Dark Arts Class One: Advanced Level

"Excellent work Orestes," Sandra said, smirking. "10 points to Ravenclaw for a perfect answer."

She stood, waving her wand absently at a small rock on her desk. It transformed into a small black-white gerbil, which she picked up and presented to the class. "You see, the spell Onus Suspendi, or the gravity charm actually means exactly what it says. All the spell does is suspend the weight of whatever object you point your wand at.

She put the gerbil down on her desk and pointed her wand at it. "Onus Suspendi."

Immediately the gerbil began to float in mid-air, it's little legs pumping wildly as it tried to steady itself. All it managed to do was spin itself in dizzying circles however, until Sandra made a sharp motion with her wand. The gerbil flipped over, facing the class.

"The gravity charm differs from your usual levitation charm in only one way - instead of simply levitating an object, it literally suspends the weight of it, capturing it in a small ball of zero gravity which you can control at will. A muggle scientist would be able to explain it better than I, but that's the basics."

"So you might ask - why? Why is this considered Dark Magic?" She smiled. "I'll show you."

She made a sharp gesture with her wand, and the gerbil began spinning wildly, going this way and that in a sickening spin. With more flicks, the gerbil spun around and around, never getting its bearings, never having any time to brace itself for the next round.

"Firstly, Onus Suspendi has no practical use that cannot be accomplished by the levitation charm. And secondly, it was and is quite often used for torture."

"Yes, yes, I know what you're going to say: The Cruciatus Curse. Well I'm here to tell you that it isn't the answer to every problem. Crucio is powerful, but immunities can be built up - in fact, it's standard auror training to subject yourself to the curse a few times a day. The gravity charm is also much better about keeping it's victims sane you see...the Dark Lord was quite adept with this particular charm, especially near the end of his reign.

Ash walked into the classroom as the professor had started the lecture. She had no clue what she was getting into or why she had opted to take the class. Probably because she had been one of the few people she knew who saw true magic as being neither good nor evil. It was a weird concept to grasp. She took her seat trying not to interrupt the teacher, nor wanting to get into trouble for being late. She watched intently as the professor used the spell on the gerbil.

She understood when she said why it was used for torture. To completely stay in your right state of mind and not be able to do anything was a dangerous thing. She was never one for torture but she figured it would still be a good spell to know, especially caught in a duel.