A star and the Eclipse

OCTOBER 1, 1972

— “So Reggie and I are officially friends. A month and I've finally succeeded! I also met Barty Crouch Jr. Y'know… the one who got the dementors kiss cause he put me in the goblet of fire? Yeah, that one! He's a ravenclaw! Kinda really energetic, hyperactive really. His attention span actually sucks and he only listens if you give him stuff he's interested in. His dad sucks

Somehow managed to keep his attention on me… we rambled a lot! But anyways my friend group got bigger! It's so weird…

I never had this many friends without them coming to me to be friends. Can't believe we just randomly ended up becoming friends…

It's nice. Having my own friends kinda feels weird now

Barty’s pretty great I saw the bruises on his skin. ”

— Excerpt from Malcolm's entry after he befriended people.

Malcolm loved Hogwarts, he really did. But he hated homework. It got in the way of his sleep and took up his time more than anything. It was worse when he couldn't focus on the subjects he didn't really care about. Transfiguration was interesting and all but he was sure that he almost failed that. Potions had become a bitter thing for him after Snape practically ruined it for him in the previous life. Slughorn being his teacher made it worse after the guy kept mentioning his dad.

The only teacher who's gonna get a weirdly detailed amount of homework from him will be his DADA teacher—who's name he's already forgotten. It's for the best really. They'll just disappear next year and they'll get another wix to teach them. Shame really, but he wasn't really surprised. James did though, considering his brother had been surprised when Dumbledore introduced the new professor at the beginning of the year. 

So here he was, running to the library to find a book about charms that'll help him with his assignments. Sure, he could have just gone to Lily for help, but he didn't want to bother her. Last time he talked to her, Snape had been there and the guy had kept glaring at him. It was really weird to see his batty old Potions Professor looking so young, but even as a twelve year old, his hair still looks oily. But Snape was docile, at the very least. Unlike when his brother arrives and the two immediately fight.

The library was as quiet as usual and Malcolm practically ran when the librarian glared at him. He gulped, rushing away to the charms section. He never did like to ask the woman for help. So he struggled to find the specific book he wanted. All the others had titles that felt too bland, unrelated to his homework, too boring. It wasn't until he found a specific book: How charm spells actually work and how they are structured, by: Larissa Fairly.  

The blue hard cover and gold letters immediately caught his attention and he reached for the book. To his surprise, someone else reached for it.

He snapped his head towards the owner of the other hand, a boy in ravenclaw. He suspected that he was in his year from what he could tell. The two stared at one another, as if daring the other to move. Seeing the conviction in the other boy's eyes, Malcolm understood that he wanted the book as much as he did. However, Malcolm was not willing to surrender the damned book. Not after he got bored of the rest. He needed this weirdly titled book by Fairly.

"I need this."

"So do I."

"I saw it first and I touched it first. Back off." Malcolm insisted, keeping a smile on his face as he pulled the book from the shelf. However, the other boy's hand did not let go and the two of them stared daggers at the other.

"Just because you touched it first doesn't mean you can use it first." 

This little— Malcolm grit his teeth. "Let. Go."

"Hell. No."

Malcolm narrowed his eyes at the other boy. Pursing his lips, he sighed and nodded. "We can both use it… You want it for charms homework? The… the how charms work essay thingy."

The other boy hesitantly nodded. Their firm grips on the book slackened. Malcolm saw this as a chance and forcefully pulled it away from the other boy, who gaped at him for playing dirty. Malcolm simply rolled his eyes and gestured to the table in the corner. It was the best table in the library because no one would bother a kid lurking in the dark.

As they sat opposite each other, Malcolm set the book down between them. They stared at one another, wary and cautious as they slowly took out their quills and notebooks. 

"Rock paper scissors who gets to use it first."

"What the hell is that?" 

Malcolm gaped at the other boy, baffled and confused as to how they didn't know what the game: rock paper scissors was. It was the simplest game in the world!

Oooohhh! He's pureblood. 

So Malcolm spent the next ten minutes teaching the other boy how to play rock paper scissors. The ravenclaw boy was very fascinated with the game and wouldn't stop asking questions. Malcolm was somehow able to keep up with his talkative nature and babbled along with him. The boy was a quick learner and soon they were playing. Once they played, it took them five tries to figure out who could use it first. 

Malcolm obviously won and watched as the other boy sulked.

