Speculation on Liquid Luck

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

This idea came up in an exchange with, if I recall, madderbrad, but for those who missed it there, here’s my theory on Felix Felicis.

Horace told his class it was “Desperately tricky to make, and disastrous to get wrong.” (HBP 9)

Old Sluggy is glossing over things a bit here because Dumbledore is so hot against any Dark Arts theory being taught at Hogwarts.



It’s potentially disastrous to brew Felix Felicis right. There’s at least one step that has, say, a fifty-fifty chance of blowing up in the brewer’s face. Fatally. And every attempt ever made to make that step less dangerous, shield against the possible explosion, or rework the formula, has resulted in a mess with no luck-conferring properties at all.

Because the brewer is purchasing the luck s/he’s infusing in the potion by taking that risk, in essence offering hir life for the chance of luck. Thus, while there will always be the occasional brewer who’s desperate enough for money or glory to try a batch, it basically isn’t available on the open market.

We can infer that it is not generally available, not for any money, for if it had been, Draco’s mother would surely have purchased some for him.

(Now that I think about it, this might have been the original reason for Tom’s recruitment of one S. Snape. Someone disposable, but good at brewing, to try a batch. If so, how bitter Severus must have been when he realized, and how motivated to prove his long-term value so the Dark Lord would take him off that project.)

Three guesses where Slughorn’s sample came from; he’s certainly never brewed any himself. Indeed, he never claimed to have.

Comments

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Ah, the abomination known as Felix Felicis. Another one of Rowling's one-book wonders, a throw-away gimmick that we - and Harry, and all the wizards - are supposed to forget about, for the convenience of Rowling's story. Like the powers of the house elves, who can bring to a halt wizarding infrastructure (train ingress, postal service), easily subdue wizards (Malfoy, Fletcher), Apparate through inpenetrable wards, survive death traps set by the Dark Lord himself ... and yet are restrained to using cleavers and other kitchen utensils in the final battle ... because otherwise they could finish the fight - the war! - with one click of their fingers.

Anyway. :-)

There’s at least one step that has, say, a fifty-fifty chance of blowing up in the brewer’s face. Fatally.

From where did you get this information?

(My apologies if there's a link in your post which I'm not seeing; my browser is partially incapacitated.)

Sluhorn's statement that the potion is 'disastrous' if made wrong, on its own, doesn't necessarily infer that it's *life threatening*. I can make a meal that is a culinary disaster but otherwise innocuous on the physical well-being meter. :-)

There was a huge cauldron of the abomination known as Felix Felicis in HBP, so certainly it didn't seem to be *that* difficult to acquire in the wizarding world (one doesn't normally have products worth millions of dollars in your average teenage classroom).

No, the reason why Harry & Co - or the death eaters - never thought of using FF to win the war was simply because Rowling couldn't think of a way to counter it, or properly incorporate it into her story, I reckon.

[librasmile.livejournal.com]

That IS a fairly elegant theory. =^) And I'm with you on the "nothing comes for free" tip.

However, because my brain likes to amuse itself by leasing bulldozers to fill up the craters JK left in her story, let me propose this.

I always presume that the illogical elements have an underlying rationale. For example, in my view of the Potterverse ( and hopefully it should be very clear that this is only MY view; if you feel that I'm posting it as some kind of authoritarian assertion then I can't really help ya =*) ), which may have been informed by Caeria's wonderful Pet Project, the elves can't use their powers to stop the war because they are bound in some way by some kind of old, ancient covenant. Covenants require sacrifices in order to be active and in force. So perhaps felix felicis really does require some kind of sacrifice as well. One would think so since doesn't use of it always result in some kind of negative rebound? Perhaps the DEs don't brew it or use it because of that negative rebound.

Oh as for Sluggy brewing it - I have another theory that Sluggy was sought after by the DEs because he has some kind of immunity to some of that negative rebound and other naturally occuring dark elements. It would make him immensely valuable to either side and perhaps a natural for Slytherin House...

[dracasadiablo.livejournal.com]

I like this theory.
For a while now I considered it probable that Snape was the one who brewed Felix Felicis. That there was a cost for that and that Harry was meant to have some of the potion from the day one.

Mostly, I theorized that cost for Felix Felicis is something like the broken mirror superstitions. That when making it, potion master have to "give up" all good luck they would have in the upcoming X number of years. So, the potion is nothing more then extremely concentrated good luck, that would be normally spread over the years, taking effect in a short amount of time.
And that is why Snape was oh, so very lucky for the two years he had to live after making it.

But I like this even better.

[oryx_leucoryx]

I love the idea, however I must point out that it is hard to rule out Draco being on Felix on the tower. How more lucky could he have been that night, given that it was too late to avoid being assigned his mission in the first place? He managed to maintain the integrity of his soul while having enough success that Severus could advocate for him to Voldemort - heck, Draco managed to bring more active-duty DEs to Hogwarts than anyone before him. He just needs some practice casting Unforgivables and he'd be top-notch DE material. Draco was successful enough that Voldemort let all 3 Malfoys live. Oh, he also disarmed Dumbles and became Master of the Elder Wand - are you sure no luck was involved there?

But even if we accept Draco did not have Felix, all it would mean is that there was no source to buy it that could be trusted not to report that Narcissa, wife of an imprisoned DE, bought a luck enhancing potion (was she planning a jailbreak?)

Specifically regarding Horace, he claims to have taken Felix twice in his lifetime, at 24 and at 57. Unless Severus was a time-traveler I don't think he brewed it then.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Like condwiramurs and others have said, this *is* a neat little theory you've come up with, even if you're wildly extrapolating from half a sentence of the canon. It's like you have an elephant balancing on a pea, if you know what I mean. But, like you said - it's still FUN. :-)

It would have been nice if Rowling had worked out the mechanics of her potions - magic out equals magic in - and so gave us more reason to suspect that a sacrifice - of magic, of 'luck', of 'life' - was required as input for successfully brewing the abomination known as Felix Felicis.

Have you ever read Diane Duane's "Door into" series of four books? She's best known for her 'Young Wizards" series - must be ten-plus books by now - *immensely* superior to Rowling's work - I know I've mentioned her name here before - but in her 'door into' series she makes it clear that casting spells takes years off one's life. Unless one manages to use a different, higher level of magic.

So I think Duane would endorse your theory. :-)