Snogging and Love Potions wasRe: CHAPDISC HBP 15, The Unbreakable Vow

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 152197

 
> a_svirn:
> Exactly. Can you recall any folklore fairy tale where love potions
> are being put to good use? (Personally, I cannot. Tristan and Isolde
> certainly made a mess of it.)

Potioncat:
I'm not saying Love Potions are a good idea. I'm saying they aren't 
dark...at least not in this story.

> 
> a_svirn:
> Is that what you think Tom Riddle Sr. did? There must have been more
> to it, since Tom Riddle Jr. was the result.

Potioncat:
Yeah, these were adults who thought they were in love and were 
married. But...whatever its effects on Tom, it wasn't a real 
relationship and Merope knew it. Unfortunately, it caused a big 
disaster. What she felt probably wasn't love either.
> 
 
> a_svirn:
> If you say they can be *mis*used, you thereby suggest that bending
> other people to your will sexually can be -- in theory at least  --
> put to good use. That of course calls the definition of *good* into
> question.

Potioncat:
Hold on. You're looking on these as date-rape-potions. That isn't 
what they are. And no, I would not condone something that allowed you 
to bend other people to your will...sexually or other wise. OK, put 
these characters in the hands of a different author and Bellatrix 
could have loads of fun with the potions. But I don't think JKR had 
anything like that in mind.

Who knows what the effect would have been Harry if he'd taken the 
love potion while it was fresh. We know Molly made a love potion in 
her Hogwarts days. We know the potions are being sold openly. And 
like I said, JKR has shown us how they can go horribly wrong. I think 
it's her way of looking at different ways of being in love or 
different ways of expressing love...not all of them healthy.

But love potions are not out of place in a series that includes 
unicorns, witches and magic.