Polyjuice Potion

The **Polyjuice Potion** was a potion that allowed the drinker to assume the form of someone else. It was a highly complicated, challenging, and time-consuming potion. Polyjuice Potion was so complicated that even adult witches and wizards struggled to brew it correctly.

The potion was so incredibly advanced that it had two separate parts, each part had contained steps. When its brewing was complete, the potion had to stew for a month before usage.

## Overview

While it could account for both age and gender, Polyjuice Potion could not be used for a human to take an animal form, nor could it be used on non-humans or half-humans.

Notably, the Polyjuice Potion was used many times in the events leading up to, and during, the Second Wizarding War (and possibly the First Wizarding War, although there were no documented instances of it). The potion also played a crucial role for Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley in their second and fourth years.

Polyjuice was also used in Draco Malfoy's plot to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1997, in the Battle of the Seven Potters, and in Harry, Ron and Hermione's Infiltration of the Ministry of Magic and their break-in of Gringotts Wizarding Bank in 1998.

Polyjuice Potion was among the products sold by the Apothecarium of Horace E. F. Slughorn.

## Ingredients

### Part 1

* Fluxweed
* Knotgrass
* Lacewing flies
* Leeches

### Part 2

* Horn of Bicorn
* Boomslang skin
* Piece of person you're turning into (usually hair)

## Brewing instructions

### Preparation

Independent of its actual brewing process, the Polyjuice Potion required a good deal of preparation prior to making it. For example, the lacewing flies must be stewed for twenty-one days prior to making the potion, and only fluxweed picked during a full moon is acceptable. The total process took approximately one month to complete.

#### Part 1, step one

1. Add 3 measures of fluxweed to the cauldron (must have been picked on a full moon).
2. Add 2 bundles of knotgrass to the cauldron.
3. Stir 4 times, clockwise.
4. Wave your wand then let potion brew for 80 minutes (for a Pewter Cauldron. A Brass Cauldron will only require 68, and a copper one only 60.

#### Part 1, step two

1. Add 4 leeches to the cauldron.
2. Add 2 scoops of lacewing flies to the mortar, crush to a fine paste, then add 2 measures of the crushed lacewings to the cauldron.
3. Heat for 30 seconds on a low heat.
4. Wave your wand to complete this stage of the potion.

#### Part 2, step one

1. Add 3 measures of boomslang skin to the cauldron.
2. Add 1 measure of bicorn horn to the mortar, crush to a fine powder, then add one measure of the crushed horn to the cauldron.
3. Heat for 20 seconds at a high temperature.
4. Wave your wand then let potion brew for 24 hours (for a Pewter Cauldron. A Brass Cauldron will only require 1224 minutes, and a copper one only 18 hours).

#### Part 2, step two

1. Add 1 additional scoop of lacewings to the cauldron.
2. Stir 3 times, counter-clockwise.
3. Split potion into multiple doses, if desired, then add the pieces of the person you wish to become.
4. Wave your wand to complete the potion.

## Description

### Physical appearance

A piece of the person who was to be imitated — usually hair, but toenail clippings, dandruff, or worse could be used — was needed for the transformation; apparently, the person must be alive when the piece was taken, as Barty Crouch Jnr kept Alastor Moody alive to continue harvesting his hair.

Before this final ingredient was added, Polyjuice looked like thick, dark mud that bubbles slowly. When the piece of the person to be imitated was added, the potion changed colour; it seemed to react according to the nature of the person to be imitated, once even described as the 'essence' of the person.

Good-hearted people result in more attractive colours and tastes, while mean people caused the opposite effect. Harry Potter's was a pure golden colour, whereas Gregory Goyle's tasted like "*overcooked cabbage*" and "*looked like bogies*", Bellatrix Lestrange's tasted "*disgusting, worse than Gurdyroots*" and Mafalda Hopkirk's was a pleasant heliotrope colour. It was likely that the taste differed from potion to potion.

### Effects

The effects of a single dose lasted anywhere from ten minutes to twelve hours, depending on how well the potion had been brewed. Continued drinking prior to the transformation wearing off extended the form's duration until the next dosage was required. The complexity of the potion was such that the one Hermione brewed in her second year only lasted one hour per dosage. The effects could be removed prematurely by certain magical defences, such as the Thief's Downfall. It also did not fool the Marauder's Map.

If a person died while under Polyjuice Potion, as Mrs Crouch did, then they would retain the form of whoever they had transformed into, rather than reverting back to their original shape (although it might be possible that the effects of the potion had not worn off at the time of her death and burial, as she was careful in taking it to the end, and Barty Snr could not retrieve his wife's body in fear of exposing the jailbreak, possibly meaning her body reverted after her burial).

Polyjuice could be used by a person to transform into someone of the other sex. It appeared to adapt to account for the age of the person being turned into, as well as any injuries they have acquired, as Barty Crouch, Jnr needed a magical eye and wooden leg when he used the potion to turn into Alastor Moody. In addition, congenital conditions of the person would apparently be replicated: Harry Potter did not need to use his spectacles to see clearly for the hour he was transformed into Gregory Goyle, while Hermione Granger and five others required them after turning into Harry shortly before the Battle of the Seven Potters.

The potion was complicated and could go awry. For example, when Hermione brewed Polyjuice in her second year, she intended to take the form of Millicent Bulstrode, but she mistook her cat's hair for Millicent's. The resulting potion caused Hermione to partially transform into a cat, complete with ears and a tail. As the Polyjuice Potion could not be used to successfully transform into an animal, Hermione's change did not reverse after an hour. She went to the Hospital Wing and did not recover until after the winter holidays.

Likewise, the potion was not designed to be used by a non-human or half-breed, as Remus Lupin informed the half-giant Rubeus Hagrid. Presumably, it was likely that it could not be used to transform into a half-breed either.