"Hi, I'm Malcolm Potter." He finally introduced himself, offering his hand to the strange boy. 

Still sulking, the other boy hesitantly took his hand. "Barty Crouch Jr."

Barty Crouch Jr. 

Malcolm blinked owlishly, a stupid smile on his face as he tried to focus on his homework. After numerous reminders—very aggressive reminders—to himself, he understood that this isn't his timeline anymore. He was Malcolm Potter. Not Harry Potter. He was his father's brother now, not son. 

The kid in front of him wasn't the same death eater that got killed. 

Not anymore that is.

His quill almost snapped in half with how hard he gripped it, almost ripping the paper as he wrote. Offering the other boy the book, he watched him intently. He couldn't focus on anything but Barty. He wanted to figure out the boy for himself. Curiosity was a curse and Malcolm wanted to know what the death eater was like before he became a death eater. 

Perhaps his stare was unnerving as Barty slammed the book shut, avoiding his gaze. Malcolm only tilted his head, but shrugged and opened his notebook again. He still struggled to understand the topic. Charms felt so boring compared to transfiguration and DADA. Why did he have to take this subject again? 

It was somewhat hard to get the topic itself. He hopes professor Flitwick won’t be disappointed in him. Although the hardest thing to do was sit still and try not to bolt from his homework to go read more about curses and rituals.

"That's wrong."

Malcolm blinked, snapping his head up to meet Barty's eyes. The other boy flinched away, shrinking in his seat before he whispered a quiet apology.

"What's wrong?" 

Barty hesitated, "That…" he pointed to a paragraph in Malcolm's messy notebook. He had ended up writing in the margins for keywords and simple explanations to make him understand more. “The Lumos Solem charm was created by Isobel Sterling to repel unknown shadowy creatures that once haunted her home.”

Malcolm blinked, squinting at the sentence he had written regarding the reason why Lumos Solem had been created. “Yeah but Milena Nadoveza from Serbia also…” he trails off, grabbing the book and furiously flipping through the pages. “Nadoveza casted a light charm to repel the Drekavac that attacked her husband. Apparently, the screamer was his bastard son that died.” 

“What?” Barty glared suspiciously at him, grabbing the book and reading through the page again. Upon reading, Barty looked up at Malcolm, still confused.

Realising that Barty did not understand the point of him choosing to believe the origin with Melina Nadoveza rather than the one with Isobel Sterling. 

“Sterling created the incantation and thus it was officially recognized by the British magical community as a spell . If we’re talking about the actual origin of the Lumos Solem spell then it is the one with Nadozeva. It didn’t have an incantation or category, but it was raw magic conjured. Still more of an origin story rather than Sterling just being the official creator of the incantation —not the spell.” Malcolm stated, flipping the book to the next page. “See? Lumos Solem gained its official incantation on blah blah blah…”

Malcolm rolled his eyes, returning his focus to his notes. He may not completely understand the mechanics of how Lumos Solem worked but he understood history. Again, something he’d rather delve into rather than the mechanics of spells. His father had constantly explained to him that he needed to be more focused on physicalities and the study of physics, as the muggles call it. He needed to understand for his own magical attribute, but how was he going to do that if he was more interested in why the bloody Avada Kedavra was made rather than how it worked.

It was easier for him to go on and on about what was the reason why Lancelot Thornton was actually arrested and it wasn’t for the murder of his daughter, rather it was due to him illegally experimenting on reptiles to create unorthodox magical creatures that could be domestic dragons. Nevertheless, his parents were genuinely concerned for his lack of curiosity in anything that involved how rather than why.

Taking out another notebook, he glanced at his charms notebook and copied some facts that he liked. Most of them were involved in history and what seemed to be literary references written by the author to emphasise certain chapters.

"Huh… I didn't know that…"

Malcolm blinked, glancing up at Barty who was hurriedly scribbling on his own notebook and editing out anything that seemed wrong.

"I mean…" he paused, "It's not so bad to keep that in your notes. Sterling is more known by the public so maybe Flitwick will be expecting Sterling instead of Nadoveza." He shrugged, ducking his back into the book.

"But… but still…" Barty pursed his lips, shaking his head. "It's not fair! If Nadoveza was the one who first created the spell, why is Sterling being recognized for it?" 

Malcolm shrugged, "She created the incantation. Our country fully acknowledges something if it's properly named. Lumos Solem got its name from Sterling, not just the incantation."

