In fact, Evan was not less frightened than Malfoy. He didn't think he would even cast this black magic, let alone succeed at it.
This black magic that attacked the soul was very esoteric and complex, and required strong magic and deep magic theory as the basis.
At Evan's level, he didn't think he could cast it.
Even if it was only inadvertently successful, it also showed that Evan's recent strength has indeed improved a lot, but he was not happy about it at all.
He stumbled back to Gryffindor's Common Room. No matter who would have spoken to him, he could not hear anything.
He sat alone on the sofa in front of the fireplace for a long time and kept thinking about it.
Thinking of the consequences of that dark magic, Evan realized that his inner fears were being fulfilled.
He kept asking himself why he had originally studied Dark Magic when he knew there would be such an outcome.
At that moment, He also did not know whether he should continue such studies.
If he continued, he might have great power, but he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't get lost and become an evil Dark wizard like Voldemort.
The temptation of power makes it sometimes very difficult to decide.
Maybe, he should change his way…
In the middle of the night, besides Evan, there was no one in the Gryffindor Common Room.
He stared at the jumping fire in the fireplace, sitting alone in a daze.
Suddenly, a footstep sounded on the stairs and someone walked out of the bedroom.
Evan turned back and saw Hermione in pink pyjamas coming over to him.
"Why haven't you slept yet?" He asked in surprise.
"I was worried about you. What happened?" Hermione sat on the sofa next to Evan and said uneasily, "You look very abnormal tonight. When I said goodnight to you, you just nodded."
"I was thinking about… things; I didn't hear your voice." Evan explained.
"What were you thinking about?" Hermione moved closer.
She stared closely at Evan, and under the candlelight, her brown eyes shimmered with fascinating light.
Seeing Hermione's beautiful, intelligent eyes, Evan was slightly lost.
It took him a moment to get back to his senses.
Evan was too familiar with Hermione. He knew what she might have noticed. If he did not explain it clearly, she wouldn't just give up on him and let things be.
He hesitated for a moment and decided to tell her everything.
Although the study of the Dark Arts was taboo and should be kept a secret, Evan did not want to hide anything from Hermione.
He believed in her, not to mention that he also wanted to hear her opinions.
"I just met Malfoy and his mates on the stairs; they were ready to ambush me!" Evan hesitated. "Don't worry, Hermione, I wasn't hurt or anything. I used a magic to knock them back, it was a… dark magic, very esoteric, very complicated, and very evil. I did not think that I would successfully cast it!"
"Dark magic?!" Hermione looked up at Evan with horror.
"You know, I have been doing magic research recently. In fact, I've been working on black magic books from the Blacks' collection." Evan said with a stiff head, he noticed the more and more surprised expression on Hermione's face.
"God, are you studying the Dark Arts?!" Hermione didn't dare to believe the news. "I can't believe it. How can you do that? This is wrong. All textbooks say that black magic is very evil. Only Dark Wizards would…"
"In order to enhance my strength, in the face of Dark wizards and the uncertain future, it is always good to know a thing or two about black magic." Evan's voice was getting fainter and fainter, his words seemed unfounded, and he looked at Hermione with pleading eyes.
"You mean, you don't learn these Dark Arts to use them, or to use that knowledge to do something bad, but to better understand them?"
"Exactly, that's it!" Even Evan himself felt that this reason was somewhat entangled.
Regardless of whether others would believe it or not, he really thought so.
From the beginning to the end, Evan was not ready to learn and master these Dark Arts, and his purpose of research was not to use them.
He didn't want to be an evil Dark wizard, perhaps because of preconception, and he had always been deeply prejudiced and vigilant against the dark magic.
But as an important part of magic, black magic was indispensable. To become a powerful wizard, he had to study black magic. This was an indispensable part. Only by deep understanding of Black Magic could he better cope with it. This was what the Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching philosophy had been insisting on.
But it is undeniable that black magic is too strong, giving one a very easy path to power.
As the research progresses, one will inevitably be subject to various temptations and tests.
Facing these temptations, many people did not stick to their original intentions and got eventually lost.
"I don't think it's a problem if you just study it to understand it." Hermione said worriedly, "But after all, it's BLACK MAGIC, you have to be careful!"
"I know, in fact, what happened tonight led me to realize that my recent study of magic has gone in the wrong path, which is very dangerous! That's what I've been thinking about." Evan explained, "But I don't know what to do, I'm hesitating."
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself." Hermione looked at Evan carefully for a long time, and then suddenly stretched out her little hand, held Evan's tightly and slowly said, "I once said that no matter what happens, I will always believe in you. Evan, promise me, don't let me down, OK?"
"I promise you; I won't let you down." Evan nodded and answered very seriously, "Thank you, Hermione. Thank you for believing in me all the way!"
Seeing Hermione in front of him, Evan finally made up his mind.
On the comfortable sofa in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room, they chatted for a long time, until midnight, and then Hermione went back to sleep in the bedroom.
When he was alone again, Evan took out his recent research notes and threw them into the fire, watching them burn to ashes.
Since the study of Dark Arts was inevitable, he could not just give up, but he decided to change his research strategy. Basing on these Dark Arts, he intended to analyse the principles, structures and theories of magic in depth, to study ways to resist them, and to enhance his own strength.
In doing so, hid magic research was several times more difficult than before.
But his gains were much smaller, and Evan couldn't improve as quickly. However, he didn't regret it. As promised, he didn't want Hermione to be disappointed.
Evan had the impression that Dumbledore had been involved in the Dark Arts in his youth, and he might have faced the same choice.
He finally paid a terrible price, and his sister lost her life, and he repented and sobered up.
This was the regret of Dumbledore's life, after which he had become committed to fighting Black Magic.
Evan reminded himself not to repeat the same mistakes, to only know the right path after loss like Dumbledore, or become a power's puppet like Voldemort.
For Hermione, for himself, he had to always remain vigilant.