Amortentia and re The morality of love potions/Merope and Tom Sr.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 152301

Potioncat wrote:
> <snip> I pity Merope as well. JKR really turned the tables didn't
she? We were expecting a woman who had been cruely used by her
husband. Instead we have two victims. Three, actually. Or thousands if
you count the WW.
> <snip> I have to say, I agree with Carol on what Tom ought to do,
but I'm not sure society would impose it, under the circumstances.
> 
> Who remembers the book, "Maggie" or "Maggie, a Girl of the
Streets."? It's about a young woman who finds herself in a similar
position to Merope, written in the 1880s, early 1900s by a famous dead
 guy.(American, I think.) At any rate, having made the great offense
of becoming pregnant, she was left on her own, deserving of all her
problems. I think she ended up just like Merope. Dead.

Carol responds:
Going OT here, that was Stephen Crane (1871-1900, an American), who
died at 29 of tuberculosis, writing a naturalistic novel, which he
intended to be both sordidly realistically and shocking, causing
society to realize that it was pushing girls like Maggie toward
prostitution and suicide. Even if they weren't pregnant, such girls
were "ruined," considered unfit for marriage or contact with "decent"
people (except the men who used them). Not quite the same as Merope,
who was married but rejected by her husband, yet she, too, ends up
poor and desperate with nowhere to go. (Now if she'd sold that locket
sooner and Burke had given her a fair price, she might have been fine,
but the story would have been ruined.)
> 
Potioncat:
> Why do you suppose Tom Riddle, Sr. never re-married? (Other than JKR
thought 3 people sitting in the dining room were quite enough for a
teenager to take out?) Did he know Merope had died? Did he know where
the baby was? Again, did he know there was a baby?

Carol:
As I said earlier, I think Tom Sr. must have known that Merope was
pregnant (she would have told him, and if she had any sense, waited
till the pregnancy was self-evident so he would know she wasn't lying)
and she must have hoped that he would feel pity for the child if not
for her. If so, she was wrong on both counts. Apparently, he made no
inquiry after her or the child. Had he done so, he would have learned
that she was dead and that he was free to marry. More irony, or
comeuppance for those who like that sort of thing.
> 
Potioncat:
> Now, back to love potions themselves. Why did Slughorn have a
steaming cauldron of Amortentia sitting on the very desk of teenagers?
Let's see, he had Polyjuice near the Ravenclaws, Felix Felicis on his
desk, Veritaserum near the Slytherins and Amortentia near the
Hufflpuff/Gryffindor table. <snip>
> 
> Amortentia is the most powerful love potion in the world. Already
made and affecting the students as soon as they sit near it.  Harry
smells a combination of scents, one at least is firmly connected to
the Burrow. He found it to be the most seductive scent ever, and even
Ron was grinning lazily. Then Ron seems to be competing with Harry for
Hermione's approval. Hermione starts to tell what it smell likes to
her, after announcing its aroma depends on "what attracts us", then
stops in mid-answer. Right after Potions they go to lunch, and Ginny
joins them. Harry notices she smells like the scent in the Amortentia.
> 
> Hmmm...seems the most powerful love potion in the world works by
> inhalation. It doesn't cause love of course, but creates an
obsession. Does anyone else wonder about the coincidence of this as
the story goes on? 
> 
> Potioncat, who originally thought things worked out the way they
were supposed to, all on their own, but who isn't so sure now.
>
Carol responds:
Interesting observations, but I don't think that inhaling Amortentia
creates an obsession, nor would the effects of inhaling it have lasted
through the whole book. Ron and Hermione have been attracted to each
other since at least GoF and I think before (though I keep seeing
scenes from the PoA film in my mind and can't remember whether they're
substantiated by the book), and the potion's fragrance depends on what
 *already* appeals to the person smelling it. I think that Hermione
broke off because she realized that the third scent was somehow
associated with Ron (wonder what it could be), whereas in Ron and
Harry, it helped to stir a growing awareness. (Ron, IMO, is still
coming to grips with his feelings for Hermione, starting to recognize
them but not sure how to handle them, or the jealousy that comes with
them. Harry needs the whiff of Ginny's perfume, which he only
half-recognizes until Ginny walks by and he smells it again, to
realize that he likes her as more than a sister. Boys!)

Anyway, I think that your first instinct is correct and that smelling
Amortentia isn't dangerous. As for dangerous potions in a classroom,
that's what Potions, and especially NEWT Potions, is all about.
(Wonder how it fits in with being an Auror?)

Carol, still wondering if Harry's apparent fascination with the HBP's
notes on Everlasting Elixirs ("The UnBreakable Vow") goes beyond an
affinity with the Prince to a new interest in Potions that could play
out in Book 7