Harry Potter - My Two Cents

So.
I just finished the Harry Potter Saga. For the first time.
Yes, yes, I know. It is truly the first time. No, I have not seen the movies yet, either. Well, none but the first at least.
Why is this the first time I've read them when everyone else read them eons ago?
A) Dad thought they were evil.
B) I'm a strange person. In my strangeness, I avoid trends like the plague. If something is popular, it isn't for me. So, I have to either read/watch it before it is trendy, or wayyyyy after. Otherwise my enjoyment of it is immensely diminished.

Anyways. They were a fun read, but they left me dissatisfied. My thoughts on the matter are thus:

- I enjoy fantasy novels. Thus, I enjoy magic in books. But the Harry Potter magic was a little too dark for my tastes. No, they didn't call on demons. But they call themselves witches and warlocks, and their potions especially are creepy, in an old fashioned witchcraft sense. I didn't love that.

- As far as secular young adult literature goes these days, I thought they were fairly well-written. The characters were loveable, human, flawed, but still trying to be noble. Good qualities.

- I don't like that they are set for such a young age group. I don't think I would like anyone under 14 reading them, simply because anyone reading them needs to be old enough and mature enough to realize this is fiction, and in the real world, "witchcraft" is not harmless. It is evil. They need to be able to understand and grasp this, while still being able to enjoy the stories.

My biggest bone to pick with the series is this:
It makes such a big deal out of the difference between good magic and the Dark Arts, as it indeed should! I would not approve of any book containing magic that didn't. BUT! Why make that distinction, that MAIN PLOT of the story, and then allow the main characters to practice those same Dark Arts with no consequence?! What makes that okay, people?! I understand they are human characters. I love them for that. I understand they have weaknesses. But I don't understand what makes Harry any better than Malfoy. The series makes such a big deal about the Unforgivable Curses, but in the last book, as well as previous ones, Harry uses these curses. He attempts the Crucio curse in The Order of the Phoenix, The Half Blood Prince, & successfully uses it in The Deathly Hallows; he also uses the Imperius Curse multiple times in The Deathly Hallows. Why is this never addressed at least? Why are Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy so evil for using them, but not Harry and Ron and Hermione? I'm in a quandery here. I think this would have been a perfect time for the author to discuss this. To explain why it is wrong for the characters use them. To show consequences. But she doesn't....it is simply a frustrating, unadressed thread that is thoroughly ignored. Humph.

My two cents.