The Scariest Magic in ‘Harry Potter’ Isn’t the Dark Arts

From the Dark Arts, which cause terrible anguish and resurrect the dead, to the profound magic of love, which provides unmatched protection, magic can take on myriad forms in the ‘Harry Potter’ universe. Harry witnessed some of the most amazing magical achievements during his school years, such as once-in-a-generation spells and ground-breaking discoveries. However, in his third year, time travel—one of the most perilous and unpredictable types of magic Harry had ever encountered—was taught.

The crucial scene where Harry and Hermione utilise a time-turner to save Sirius Black is still clearly remembered by fans. Only a few hours into the past, this short journey only touched the surface of the wizarding world’s time-manipulation efforts. Witches and wizards had been tinkering with time for ages, with terrible results, as ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ revealed. A whole Time Room was dedicated to studying and manipulating time at the Department of Mysteries, the home of the mysterious Unspeakables. Their experiments frequently had disastrous results, like as irreversible harm to the chronology and the researchers’ terrible demises.

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For instance, Eloise Mintumble, who tried to travel back in time to 1402, was found five days later, 500 years old, and gravely wounded. Time itself became unstable as a result of her intrusion into the past, which made one day longer than two days and another shorter than a few hours. Even worse, her actions eliminated 25 people—the offspring of those she came into contact with—from the world. Strict laws were enacted in response to these terrible outcomes, prohibiting attempts to change history and restricting time travel to a few hours.

In ‘Cursed Child’, Scorpius and Harry’s son Albus created parallel worlds that ruined lives and futures, illustrating the actual danger of time travel. Time magic is the most deadly magic in the wizarding world since it can alter reality and cause chaos, more so than love or prophesy.

–Farheen Ali