A problem with a lot of post-Hogwarts fics (especially Auror Harry ones) is the antagonist. Following on from Voldemort is really tricky, because if the antagonist is too strong it feels cheap, if too weak then it feels pointless. So I thought we could brainstorm ideas for "regular" dark wizards - the kind of normal threat that the Aurors deal with, in the absence of Voldemort.

I quite enjoy the idea that each of the Death Eaters represents this kind of person: in the absence of Voldemort, they each would have been lone dark wizards up to their own, independent mischief. Some of them would have ended up caught by the Aurors, others not. But they wouldn't work together, or try to take over the Ministry, or anything like that. They're selfish people with narrow interests and aims, and it took a unique figure like Voldemort to unify them under a single banner.

So, what ideas for dark wizards can you come up with?

Here's one: the "mad scientist" dark wizard who kidnaps people to perform dark magic experiments on them. Motivated by curiosity and a lack of morals. One idea I had was a wizard who experiments with obliviation, false memories and aging potions to see if it's possible to magically alter a person's "true age".

 

The "con man".

A dark wizard who uses spells like the Imperius, obliviation and maybe the Confundus to "convince" others into giving him money.

The "muggle baiter".

This one's obvious. Someone who goes into muggle areas and messes with them for pure sadistic enjoyment. For example a dark wizard could follow a lone muggle into his/her apartment/house and use various curses and potions to torture them.

 

I suspect every dark ritual stats life like that.

 

My suggestions:

The "Addict".
Being bad feels good. Regardless whether you believe in the theory that dark magic is supernaturally addicting, the sheer power and the forbidden aspect of it should enough to draw most people deeper into the Dark Arts if they take their first step.
Can be recovered from somewhat.

The "Smuggler".
Not a dark wizard per se, but a trader in forbidden artifacts. Most don't last too long, due to the inherent danger of the job. If you're not careful, you'd be cursed easily, after all, and those curses aren't easy to get rid of.
They maintain connections with some of the more fast-fingered Curse Breakers to get their hands on more artifacts.
One example from canon might be Borgin and Burkes.

 

I do like a mad scientist type of character.

An unspeakable had a child who was found to be a squib at an early age. Unable to accept the fact while being so well versed in the mysteries of magic he began to search for the way to make his kid magical. At the beginning he worked in accordance to the Department's regulations, no human subjects, but time ticked by, his son's eleventh birthday approached with every year and he made no substantial progress.

Maybe he got careless and did just enough human experimentation to be quietly fired, maybe he just quit and went to work freely in reclusion. Either way, with all the freedom in the world he put his every theory to practice. He kidnapped muggles, mostly children and women, and tried every avenue he could think to make them magical. He imbued their bodies with material from a variety of magical creatures and he twisted their souls and minds in his pursuit for the key to magicalness. He eventually had successes, if you could call them that, several subjects demonstrated their own limited magical powers. Some were powerful, some were inhuman chimeras in appearance and all were fundamentally broken, of mind and spirit.

As his failures filled his cells an opportunity presented itself, Lord Voldemort returned to life and the chaos of his rise would allow him to do what he had felt to be too much of a risk, catch some fresh magical folk. And perhaps Voldemort discovered and aided him, viewing as a productive way to get hid of undesirables, and who knows, maybe this guy would find a way to increase his power or at least take another's away.

More progress had been made, but soon his source of magical subjects was vanquished and he had to return to the old ways. He managed to control himself for some years, but he had been so close to the answer, just a few more witches and wizards and he would find what makes their magic tick.

Auror Harry Potter then follows up on a mysterious series of kidnappings, particularly notable amid the post-Voldemort peace. He tracks the victims to a hidden building, the dementors attracted/created by the place suggesting enough about the victims fate that Harry promptly rushes in. Inside he faces a variety of terrifying humanoid creatures that he has never seem nor heard before.

I may have gotten a bit carried away.

In general, I would prefer for the Dark Wizards to have motives beside sadism and racism, we've got enough of these with Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Even more if we count the fanon Death Eathers with their for-the-lulz muggle raids. Not that everyone should be a well intentioned monster, just some variability in motivation.

 

The Enchantress
Traditionally a Dark Witch who spends her life manipulating the rich and powerful with spells and natural charm to get what she wants. Modern times have seen the rise of a more unisex approach to this as unscrupulous wizards spell their way into the good graces of wealthy, elderly women in order to benefit from their will.

