Lesson 4 - Dark Creatures

Dark creatures are different from other animals in some important aspects.

    * They are always magical.

    * They often do not have a complete life cycle the way a typical animal would, but exist

      simply as a physical extension of an evil intention.

    * They seek to harm, often for no other reason than that's what they do or were created

       for.

Dark creatures, opposed to others creatures, are not animals. They are another form of a magical being. Some books talk about them as demons. That is because this word describes the best their one sole purpose: To deliberately do harm and damage. They don't have life cycles in the same sense that normal animals have. They attack for the sake of hurting someone, not simply to eat, like for example, a manticore.  A great example of a dark creature is a Red Cap. It bludgeons unususpecting travellers so that it can use their blood to stain its cloth caps red. It doesn't give them food, it doesn't allow them to reproduce, they do it purely out of evil.

We are done with the explanation behind dark creatures. Now it is time to move to the creatures themselves.

Dementors

Dementors are one of the most dangerous and dark creatures you will ever meet on this earth. They feed off human happiness, hope and joy, bringing them despair and depression. One, far more dangerous thing they can do, is that they can consume one's soul, leaving them in a clinical vegetative state. This is called a Dementor's Kiss. The victims of a Kiss are alive, but without their soul. Most wizards and witches agree that this state is worse than death.

They have humanoid shape and are about 10 feet high. Dementors have grey, decayed bodies and are faceless, except for a large hole where the mouth should be, which is used for sucking the soul out of the victims. Their bodies are covered by dark, hooded cloaks of long, ripped cloth. Their special ability is that the Dementors do not move by walking, but rather flying.

Being somewhat of a sentinent creatures, Dementors can understand and follow simple instructions. That does not guarantee their obedience as they have no loyalty at all. Dementors follow the wizard or witch that gives them most people to feed on. For a long time, that was the Ministry, which was providing the creatures the prisoners as food, but they started following Lord Voldemort when he promised them more. When handling Dementors, you have to be careful that your price is always higher then that of your rival, as you can easily become their victim.

Unlike the rest of the dark creatures, Dementors are blind. In order to survive, they sense and feed on positive emotions of humans, which makes their victims relieve the worst memories of their lives. The area around them becomes cold and dark, even if sun was brightly shining seconds earlier. Though muggles cannot see the Dementors, they can feel them as any wizard or witch.

Dementors cannot be kill with physical means, but they can be temporarily driven away. The most certain spell that will help with that is the Patronus Charm, but it is very difficult to achieve. The Patronus is the opposite of a Dementor. It is a magical manifestation of happiness. The stronger the caster's strength is, the stronger and more corporeal the Patronus will be. An incorporeal Patronus will only slow the Dementor down, while a full body one, which will take the form of an animal, will  successfully drive the Dementors away.

Werewolf

A human, who turns into a bloodthirsty wolf during the full moon is called a werewolf. They are physically similar to wolves, but can be distinguished from them by the eyes' pupils, shape of the snout and tufted tail. They appear as normal human beings most of the time, except, of course, during the full moon and the humans are affected by lycanthropy's side effects slightly before and after the full moon. As I am sure you all know, this condition is caused by infection with lycanthropy, which occurs when the person is bitten by a transformed werewolf. Also, there is no cure for being a werewolf.

Lycanthropy is a magical illness, which is spreading by saliva-blood contact. That is why a human, which is bitten by a werewolf will become that creature himself or herself. But then, is a human is bitten by a werewolf in human form, the victim will not transform into one during the full moon, but she or he will develop lupine attributes, such as scars and craving for very rare meat.

Every full moon, a werewolf goes through a painful transformation from a human to wolf-like form. They are not themselves anymore, and will attack any nearby human, even if it is his or hers loved one. Usually, werewolves only go and bite the victim (which is evil enough), but sometimes, some werewolves take it too far and kill a human. However, if they do not have anything or anyone to attack, the werewolves will go and attack themselves out of frustration.

There is no cure for lycanthropy, so students, be careful when dealing with such creatures. Luckily, some of the worst side effects can be detained by Wolfsbane Potion, which allows the human to retain his or her mind while they are a werewolf, so they cannot attack themselves or others.

Boggart

Boggart is a shape-shifting dark creature, which takes on the form of the worst fear for the person that is facing it. Best bet in beating it, if you don't know the defensive spell, is to bring more people with you, so you would confuse it. Because of the shape-shifting abiliy, no wizard or witch know what the real boggart's form is, because it immeditealy changes when you see it.

Riddikulus is a charm that we use to battle a Boggart. It requires a lot of concentration, because the wand movement alone doesn't affect a boggart. Prime thing you have to do is to concentrate one thing that would make your fear, and therefore a boggart, funny. This would inspire laughter from a person, which defeats the boggart. They are fond of dark, small spaces, which they inhabit.

Other dark creatures are:

Basilisk

Banshee

Grindylow

Hinkypunk

Kappa

Pogrebin

Red Caps

Vampires

credits

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_creatures_in_Harry_Potter#Dementors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_creatures_in_Harry_Potter#Werewolves

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_creatures_in_Harry_Potter#Boggarts

https://www.elvenmoon.be/magic/ (rights for use of class lesson given, work done by Arianna and myself in other project)