"That's rubbish!"

"Aunt Dorea says that other countries don't think the same as us. She visited France one time and the wixen there didn't really care about the people who made the incantations." 

Barty pouted, slumping in his seat as he scribbled on his notebook. It was silent for a while until the two were exchanging questions and answers. It wasn't really an activity that had them get to know each other. The questions were more based on the books they've read and their subjects. Malcolm soon found out that Barty was rather fond of runes and couldn't wait to get to third year. It somehow reminded him of Hermione but… not. 

Time passed and it had taken the librarian coming to them with a pointed look to notice that the sun was setting. They had scrambled out of the library the moment the scary woman glared at them. As the library doors shut behind them, they stared at the wall then each other for yet another minute. Bright grins split across their faces and laughter burst from their lips.

"You're not too bad, Crouch." Malcolm shrugged, tilting his head as Barty blinked owlishly at him.

Then the boy smiled back, "Not too shabby yourself, Potter."

OCTOBER 31, 1972

— “It's that time of the year again. As per usual, weird stuff happened. 

At least this year, it wasn't so bad.

I mean, to be fair, almost tripping down the stairs because the bloody thing moved isn't the worst thing that has happened. Well… I did make new friends. They're kinda weird.

Lestrange kinda creeps me out a bit but Rosier and Meadows are pretty decent! Rosier and Barty get along just splendidly… well, I have Reggie all to myself so that doesn't really worry me.”

— Samhain excerpt.

"Reggie, Reggie, Reggie—" 

"Shut up, Potter." 

Malcolm frowned, clicking his tongue. Regulus had yet to call him by his name, no matter how many times he's stated that it was okay to say Malcolm . He was far too stubborn to be friendly and call him by his first name. At least Barty has gotten used to calling him Malcolm, even Pandora called him by his first name. Well, she never did call him Potter , just Malcolm. 

He wanted to just be Malcolm. Not Potter . That was usually more associated with his brother than himself. It was upsetting to be called by his own surname when he's done so in the previous life, yet in this one, he absolutely despised it. 

"What're you going to do for Samhain?" He asked, "Mum says that we're not allowed to do any Samhain ritual here… I still think it's rubbish that they had to ban it. The ritual doesn't do anything to anyone." He scoffed, placing his arms behind his head.

"Mhm… Slughorn might help us…"

"Doubt it. He might be a Slytherin but I don't think he has the balls to stand up to Dumbledore…" Malcolm sighed, "Why don't you floo call Aunt Dorea? Bet she'll pull us out of school to perform the ritual, but… meh."

Regulus considered him for a moment, a contemplative look in his eyes. He looked fairly suspicious of Malcolm, who simply grinned and pressed his hands against his hips. With a tilt of his head, Malcolm chuckled at Regulus' visibly doubtful expression. Although neither looked to be ready to fight the other, there were those who looked apprehensively at the Gryffindor and Slytherin like a ticking time bomb. 

"I'll… consider it."

Malcolm grinned, huffing in triumph as he walked ahead of Regulus. Yet he felt his foot get caught by the bricks and he fell forward. Horror filled his eyes as he saw the numerous floors of Hogwarts. There were no stairs to catch and he felt his own soul leave his body as he leant even more forward. But at the last minute, he felt someone grab at his robes and another who had taken his hand, their grips were firm as they dragged him back to safety.

The colour had drained from his face, unable to speak. Fear was something he had grown accustomed to, but he had underestimated his body far too much. Malcolm did not have Harry's survival instinct. He did not have the cultivated capability to suppress his fear and accept anything that comes his way. This body was raised well and experienced a happy childhood, not where he has to be cautious of everything and accept the danger that comes his way. 

Cold arms seemed to embrace him. His breath hitched, unable to breathe as his pupils shrunk. He knows fear. But sometimes, he doubts it. He doubts what fear actually feels like. This was a different fear from what he’s felt before. His heart was stuck in his throat, he closed his eyes and begged fate and death.

Don’t let it end so soon… not yet please…

It was too soon. This life was too short. It wasn’t enough.

Everything was different, he reminded himself. 

You're not Harry anymore. 

"Malcolm!" 

Yes… that's right… 

"Malcolm, look at me!" 

I'm Malcolm. 

