‘You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking,’ [Snape] began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word – like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. ‘As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.’¹
Philosopher's Stone - page 102 - Bloomsbury - chapter 8, The Potions Master
Are there any canon potions that actually grant fame or glory, or stopper death? I'm looking for specific canon-based answers from sources such as the Harry Potter books, interviews with J.K. Rowling, or information from Pottermore. Maybe because it's early I'm overlooking the obvious, but offhand I can't think of any canon potions that fit this criteria exactly.
¹I edited in the entire paragraph that I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death comes from for clarity. Hopefully this will be helpful and provide a better context for the comment in question.
Answer
Stopper death: since the pattern of the expression is "to
", it means that "stopper" is a verb. Dictionary.com has only one verb usage:
verb (used with object) 6. to close, secure, or fit with a stopper.
This very clearly means that he was referring to collect - and close - a bottle of deadly poison, NOT potion that will stop death.
While we don't know the names (sorry, the "draught of living death" is not actually fatal), there ARE known fatal poisons in Harry Potter - some of those in Philosopher's Stone used for a riddle were deadly:
Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.
...
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides; (implying, others do)
fame and glory:
First, there's a bunch of potions which could, potentially, have the effect of achieving fame and glory for the drinker (all text from http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_potions but I verified that they are all referenced):
Above mentioned Felix Felicis (grants luck)
Baruffio's Brain Elixir (increases the taker's brain power)
Beautification Potion (makes the taker very beautiful)
Second, some potions could make the maker famous or glorified, just for making them; such as elixir from Philosopher's stone; or inventing Felix Felicis, or inventing wolfesbane potion.
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