[HPforGrownups] Re: Mandrakes ( was Snape's Duty in the GoF)

[Muridae]

No: HPFGUIDX 34989

Chelsea wrote:

>Maria writes:
> < Also, what are other purposes for mandrakes.  In the previous
> <book in CoS, they were used to bring ppl to life (such as Filch's cat
> <and Hermoine).  Will mandrakes ever serve a purpose to bring someone
> <back from the dead?
>
>When I read what Maria wrote, I started wondering the same thing. Could
>mandrakes possible bring someone back to life? However, I've heard many
>people saying that necromancy (bringing the dead back to life) is NOT
>something to mess with. But, if someone was killed, and a minute or so later
>they were administered the mandrake potion, would it still be considered bad?
>This also raises other questions. Could mandrakes have helped say, Lily and
>James? If Sirius and Hagrid appeared quickly on the scene, would they have
>able to bring Lily and James back to life? Somehow though, this just doesn't
>seem likely. Anyone else have any ideas on the power of the mandrakes?

Well, first of all, the Mandrake potion *didn't* bring anyone back to 
life. Moaning Myrtle was killed by the Basilisk, back when the Chamber 
of Secrets was opened by Tom Riddle, because she made direct eye contact 
with it. But the current students and Mrs Norris only saw its 
reflection, or saw it through something, so they didn't die but were 
turned to stone instead.

So the Mandrake potion was used for a transformation spell of some kind, 
to turn them back from stone to their normal form. I doubt it could work 
on someone who was actually dead, since it'd presumably just turn their 
stone corpse back into dead (but de-stoned) wizard.

In any case, it's clearly hard to come by or Hogwarts wouldn't have had 
to wait for its own current crop of Mandrakes to mature enough to be 
harvested before mixing up a de-stoning potion; they'd just have sent 
someone out to Hogsmeade or to Diagon Alley to buy some immediately and 
the kids wouldn't have missed several months worth of school. So even if 
it was capable of reviving the newly dead, it's unlikely anyone would 
have any to hand at the right moment.

It *is* tempting to speculate on what other types of transformation 
potion it could be an ingredient for though, since it's obviously very 
powerful.

-- 
Muridae