PTNS-501 Lessons

An extremely pleasant smell wafts from the Potions dungeon today, as if the school’s kitchen had been relocated overnight without a warning sign. You try to push the door open, but to no avail - for some reason, Professor Draekon has decided to keep the room locked up until class starts. Other students begin to discuss the smell as well, fighting over what they are perceiving: you hear mentions of rose, hot chocolate, fresh raspberries, dew drops on verdant blades of grass, cat fur, warm woolen mittens and even a handful of stranger suggestions, but none of them seem to match what you sense. It’s almost as if…

And then you finally understand what you’re smelling. You can clearly detect…

“None of you are correct”, states the professor after opening the door with a sudden jolt, as if he was listening to the discussion. “What you were all smelling was a fresh batch of Amortentia, which is our topic of discussion for today. On your desks, you will find a roll of parchment imbued with its scent, which you will use in today’s written assignment, so make your way into the room, and let us get started.”

Introduction and History of Amortentia

There are few emotions more powerful than true love - to the point that even the most dire curses, such as the Killing Curse, cannot resist its power. Those of you that have paid close attention in Transfiguration might recall that love is one of the principal exceptions to Gamp’s Law, and you’d be right to assume that potioneering, no matter how effective, will not help you subvert that specific law of magic.

Still, that has not stopped people from trying to do so across the eras; in fact, most of the early potions sold to Muggles and magical people alike intended to create those feelings of love and affection, as stated in the very first lesson of this course. It is due to that strong association between humanity and love that we keep on searching for answers on how we can manufacture and tame that feeling freely.

It was on this quest that Laverne de Montmorency was able to create a brew that somehow simulated the feeling of love and affection that she craved so deeply. However, before we get to that point, it is important to understand the reasons why Laverne was so eager to find love. In order to do that, we will need to take a step back and understand her story.

Our main character in today’s tale was born in 1823 in the United Kingdom, and she attended Hogwarts during the 1834-1841 period as a Ravenclaw. As you might see from the portrait displayed in front of the class, which is a reconstruction based on some historical records, Laverne de Montmorency was quite a looker. Some might think that this would mean she would have no reason to create a love potion, but that deduction is far from the truth.

You see, Laverne de Montmorency was frequently courted owing to her looks, with most of her partners refusing to see her as anything more than a conquest or a pretty face. However, Ms. Montmorency wanted to be acknowledged and loved for who she was as an individual and to feel loved for more than simply her appearance. In essence, she wanted her partner to need her, to feel an undetachable pull towards her that went much, much deeper than a simple physical preference. Based on that desire, Laverne de Montmorency toiled day and night trying to find a brew that made her feel valued by others.

As some of you might know, she experienced several successes in her career, drafting a large number of proprietary love potions. However, her crowning success happened after her research on Ashwinder eggs, which ended up culminating with the most well-known love potion of all times: Amortentia.

However, Ms. Montmorency lost much throughout this process as well. Owing to the exposure to dangerous fumes and the severe backfires caused by the production of love potions - which are, arguably, very volatile substances - most of Laverne’s skin acquired a sickly green hue and her hair became permanently frazzled, dried and unsightly. Whether this trade-off was worth it or not is difficult to determine: sometimes in life we must cede something we hold dear just to get something else that we long for. Still, her impact on potioneering has altered our society in very profound ways, and it is for this reason that she has earned her own Chocolate Frog card - which I shall distribute after class for those that complete today’s assignments in a prompt manner.

Love, Infatuation and Effects of Amortentia

Having said that, we must ask ourselves: what is love? As was the case with happiness, defining this concept from a subjective standpoint is a nearly impossible task, as there are multiple types of love and multiple ways to express that love. For instance, the kind of love someone has towards a parent or a child is much different than the romantic love they would have towards a partner; likewise, some might feel more comfortable in monogamous romantic relationships (i.e., relationships in which both partners are exclusive to one another), whereas others might favor polyamorous romantic relationships (i.e., relationships in which more than two partners are present). There is no right or wrong when it comes to the subjective side of love, and for that reason defining it from a scientific framework is an exercise in futility.

We can, however, explain how love presents itself from a biological perspective. Although this has been a recurrent theme in our course, you will need to bear with that explanation once more - which, naturally, will be abridged since you are all too familiar with it: the biological effects of love are mediated by neurotransmitters, including dopamine, vasopressin and our focus for today’s lesson, oxytocin.