Dark grey eyes snap towards the voice and only then did he notice that someone was cupping his face. His gaze met with silver ones, hues filled with worry and the very reflection of his own fear. They stared at each other for a long time before time finally moved, and Malcolm seemed to finally breathe. His chest hurt.

"You called me Malcolm."

Regulus blinked, outraged that he had gone and noticed just that. "You bloody idiot, what is wrong with you? You nearly fell to your death and you only pay attention to me calling your name?!" 

Malcolm nodded numbly.

"Seems like he's out of it." He hears and his eyes snap towards the other boy. He looked to be their age—Malcolm instantly noticed the green robes of house Slytherin the boy wore. Dark hair and eyes, fairly sharp features for a kid, kinda like Regulus. Something about his face looked familiar.

(“Harry! We could have gotten expelled… again!”)

"Here, drink this."

Once again, Malcolm blinks as he turns towards yet another Slytherin boy. This one had blonde hair and had softer features. There was a flask in his hand and Malcolm shakily accepted it. The liquid running down his throat was noticeably water with it's lack of flavour but it was cold water that seemed to calm his nerves for a moment.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," the boy said.

Regulus glared darkly at the two, grabbing Malcolm's arm and pulling him close. "Lestrange, Rosier." 

"Black," Lestrange replied with an eye roll. "No need to go all defensive, we won't take your little lion."

Little? It was quite ironic, considering Malcolm was taller and slightly bigger than Regulus and Rosier. 

"But I suggest you go to the hospital wing, that was quite the scare." Lestrange gestured towards the edge of the stairs. He picked up Malcolm's book bag and handed it to the boy with ease, nodding at him. "Pay attention next time." 

With that, he walked off with Rosier in tow. 

Malcolm was left dumbfounded as he clutched his book bag. First of all, he nearly died, second of all, he decided that Slytherins were cool but also headaches. Hesitantly, he glanced towards Regulus and was frightened to see silver eyes looking into his soul. With a sheepish smile, Malcolm murmured an apology.

"... Be careful," Regulus whispered. He grabbed Malcolm's hand and dutifully guided him through the stairs. On the other hand, Malcolm was staring at their hands, then he took notice of Regulus struggling with his books with one hand. Pulling at Regulus' hand, they halted and the other boy sent him a look of annoyance.

"Gimme." Malcolm grabs Regulus' book bag and effortlessly carries them, hand still stuck with Regulus'. Hesitant and questioning, Regulus chews at his lip before nodding and moving on. If it was unusual to see Regulus Black dragging Malcolm Potter (who was carrying their bags) to defense against the dark arts, then no one commented on it… until someone did.

Malcolm was not quite comfortable with his brother's stare. James had approached him before lunch and the next thing he knew, he found himself in a classroom with the would-be marauders. His gaze carefully observed the four boys. 

James, his beloved golden-boy of a brother who everyone in Gryffindor adored. Sirius Black who was apparently outcasted a year ago and was now one of the most charming students of their house. Remus Lupin, the tall boy who was quietly sitting in the corner and watching him carefully. He remembers that Lupin was also rather charming and was good friends with Lily. And last but not least, the short boy, Peter Pettigrew fidgeted as he followed Sirius and James.

He knows them .

( “Sirius! Sirius! Please! I can save him! Let me go! Let me go Remus!” )

( “You… why won’t you just die? Why are you alive and not Sirius? Why are you here?!” )

( “Remus! Where are you?! Remus, please! DON’T LEAVE ME! YOU CAN’T LEAVE ME! YOU CAN’T!” )

He sheepishly smiles back at Remus, shifting from one foot to another. 

“Hey…”

“ Hey? ” James looked at him incredulously, “Mal! What’s this I’ve been hearing about you being friends with Regulus Black?”

Malcolm shrugged. He didn’t need to answer him. James had no power over those who he befriended.

“What’s wrong with that?” He tilted his head, “Reggie’s great! He’s like a cat that turned into a person.” He bluntly explained.

For a moment, he heard someone snicker— Sirius, most likely —until the other boy hid it with a cough. The mischief in Sirius’ eyes vanished for a moment, a stern look crossing his face. Rather abnormal for someone who should only be thirteen.

“Mal… He’s a slytherin?”

Malcolm grinded his teeth against each other, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

“Aunt Dorea’s a Slytherin and so was Great-Grandma Ishana.” Malcolm scowled. Their mother’s beloved grandmother had been a notorious Slytherin herself, why was being a snake a problem?

