Polyjuice Potion

[OliveOil_Med]

I'm working on a story where I have to have very clear differences between the Polyjuice Potion and casting a Glamour.


I already have the Glamour worked out:
A Glamour is an extremely powerful illusion, the visual effects just as strong as the effects of a Polyjuice Potion. But that's all it is: looks. A Glamour can only fool the eyes. If one takes the form of someone with long hair, but someone reaches out to touch it, they will feel nothing. If an animal is cast to appear human, it will not be able to speak, and only be as tall as it truly is. Any further height created by the glamour will be vapor-like and fool no other human senses.


But know I need to figure out the Polyjuice Potion. If a boy were to take it to change into a girl, would they actally be a girl? Would the dormitory staircase know they were a boy, or would it recognize them as a girl and allow them up?

[leahsm2]

Hmmm . . . there's a poser. Would a magically enhanced structure be fooled by the changes inherent in the Polyjuice Potion? When used correctly (I.E. no cross species contamination) the potion only works for one hour. You maintain your own self awareness, so I vote that the magical structure would "see the real you" and not the outer being you have taken on! Just guessing, though! Great question!

[Inverarity]

In the chapter "The Seven Potters" in DH, Hermione is one of those who takes Polyjuice Potion to become Harry. Recall that Harry is embarrassed because all of them are going to get a nice, intimate look at his, er, equipment. And Hermione even comments that his eyesight is awful -- the Polyjuice Potion really does transform her physically into him, to the point that she has his eyesight as well.

So, Polyjuice Potion can indeed turn a girl into a boy, and presumably vice versa.

Whether this would fool magical staircases or other items that recognize people would depend on whether the item recognizes faces, or has some magical way of knowing identity regardless of appearance.

I would vote no in the case of the magical staircases. Items at Hogwarts don't appear to be that "smart" in general. If a Polyjuiced Crouch can walk freely throughout the castle in the guise of Mad-Eye Moody, and the Slytherin dorms had no charms that would detect Harry and Ron masquerading as Crabbe and Goyle, then the "No Boys Allowed" charm in the girls' dorms is probably not comprehensive enough to anticipate boys who'd go so far as to Polyjuice themselves into a girl.

And anyway, it's more fun if you allow characters to be clever like that. ;)

[leahsm2]

Hmmm . . . odd that the potion is well known and yet no one thinks to put up anything that would counteract any "funny business" :eek: But, if Slytherins didn't think of it, who would!

[OliveOil_Med]

Oh, I smell a loop hole. I wonder if there is a history of students using the Polyjuice Potion so they can sneak through the guards and see one another. Maybe not at Hogwarts, but other schools where the seporate boys and girls a lot more strickly, like at Beauxbatons. I hear French students are really segregated by gender.

I actally am writing a story about Beauxbatons. OHHHHHH!

[Inverarity]

Hmmm . . . odd that the potion is well known and yet no one thinks to put up anything that would counteract any "funny business" :eek: But, if Slytherins didn't think of it, who would!

Well, it takes a month to brew and only lasts for an hour, and you have to be really good at potions to make it.

Anyone that patient and that talented could probably figure out an easier to sneak into the girls' dorms anyway. ;)

[Azhure]

Well, it takes a month to brew and only lasts for an hour, and you have to be really good at potions to make it.

Remember that it can be stored for a long time - Barty Crouch Junior had a huge supply of it. It lasts an hour once drunk, but you can make a huge batch and be able to store it for ages.

And now I'm curious. How long do you think you can store one particular batch of Polyjuice Potion for? Basically, is there an expiry date?

I couldn't resist!

~~Azhure~~

[Elf]

We know that some magical items (i.e. the Mauraders Map) can see through polyjuice potion. I think that the enchantment on the stairs could be similar to Dumbledores age line (it knew that Fred and George were underage, even though they had taken an aging potion).

In short I don't think that a boy polyjuiced as a girl would fool the stairs.

[Inverarity]

We know that some magical items (i.e. the Mauraders Map) can see through polyjuice potion. I think that the enchantment on the stairs could be similar to Dumbledores age line (it knew that Fred and George were underage, even though they had taken an aging potion).

In short I don't think that a boy polyjuiced as a girl would fool the stairs.


All magic items are plot devices, so it just depends on the needs of the story. You can easily justify the stairs being smart enough to detect boys even when Polyjuiced, or you can justify them being less smart, because Dumbledore put more effort into the age line. (One could say that Dumbledore expected students to try to fool the Goblet, whereas whoever built the stairs wasn't thinking about boys using Polyjuice.)

[OliveOil_Med]

We know that some magical items (i.e. the Mauraders Map) can see through polyjuice potion. I think that the enchantment on the stairs could be similar to Dumbledores age line (it knew that Fred and George were underage, even though they had taken an aging potion).

Now this begs the question. Does the Polyjuice Potion make for more of a transformation than an Animagus? Oi vey! I suppose in the end if there is no concrete answer, it will all be up to me.

But that doesn't stop my head from spinning!