Oxytocin, also called “the love hormone” by some, is a neurotransmitter produced in the hypothalamus - a region inside our brains - and then secreted from there by the posterior pituitary gland into our blood. From an evolutionary perspective, oxytocin serves to facilitate childbirth and to induce lactation in mammals, thus enabling the mother to bond with her offspring and nurture them in a healthy way.

However, some of you might recall that most adaptations in our bodies - such as the use of neurotransmitters that make us happy - tend to create a positive psychological effect, as a way to incentivize certain desired behaviors as much as possible. It should be no surprise to you, then, that the feel-good sensations associated with love are no exception: they serve to make us better parents and partners with the intent of ensuring the perpetuation of the human species.

Another feeling that plays a similar role is infatuation, which relies more strongly on sexual hormones such as testosterone and estrogen. The role of infatuation is more linked to procreation than the constitution of a stable family, and for that reason this feeling is much more fleeting than love is.

You have probably guessed by this point, but let me confirm your theories: Amortentia and all other love potions impact the production of testosterone and estrogen, but not oxytocin. However, in order to explain the reasons why, we must take a look into each substance’s chemical structure.

The images above represent oxytocin (left) and testosterone (right), with estrogen having an exceedingly similar form to the latter. In spite of not having a PhD in Muggle chemistry, I assume every single one of you can see that the structure of oxytocin is much more complex than the structure of testosterone is, and for that reason it does not react well with magic. I will apologize in advance for adding some theory of magical chemistry to this lesson; however, I feel like it is important to do so at the present time.

You see, many of the substances present in the material world have some degree of receptivity to magic, which means that magical energy can superimpose over its electronic structure (or how the electrons “move around” in the molecule) in a process called μ-resonance (or “mu-resonance”). As an analogy, you can think of free electrons in a molecule as popular and charismatic people walking around a school, creating several contacts and helping foster relationships with different social groups. If those delocalized electrons help create relationships, or bonds, with different molecules, then giving those electrons an added magical boost would amplify their potential for the creation of a desired outcome, in the same way that providing popular people with extra resources and contacts would increase their action possibilities.

Sounds great, right? However, adding energy to any system has the potential to make it less stable, and this case is no exception: the larger a molecule is, the more “weak spots” it possesses, making it much more volatile and susceptible to bond breaking after we attempt to add magic to it. It is for that reason that μ-resonance only occurs in simpler molecules - and, spoiler alert for those who intend to study the interaction between electronic structures and magic in the future, also the reason why magic does not interact constructively with technology.

To come back to the case at hand, oxytocin is too large a molecule to undergo μ-resonance, and for that reason love potions such as Amortentia can only produce neurotransmitters such as the aforementioned testosterone and estrogen. Thus, it is no surprise that this brew can only create a strong infatuation for the target, rather than a true feeling of love.

I must add a final note before we progress. Even if, in the future, we do find a way to stabilize an aggregate form of oxytocin and magical energy, that still would not constitute a true feeling of love. Even though we are looking at love from a biological perspective, there are also emotional and psychological factors that constitute this emotion - and no potion is able to replicate those elements, no matter how close we get to it.

Formative Side Effects of Amortentia

One of the most important precautions in using Amortentia is to make sure that you do not drink the potion if attempting to conceive, regardless of your gender. The reason for that lies in the fact that Amortentia can have deep effects on the process of fetal formation, modifying its brain structure in drastic ways that can be very impactful on society.

Perhaps the most well-known case that illustrates such a phenomenon is Tom Riddle’s conception - which, as you might recall from your first year of Transfiguration, was based on the administration of Amortentia to Tom Riddle Sr. - a fact that eventually culminated with the birth of an unempathetic boy who would be known to all as Voldemort.

Professor Mitchell has told you previously that the ingestion of Amortentia creates an inability to understand love because the child was formed under a false moment of love. This explanation, although appropriate for a First Year with no scientific background, must be revisited at this point, as it is not 100% accurate. In fact, the true reason why this process occurs strongly relies on another mechanism we have explored throughout this year: chemical tolerance.

Imagine that a fetus is currently being formed. Now, let us assume that an extreme amount of hormones associated with love and infatuation wash over that fetus while it’s being formed. The body will, as you may have guessed, react by making the child insensitive to the effects of these hormones as a way to compensate for the chemical barrage it was subjected to during conception.

