, or forbidden arts. By doing this we have shunned a certain part of the community. Just the fact that they are capable of using the dark arts makes us hate them. We close our eyes to any good deed that they might have done. This is the fear, the fear of the unknown."