James seemed to falter at the mention of their cherished relatives. Dorea treasured them, and their great grandmother had been a rather prominent individual in their childhoods. Poor Great-grandma did not have much time left, unfortunately. 

“Regulus isn’t as good as he seems.” Sirius murmurs, looking down at Malcolm.

Harry loved Sirius , yes, but he wasn’t Harry anymore. Regulus always reminded him that this is a new life. 

“I want to be friends with him,” Malcolm declares. “I get you’re my older brother and all but you’re not my keeper, James.” He glared, “I can be friends with whoever I want and you can’t stop me.”

“Malcolm! I’m just looking out for you!” James insisted, worry clouding his expression.

Their parents did not raise him to be a prejudiced child, but what was he to do when all the snakes he’s met in Hogwarts were pompous gits! He couldn’t let his baby brother get hurt by one of them, even if it was Sirius’ brother.

“That’s all?” Malcolm huffed, “I gotta go now. I promised Pandora that we’d try practising transfiguration together.” He pushed past them without another thought, grumbling about overprotective siblings before he hurried off to the library.

“Hey! Wait—”

Remus held him back, shaking his head. “Leave him be. Your brother seems to need some space.”

“But— Remus, he’s gone and made friends with a bunch of bloody snakes! What will happen if Snivellus gets his greasy hands on him?!” James knew he had made some sort of enemy.

Snape would surely go after his precious baby brother.

“Well… Regulus’ already got his claws on little Malcolm.” Sirius scoffed, but he was rather weirded out by the situation. James’ baby brother was buddies with his scheming brother, he couldn’t understand how that worked. 

Nevertheless, the to-be marauders found Malcolm Potter quite odd with his immediate decision of befriending those in Slytherin rather than their own house.

“I told you.” Pandora grinned cheekily at him.

She was definitely Luna’s mom, that’s for sure. And she was definitely the Scamander twins’ grandmother. His daughter did favour Lorcan, the hufflepuff of the two more, while Lysander, the ravenclaw of them, was quite close friends with his second-son.

“Yeah, yeah— Oh! Who’s this?”

Malcolm tilted his head at the girl seated with Pandora. Yet another Slytherin he’s met. James would riot if he heard.

“Malcolm, this is Dorcas Meadows. Dorcas, Malcolm Potter.” Pandora introduced them.

Malcolm stared curiously at Dorcas, who seemed to narrow her eyes dangerously at him. He merely offered the brightest smile he could muster, which wasn’t blinding like James, but he tried.

“Nice to meet you, Meadows!” Malcolm greeted, his face already aching from the smile.

“You don’t have to smile so much… You look constipated,” Dorcas said. She was rather blunt and seemed quite rude, but Malcolm simply stared at her with his insufferable smile, and Pandora looked fairly pleased.

As the smile relaxed on his face, Malcolm only offered her a lazy grin. “ You’re pleasant to speak to, Meadows.” Malcolm chuckled.

“Hm… Nice to meet you too, Potter.”

“ Malcolm .” He immediately corrected, “I don’t like to go by my surname. Just call me Malcolm.”

“Then hey,” Dorcas grinned, “Call me Dorcas.”

Malcolm's interest in her was short-lived as he immediately turned back to Pandora, "Where's Regulus?" He asked, tilting his head.

Pandora giggled at him, "Eager are you? But— Reggie's wandering the library somewhere." 

Malcolm nodded, once again turning to Dorcas in acknowledgement before he hurried of to look for Regulus. 

The two girls stared at his figure, before Dorcas turned towards Pandora with a bewildered look.

"Is he always like that?"

Pandora shrugged, "Regulus is just his favourite person. This is quite normal…but should I have told him that Reggie's accompanied?" 

Dorcas chuckled, "Don't think so. But you said that they've already met, right?"

"Hm… he'll be okay."

Malcolm stared in surprise at the group of boys that were huddled together. 

"What are you doing?"

Rosier slammed the book shut, looking at him with fear, while Barty and Regulus nonchalantly waved at him. On the other hand, Lestrange was staring at him curiously.

"We got a book from the restricted section—"

"Crouch! What the hell are you doing? He'll tell on us—"

Regulus grumbled, "Potter's—" 

" Malcolm !" He aggressively corrected.

