Keefer exhaled in relief as he put his foot down. He twisted a bit to relieve the tension, then went right back into the pose, with the other leg up this time. I wasn't expecting a workout when I came to class. Just goes to show that Hogwarts will always surprise you.

Curses. People were bound to immediately think of the Unforgivables. He thought of other curses he knew. Flagrante, Blasting, Leg-locker, Conjunctivitis, Tongue-Tying, Gemino, Babbling, Reductor, Sponge-Knees... What did these all have in common?

He attempted to raise his hand, flailed, and gave up. He waited until the Professor was looking at him once more before speaking. "The most obvious curses are the Unforgivables, which would lead you to think Curses are the 'darkest' kind of magic. But there's other curses, like the Reductor, Leg-Locker, and Gemino Curses that don't appear to cause pain or permanent damage to people."

So what, then, made them be classified as curses? "In short, I think I would need to study this more and put a lot more thought into the issue before I could give an intelligent answer. It's a complex idea with very subtle differences." Not that what his classmates were saying was dumb, he just felt like he needed more time to do the topic justice.