It is for that reason that Voldemort was such a dangerous person in our world: someone who loves nothing and is infatuated by no one has no emotional obstacles when trying to appease their ambition and self-interests. The same message of last week’s lesson applies, though: even though these individuals might not feel anything from an emotional perspective, nothing stops them from developing rational mechanisms that can curb their darkest desires. Unfortunately, Tom Riddle did not follow this philosophy.

Olfaction and Emotion

Most of you are probably aware that Amortentia does not have a specific scent; rather, the drinker tends to perceive its smell as a combination of the things they love the most, be them material (e.g., a bar of chocolate), immaterial (e.g., the warmth of sunlight) and, in some rare cases - particularly with synesthetes - even abstract concepts (e.g., courage). One question, then, must be asked: why is it that people are able to detect different smells when inhaling the same substances?

The reason for that is quite simple - namely, Amortentia simply creates an olfactory hallucination based on how closely related our olfaction (i.e., our sense of smell) and our limbic system (i.e., the parts of our brain related to emotions) are connected. You probably have already experienced something similar in the past: perhaps a smell immediately brings you back to a nostalgic event or reminds you of a special day?

From a biological perspective, the brain structures involved in how we perceive smells and those that control our feelings are very close together, making it unsurprising that a brew that can so strongly modify our emotions could, likewise, manipulate how we interact with the world from a sensory standpoint.

Concentration Element in Brewing

Before we progress to our customary lab, there is one last point that I must emphasize. In some potions, as is the case with Amortentia, a specific concentration element is required in brewing, in a strong parallel to the focus on specific feelings required for the casting of certain spells. For those that are familiar with the Patronus Charm, you know exactly what I am talking about: in the same way it is impossible to cast this specific charm without thinking about an impactful happy memory, it is not possible to imprint the necessary properties into Amortentia without making a strong use of our concentration on the effects of love.

More often than not, concentrating on a potion’s effects is not required because the effects of magic are mostly mediated by the addition of ingredients to the brew: we just need to add our magic to the mix, which will then be modulated by the chemicals present in the potion and generate the desired effects. However, when it comes to more abstract or human constructs, simply adding our magic through stirring is not enough - concentrating on a specific result is required for the potion’s effect to “take hold”. Those who decide to proceed to N.E.W.T. level Ancient Runes will also study Phoenician Runic Ink, a brew developed by Professor Wessex that makes use of the same principle.

Naturally so, every potion can be brewed with - and enhanced by - the use of concentration on the desired effects while brewing. This is frequently what differentiates the very best potioneers from your average researcher, and a factor that I urge you to have in mind if you want to stand above the rest of the competition.

Amortentia

Estimated Brewing Time:
Pewter Cauldron: 5 hours and 4 minutes
Brass Cauldron: 4 hours, 34 minutes and 54 seconds
Copper Cauldron: 4 hours, 8 minutes and 42.6 seconds

Ingredients:
1.5 L of rose water
2 large Ashwinder eggs¹
30 g of pearl dust¹
16 mL of Emberwood sap¹
1 small moonstone²
15 rose petals²
20 g of ground oyster shell²
9 mL of peppermint extract³
4 landslide mushrooms³
1 Flutterby bush flower³

Instructions

Part One:
1. With the heat still off, coat the internal surface of your cauldron with 16 mL of Emberwood sap.
2. Add 500 mL of rose water to your cauldron.
3. Bring the heat to 459 Kelvin (185.85°C/366.53°F).
4. Add 1 large Ashwinder egg to your cauldron, then stir its contents twice counterclockwise.
5. Chop 4 landslide mushrooms and add them to your cauldron, then stir its contents once clockwise.
6. Bring the heat to 421 Kelvin (147.85°C/298.13°F) and let the potion simmer in your pewter cauldron for 1 hour and 18 minutes. Make sure to add 10 g of pearl dust and stir the contents of your cauldron twice clockwise exactly at the halfway mark of this step.
(This would be 1 hour, 10 minutes and 12 seconds in a brass cauldron and 1 hour, 3 minutes and 10.8 seconds in a copper cauldron.)

At this point, your potion should have a dark teal hue and smell like petrichor. It will emit white wisps of steam from time to time, which will ascend in straight lines.