" Malcolm! " Regulus snarled, "Malcolm's not like the rest of the lions. He's okay with these stuff…considering the fact that my aunt Dorea seems to be perfectly fine with teaching him this stuff," he said. 

"Yeah! I'm not like James!" Malcolm said, eye twitching before he grabbed the book from Rosier and opened it. "Huh… Aunt Dorea owns a copy of this." He stated, closing the book and staring at the title. 

Rosier gaped at him, "You've read it?"

Malcolm shrugged, "She left it on a table once and I just snatched it. Anyways!" He grinned, tilting his head. 

Rituals of old: the light, the dark, the historic. 

"It's more of a history book than anything else. I mean sure! It has some instructions on rituals, but it just explains the origin of the rituals and what days their usually done." Malcolm carelessly flipped through the pages, "Like this… it's a ritual done for coming of age ceremonies but it's kinda messed up with the amount of blood that has to be used. I mean honestly! This is absurd, why the hell would the person that came of age have to sacrifice that much blood?"

Barty laughed, "'Course you'd rant on the inefficiency of a ritual."

Regulus nodded in agreement. He took the book back from Malcolm's hand and opened it to the rest of them. 

"Is that normal for you? To not care for how the ritual is done?" Lestrange asked, curiously staring at Malcolm who nodded. 

"I prefer the word why over how . Your methods don't matter if your reasoning is good or bad. Reasons are more important to me compared to methods." Malcolm explained, shrugging and taking the seat beside Regulus.

"Huh… and here I thought you were one of those who didn't give a damn about the reasons and just cared if something is dark or not." Lestrange admitted, smiling curiously.

"I'm not… that's a common misconception about my family, alright. We're not even a light family, we're grey." Malcolm grumbled, "Also that's inaccurate. Aunt Dorea said that rituals like that shouldn't be done under the full moon since there's a chance they'll get overpowered and well… she didn't say what happened if it failed." 

He pointed to a certain ritual circle. It was specifically drawn for some sort of marriage ritual. 

"You are rather… knowledgeable about these kinds of things." Rosier hesitated to speak.

Again, Malcolm shrugged. 

“I like to read about history and stuff. James is the one who likes to mess around and prank others.” Malcolm said. He didn’t… hate his brother. More like he was jealous and frustrated. Most Gryffindors compared him to James. People expected another James. But a second James was not what Gryffindor got when Malcolm stepped foot into Hogwarts’ halls. Due to the constant comparison and the expectations they have of James being put on him, Malcolm resented them.

“Reasons are more important than a persons methods. Like… Like how the Unforgivables were made for medical reasons at first before someone decided to commit crimes with them.” 

The four boys stared at him, bewildered and confused.

“What are you talking about?”

“Huh? Did none of you read about it?” Malcolm blinked, acting confused and surprised. Of course these boys did not know what the unforgivables were made for. “Like… the cruciatus was used for nerves rather than torture. Not completely sure how that works but apparently the spell hits the nerves. Like if you were paralyzed in the past and using the cruciatus would have cured you. The imperius were used on mentally unstable patients who hurt themselves or others.”

Barty narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He crossed his arms and asked, “And the killing curse?”

“Euthanasia. The killing curse was originally used to put patients to sleep. Have none of you wondered why the most lethal unforgivable seems to be the most merciful? An instant death where you do not feel pain… The killing curse was created for mercy killing.” 

The information seemed to slowly sink into their brains. Malcolm had studied this. He’d learned about it almost everyday when he got his hands on the book about the unforgivable curses. The most lethal and illegal curses in all of Britain were made for medical purposes. They were turned forbidden due to some bastard using it to slaughter, torture, and terrorize others. 

Why against How. Malcolm preferred the whys. He wanted to know why death offered him a second chance. Why fate had granted him another life. Why Sirius and Regulus were getting hurt by their own parents. Why did people see nothing but James when they looked at him?

Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why Why

“Ironic… huh?”

NOVEMBER 4, 1972

— “Explaining to a bunch of pureblood kids that their unforgivable curses were miracle workers when they were first created. I hate that spells that could have saved so many are villainized because someone was foolish enough to abuse it.

Reasons are more significant than their methods. Had the killing curse been legal, those who suffer alive could be put to peace… with no pain… like they’re just falling asleep.”

— Malcolm after lecturing his new friends.