Skip to main content

harry potter - Are Love Potions actually banned at Hogwarts?


Rita Skeeter's Witch Weekly article states that Love Potions are banned at Hogwarts.



Love Potions are of course banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate.
(Goblet of Fire, Chapter 27, Padfoot Returns)



Obviously Skeeter has been known to print the odd untruth in her time. I wonder if this one of them. There certainly seem to be plenty of Love Potion-brewers and -users at Hogwarts:




  • Gilderoy Lockhart encourages students to ask Snape to brew a Love Potion for them.

  • Molly Weasley brewed a Love Potion as a student.

  • Romilda Vane repeatedly tries to dope Harry during Half-Blood Prince.

  • Slughorn brews Amortentia, "the most powerful love potion in the world", in front of his sixth-year Potions class.

  • The Weasley twins brew the "best range of love potions you'll find anywhere." These are banned by Filch along with the rest of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products. Whether the Love Potions in that range were contraband on multiple counts is up for debate I think.


Pottermore only features this summary of the examples listed above. There's no JKR feature.


Are they actually banned? If so, why are they so commonly used with no disciplinary consequences? If not, why did Skeeter claim that they were as if it were obvious?


(Connected question. Note that I'm not asking about whether Love Potions were banned by the Ministry of Magic but whether they were banned at Hogwarts.)




Answer



Most likely that snippet is fact. The whole article that quote is from is a slam piece aimed at Hermione.



‘She’s really ugly,’ says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student, ‘but she’d be well up to making a Love Potion, she’s quite brainy. I think that’s how she’s doing it.’



Here we have an accusation that we the readers know is a lie, but that many readers who don't know who Pansy or Hermione are could believe.


Next we have what I believe to be a piece of truth that all of her readers, as former Hogwarts students, should instantly see as a lie if it was not the case.



Love Potions are of course banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims.




She uses this truth to re-enforce the wrong-doings she claims Hermione is doing. Her whole article hinges on a piece of truth, which all of her readers would know personally, to back up the lies she perpetuates.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more