The fan's perspective on Dark magic...

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

So, elsewhere on the 'net, I came across someone tearing apart The Draco Trilogy, and this person had something very interesting to say about Dark magic:

When you use Dark Magic, it's because you want someone to die, or feel terrible pain, or bend unquestioningly to your will; you want that for its own sake, and not necessarily to accomplish anything. Dark Magic has nothing to do with whether or not a spell causes pain, just the wizard casting it.

This came from a fan of the series, of course, but without meaning to it in essence confirms what we've been saying all along about the way morality and Dark magic work in this series--it's not the spells a wizard uses that are Dark or otherwise, it's whether the wizard themselves is good or evil. If the wizard using a spell is "evil," then no matter what they do it will be evil and Dark. If the wizard using a spell is "good," then no matter what they do it will be good and not-Dark.