Love Potion

"Powerful infatuations can be induced by the skilful potioneer, but never yet has anyone managed to create the truly unbreakable, eternal, unconditional attachment that alone can be called Love."

- Professor Slughorn on love potions.

Love potions are a brew which causes the drinker to become infatuated or obsessed with the one who gave them the potion.

Ingredients
Ashwinder eggs are a common ingredient in many varieties of love potion, as so are rose thorns, peppermint and Moonstone.

Effects
Love Potions ostensibly cause the drinker to fall in love with the person who gave them the potion. However, true love cannot be produced through artificial means, and thus the feelings that Love Potions create are more like obsession than affection.

The effect that a Love Potion has will wear off over time. In order to maintain the potion's effect, the giver must continually administer doses, or else the recipient may fall out of "love" with them. A single dose typically lasts up to 24 hours, but the precise duration is dependent on the weight of the drinker, as well as the attractiveness of the giver.

Love Potion will work regardless of whether the giver is present when the recipient consumes the potion. The longer the recipient keeps the potion (or potion-spiked item), the more potent its effect will become, as Love Potion matures over time.

There is an antidote to counteract the effect of Love Potions, but, even after it has been given, one will still retain all the embarrassing memories of how they acted under the influence of the Love Potion.

Varieties
"And they've ordered Fred and George's Love Potions, which I'm sorry to say probably work."

- Hermione Granger

Laverne de Montmorency invented a number of different Love Potions in the 1800s. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes sold a whole "range" of Love Potions in 1996, including Cupid Crystals, further suggesting that there is more than one kind, each of which might have a unique effect.

Amortentia is the strongest Love Potion in the world. It is recognisable by its mother-of-pearl sheen and by the spiraling steam that rises from it. The smell of the potion varies from person to person and is dependent upon what each individual finds appealing.

At Hogwarts
Love Potions are banned at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but this has not stopped students from making them, or from trying to win hearts by their use. Even Molly Weasley admitted to having brewed a Love Potion when she was a girl at Hogwarts.

On Valentine's Day, 1992, Gilderoy Lockhart implored his co-workers to join him in celebrating the occasion, suggesting that students should ask Professor Snape how to brew a Love Potion. Snape did not approve of this.

In her fourth year, Pansy Parkinson told Rita Skeeter that she believed Hermione Granger was capable of brewing a Love Potion, and that this was the method she thought Hermione had used to win the interest of Viktor Krum and, allegedly, Harry Potter. Skeeter published these false claims in Witch Weekly and urged Albus Dumbledore to investigate them further.

The Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes store began carrying a range of Love Potions as part of its WonderWitch line in 1996. When Argus Filch banned all Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products from Hogwarts, Fred and George Weasley began shipping Love Potions disguised as perfumes and cough potions, allowing Hogwarts students to order love Potions, despite mandatory searches on owls. Hermione Granger overheard girls in the bathroom discussing ways to sneak Harry Potter a love potion. Romilda Vane tried to give one of the Weasleys' Love Potions to Harry Potter by spiking Gillywater and a box of Chocolate Cauldrons. Having been warned by Hermione, Harry refused the Gillywater when Romilda offered it to him, but was forced to accept her chocolates. Harry kept the unopened box in his room until March of the next year, when Ron Weasley found it, and, mistaking it for a birthday gift, ate half the chocolates. Ron instantly became obsessively smitten with Romilda and had to be taken to Horace Slughorn to be given an antidote.

Other Uses

 * Albus Dumbledore also believed that Merope Gaunt used a love potion to obtain the affections of Tom Riddle Sr., a wealthy Muggle who lived in her village and whom she was infatuated with. Molly Weasley in her youth once brewed a love potion.

Behind the scenes

 * J. K. Rowling has said that it is of important symbolic significance that Voldemort, incapable of love himself, was conceived in an act of coercion, rather than genuine love.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
 * The Tales of Beedle the Bard
 * Famous Wizard Card

Notes and references
Philtre d'amour