Part Two:
1. Add 500 mL of rose water to your cauldron.
2. Bring the heat to 459 Kelvin (185.85°C/366.53°F).
3. Add 15 rose petals, 1 Flutterby bush flower and 1 small moonstone to a mortar, then crush all ingredients until the essential oils of the rose petals and Flutterby bush flower are fully extracted.
4. Let the contents of your mortar rest for 3 minutes.
5. Transfer the contents of your mortar to your cauldron through a 2 mm mesh sieve, then stir its contents three times counterclockwise.
(Note: Do not forget to collect the moonstone fragments that do not make it through the sieve, as they will be used later.)
6. Crack open 1 large Ashwinder egg in a bowl, add the collected fragments of moonstone to it and set your bowl next to the flame used to brew the potion.
7. Bring the heat to 433 Kelvin (159.85°C/319.73°F) and let the potion simmer in your pewter cauldron for 1 hour and 31 minutes. Make sure to add 10 g of pearl dust and stir the contents of your cauldron twice clockwise exactly at the halfway mark of this step.
(This would be 1 hour, 21 minutes and 54 seconds in a brass cauldron and 1 hour, 13 minutes and 42.6 seconds in a copper cauldron.)

At this point, your potion should have a tan color and smell like Worcestershire sauce. It will emit cerulean wisps of steam from time to time, which will ascend in wavy lines.

Part Three:
1. Add 500 mL of rose water to your cauldron.
2. Bring the heat to 459 Kelvin (185.85°C/366.53°F).
3. Transfer the contents of your bowl to your cauldron, then stir its contents two and a half times clockwise.
(Note: If overstirred or understirred, your cauldron will spontaneously teleport to a nearby location, although it is not guaranteed it will teleport to a stable surface. Provided that none of its contents spilled out, the potion can be salvaged by adding an extra 50 mL of rose water and returning the cauldron to the flame within 2 minutes.)
4. Evenly sprinkle 20 g of ground oyster shell into your cauldron, then stir its contents four times counterclockwise.
5. Add 9 mL of peppermint extract to the contents of your cauldron at a constant rate of 1 mL per minute. If known, you may use the Gradual Pour Charm, or simply pour the liquid manually.
6. Bring the heat to 888 Kelvin (614.85°C/1,138.73°F) for 1 minute, regardless of your cauldron type. As soon as the required time elapses, gather your concentration on your strongest memory of love and stir the contents of your cauldron once clockwise.
7. Bring the heat to 459 Kelvin (185.85°C/366.53°F) and let the potion simmer in your pewter cauldron for 2 hours and 2 minutes. Make sure to add 10 g of pearl dust and stir the contents of your cauldron twice clockwise exactly at the halfway mark of this step.
(This would be 1 hour, 49 minutes and 48 seconds in a brass cauldron and 1 hour, 38 minutes and 49.2 seconds in a copper cauldron.)

The final potion will have a mother-of-pearl color and emit cobalt blue wisps of steam from time to time, which will ascend in a spiral pattern. Amortentia does not have a specific smell associated with it, as each person perceives the combination of smells that they enjoy the most.

Storage:

Amortentia should be kept in a cool, dark cabinet. Exposure to direct sunlight will speed up the reactions in the potion, making its vial hum and emit pink sparks; in this case, consumption of the potion will create permanent infatuation on the drinker as well as cause severe side effects, such as cardiac arrest if the consumer of the brew does not receive the brewer’s affection every hour. Amortentia can be safely stored for one month, a period after which it will lose its mother-of-pearl sheen and must be discarded.

Usage:

Mix 5 mL of Amortentia with any preparation that contains sugar, such as tea, sweetened coffee or even solid materials such as chocolate truffles. The effects of Amortentia last for approximately 24 hours after ingestion.

Caution:

Do not administer Amortentia to those that are planning to conceive, as the potion has extremely harmful effects in fetal formation. Allergies to Amortentia are common in people who are allergic to shellfish and might include symptoms such as angina, tachycardia and, in severe cases, rupture of the cardiac tissue.

Closing

As you all know, smuggling, brewing or using love potions - including Amortentia - at Hogwarts is expressly forbidden unless you have explicit permission from a professor to do so. Do note that if I catch anyone trying to scoop some of today’s brew for later use, the consequences will be harsh. Playing with others’ feelings will not be tolerated, and neither will stupid pranks that might endanger your classmates.

Your mandatory assignments for the day consist of a usual quiz, as well as an essay on your perceived smells for Amortentia and how they correlate to your personality. There will also be an optional O.W.L. preparation essay relating to the content covered in Years Three and Four. After you finish all of your tasks for the day, feel free to make your way to the front of the class and get a Chocolate Frog.

Dismissed.

Original lesson written by Professor Vaylen Draekon
Image credits here, here, here, here and here