I've been under the impression that Voldemort is a dark wizard, but not a Dark wizard, simply because he doesn't seem to have the tattoo, and he definitely dosen't have any issues with killing whoever he wants.

Plus, we've been getting a very biased view point on dark magic. It's entirely possible that there are similar things for light magic, and they just aren't well known. I'm also fairly sure that Dumbledore is fully aware of how to use magic both ways, if only because he's freaking Dumbledore.

 

I've read it as Styx to be honest, Voldemort is dark, not Dark. He uses the magic but does not acknowledge the traditions that make and bind the dark society together. The key aspects to forming this opinion is grounded in the a) lack of mark and b) the internal monologue that Theran has before the dark meet where Lucius announces he has found another potential Dark wizard.

As for the balance between dark and light magic, the hints so far has, in my opinion, showcased Dark magic as more ritual based, the larger spells that draw on the power of nature, to repeat myself, seem ritualistic in nature. This hasn't been said outright, it's just the impression I've got whilst reading. The one part that could actually support this is the speech Snape gives to younger Dark wizards under his care, where he mentions that Dark wizardry gives expanded knowledge, "but not much more than learned light wizards". Oh, don't take the quote as an actual quote, I pulled it from memory.

And Styx, I'm fairly sure Dumbledore has knowledge of it, but due to the way it's portrayed and viewed he does not deign to use it.

 

Plus there's Voldemort's dark mark - modeled after the actual dark mark. Seems more like a wanna-be playing at being a 'real' dark wizard by adopting pieces of their culture. Kind of like how cultures of the past have co-opted pieces & symbols of other cultures without adopting the meaning. The scene where Draco receives his mark is a good example of that; the author describes how painful/unnatural it feels, as opposed to Harry's own experience.

I don't know how old Snape was when he was brought in, but if Tommy already damaged himself too much with the Horcruxes before being able to take a real mark himself & progress further into Dark society (he was sixth year - so maybe he would have done a couple rituals? idk). Actually, that would give credence to some of the rage he's characterized with and a motivation to brand his followers with his own mark. Ah... spite.

 

The Harry/Malfoy interaction and having problems injuring his Dark society buddy while defending against lethal attacks is ridiculous. On top of that mental nonsense the guy was just involved in killing Hermione's parents.

You need to suspend far too many things in that story which could have been avoided but I don't wanna repeat my comments here.

 

What you call nonsense I call human nature.

More evidence that samkar's a sociopath. We're developing a little club of them here at DLP.

FYI, people who are capable of normal human emotion quite often feel empathy for, and may even personally like, individuals on the other side of an ideological conflict, even if there has been violence between them and those they love in the past.

The most poignant (and famous) example that I know of was when British and German soldiers in the trenches in WWI stopped fighting on Christmas day for a spontaneous football game. The next day they were trying to kill each other again.

 

You call it human nature to feel sorry about somebody who just tried to kill you and got injured because you reflected the spell? All that happened just minutes after he saw Hermione's parents being tortured+killed and he has just managed to rescue his best friend from sure death.

The adrenaline in that situation would make sure that survival is priority. When he gets down he would get shaky after realizing he and his best friend just escaped sure death after reflecting on it. Then the natural emotion would be hate about the DE, what they do, perhaps what they forced you to do and compassion with Hermione. Unless of course you believe the christian creed works in reality.

How you interpret some sociopathic condition out of this is surely fascinating.

 

No. It's human nature to think 'Did I just kill that guy I was hanging out with earlier? Is magic going to mark me as a traitor for this?'

It isn't about the Death Eaters, it isn't about a combat situation, it isn't about feeling compassion for your enemies. It's about killing that guy you were hanging out with earlier, and feeling bad about it because you know that he's probably a decent guy trying to do what he thinks is right, and that if it were really up to him, none of this would be happening.

And keep in mind that Harry isn't hesitating because of this, he's just worried about his friends.

 

It sounds a awful like the Harry from the actual books. Saving Malfoy, etc...

There are things that I don't like about the story, but her characterizations are both believable and internally consistent.

 

Raining Ink here. I've decided to abandon OoTN. Thank you so much for your comments here at DLP. They've been worlds of help, and I like the constructive crit (and the occasional flaming hatred). I will be deleting the fic from ff.net very (very, very) soon. Please download a copy tonight if you'd like to keep it for your files!

Explanation, such as it is, forthcoming on my ff.net profile for those interested, and I'll be responding to PM's there for a while yet.

 

That's a shame to hear. The fic is probably in my top 5 favorites.

I downloaded it twice, just to be on the safe side.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Ignore whatever flames come your way. This is a damn sight better farewell than most authors who abandon fics give them. Good luck with your writing!

 

In a way this was not fully unexpected, but I was so hoping for an update instead of this. Oh well, downloaded it, so I can reread what you have. I would recommend giving a couple more days before deleting the story, or at least a full 24 hours so people in different places have a chance to get it.

Good luck with your dreams.

 

Disappointing to see this fic go as I enjoyed reading it. But I'm quite grateful that you've provided warning and an explanation before taking it down. It's something that's not practised anywhere near as often as it should be.

 

This was one of my favorite fics, I am incredibly sad it is never going to be finished.

Is it possible for you to reveal the outline of your story? I know I would not be the only one that would be interested in seeing what would have happened.

I want to know what would have happened when everyone found out who HP really was...

 

Sad to see Out of the Night go - it was one of my favourites. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a copy of it because I was on a tablet - anyone get a copy? I only have up to chapter 31, and if I recall correctly, there was one chapter after that.

Good luck to Raining Ink in her future writing endeavours.

 

No! This is my all time favorite HP fanfiction. Even if it is abandoned, please don't remove it from ff.net. To the author I plead: please reconsider. This is a wonderful story.
Could someone please get me a complete copy?

 

A pity. I, too, enjoyed this story very much and I thought it had several unique elements--not easy in a fandom with nearly a million stories. I understand the decision (having taken down my last WIP not long ago as well), despite being disappointed by it, and I wish Raining Ink the best in pursuing her writing goals.

 

I've put together a HTML version of Out of the Night in case nobody else has a copy. It's available here: http://db.tt/y3WWGWw7

Just as a warning, the back-end is rather messy, and I'm not sure how it'll display on other screens.