Then why does Mother Summer say Mother doesn't go out much now because she lost her stick? If it was given, it apparently wasn't her wish that it be given.. Though yeah, she might have also meant that she lost it because she gave it up.. Jim again gives himself some wiggle room..
Or she gave it to someone and it just wasn't returned when expected.
She may inherently be black magic to the earth when she walks it.
Completely unrelated, but I normally read on my phone and it's hard to post there. I think a number of posters don't understand the Black Magic *twisting*.
It seems to me that *all magic* reinforces you and makes you more easily able to use it. In other words, the more fire magic Harry uses, the better he is with fire magic- and it's not just that he has practice, but that his abilities with fire magic, like in a RPG, increase because he becomes someone more able to use fire magic. Not just like building up muscle, but his personality because more disposed this way.
It would explain why older wizards become "fixed" and difficult to tamper with; every use of magic reinforces who you are and eliminates extraneous bits. Think of it like wizards becoming less grey and more crisply black and white as they use magic, the opposite of laundry. Use it to heal someone repeatedly, and you become someone who is a healer; a personality trait amplified and focused by your use of healing. It *removes* personality traits that would make you conflicted about the magic, by making you a subtly different photocopy of yourself every time you engage in the act.
Harry's been using force a lot more as he ages, and fire less- he's also becoming more stubbornly focused and less reactionary and angry. He's *become* more force and less fire.
It explains Eb and Langtry- different sides of the French-Indian war, right? Eb's the best at blowing things up and Langtry's the best . . at stopping things being up. They *forced* each other to develop in that way, and it's why they can't get along now. Oil and water. Their magic made them opposite personalities.
Black magic would work the same- it doesn't just overcome normal conscious squeamishness, it erases the personality traits that would make you squeem and re-writes you into someone who will reach for it naturally. Harry's completely unrepentant about killing. He worries about the backlash about killing with magic, but he doesn't bat an eye at killing- mundanely. That's part of his backlash..