The Merchant
While usually lacking in the combat ability that Dark Wizards are known for, traffickers in banned goods are often the most cunning of the bunch as their business presents both a public and hidden face. Almost universally skilled in hexes and charms to keep things hidden, these are often the highest priority targets of the Aurors as they try to limit the spread of illegal items.

 

The Ritualist:

This man lives for his rituals as a method to perform magic which might be beyond the ken of a normal witch/wizard. Or to gain more and more personal power. To change weather patterns, to take revenge against a bloodline (ala Red Court) etc.

The Summoner:

The kind who tries to summon from beyond the world at large, like say, the wizards who summoned demons in Miranda Flairgold's unfinished trilogy or DuMorne in DF. Unlike these examples, though, they can generally keep the beings they summoned in subordination.

The person who made a lifestyle choice:

And finally, the person who decided to make it a lifestyle choice, just like those people in the real world who decide to smoke pot in places where it's illegal.

 

Thief: The kind who uses a assortment of spells to steal without leaving a trace, would never resort to violence and mostly uses Notice-Me-Nots Accio and Oblivation.

He would really start becoming a problem for Auror Potter because no one knows where he hit what he stole because everyone who was at the scene was Oblivated but the whole thing becomes a game for the Thief and sort of acts like the Zodiac Killer. Leaving little notes and generally giving Harry a rough time trying to find out where he was going to hit next.

 

An Anarchist, a witch or wizard who disagrees with the Statute and believes that magicals should rule over muggles; in pursuit of this goal they recklessly advertise their magic in aggressive actions against muggles.

 

I'm not sure how you managed to correlate anarchy with ruling over other people.

 

He would be seen as an anarchist by wizarding society.

 

The Berserker: Dark magic is described as addictive. This person started to experiment with dark magic to gain power, got addicted, lost control and now is on an all out rampage. Cursing everything that moves and torching anything that doesn't.

Avenger: Typically a muggleborn that was confined to the camps. Has sworn a vendetta against anyone that supported Voldemorts regime, including those that worked for MoM during his reign.

Pimp: someone that runs a brothel through liberal application of the Imperio curse.

The Religious nut: Actively fights against the Statute, because he sees Wizards as God's chosen people who have been placed on earth to help the muggles.

 

For those interested in a "mad scientist" dark wizard, I highly recommend The Inferi Wars.

The Magneto of the wizarding world. I like that.

 

The Genocidal Maniac:
Wants to kill all muggles. His way of doing this is to force muggles to destroy themselves. He will put a muggle leader under the imperius curse and have him declare war on other countries, or force a father to kill his own family and himself, or force a guy to go on a killing spree. He doesn't get caught because he makes sure that there are no indications of magic.

The Pimp:
Forces squib and muggle women into prostitution, and uses his magic to keep control over them.

The Economy Destroyer:
Wants to make money but doesn't necessarily rob muggles. He is a master of transfiguration. He transfigures things into gold, diamonds or jewelry and sells them to muggles.

The Serial Killer:
Kidnaps muggle women, then rapes, tortures and kills them. The bodies are never found because he transfigures them into rats.

 

So he has the Philosopher's Stone?

 

Does JKR ever say that you need the philosopher's stone to transfigure gold? I always figured that transfiguring gold was a) illegal, and b) hard as hell, so the average wizard wouldn't be able to even if they wanted to.

 

It's impossible to transfigure gold. It is only possible to create using the Philosopher's Stone via Alchemy (which is not transfiguration afaik).

Silver is possible though, we've seen it in the books.

But the entire reason the PS is so sought after is its two incredible uses: the elixir of life and the ability to turn other metals into gold.

 

The bad with good intentions.

Someone who started off only wanting the best, maybe working for the ministry in law enforcement or more likely Muggle office.

They see how they could so easily help muggles with only a little effort.

So they start off by lacing a water supply with some potion to help them, and its works beautifully, good health and everyone is happy. this slippery slopes down to them adding brain control potions and the like to make them stop fighting and killing, ends up messing up whole areas but mixing to many potions.

Goes on the run when found out, starts brain washing others to help them in their "noble" quest, everything justified by just trying to help people and the ministry not caring and understanding.

Ends up being a pretty serious badarse with a lot of mind ultered and controlled people around them.

 

Somebody who tries to resurrect Voldemort using a different dark rituals. He'd break into the DoM, steal some rare ingredients and accidently summon/ accomplish XYZ.