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polymathwannabe comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 104 - Less Wrong Discussion

8 Post author: b_sen 16 February 2015 01:24AM

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Comment author: polymathwannabe 17 February 2015 01:21:22AM 0 points [-]

If the Philosopher's Stone can make transfigurations permanent, must we assume this is how Lily made Petunia permanently pretty? So Lily had access to it? So she had occasion to do some other stuff with it?

Comment author: b_sen 17 February 2015 01:25:26AM 1 point [-]

Not necessarily. Dumbledore implies that Lily used a potion, and potions may not need the Philosopher's Stone for their effects to be permanent. (Harry thinks it's the Thestral blood, and guesses that Thestral blood is also responsible for the permanency of his Cloak's magic.)

Comment author: Velorien 17 February 2015 11:24:30AM 2 points [-]

(Harry thinks it's the Thestral blood, and guesses that Thestral blood is also responsible for the permanency of his Cloak's magic.)

Not quite.

Scrawled in the margin was a handwritten annotation saying, I wonder what would happen if you used thestral blood here instead of blueberries? and immediately beneath was a reply in different handwriting, You’d get sick for weeks and maybe die.

Some chapters later:

For Bellatrix Black and the snake draped around her shoulders were concealed by the Cloak of Invisibility, one of the three Deathly Hallows and reputed to hide its wearer from the gaze of Death himself.(...) And Harry knew, now, that the concealment of the Cloak was more than the mere transparency of Disillusionment, that the Cloak kept you hidden and not just invisible, as unseeable as were Thestrals to the unknowing. And Harry also knew that it was Thestral blood which painted the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on the inside of the Cloak, binding into the Cloak that portion of Death’s power, enabling the Cloak to confront the Dementors on their own level and block them.

These are the only two mentions of Thestral blood in the story. They don't make it sound likely that Lily went on to use Thestral blood in the potion, and Harry doesn't make that connection either. The association Harry does make seems to be between Thestrals and Death and possibly invisibility, not permanency.

Comment author: Vaniver 17 February 2015 02:19:31PM 2 points [-]

They don't make it sound likely that Lily went on to use Thestral blood in the potion

Well, note that Petunia did get sick for weeks, and it's only maybe die. I think it's the best fit of the things we've seen in the story, but too much remains unseen to be confident.

Comment author: b_sen 17 February 2015 10:02:59PM 0 points [-]

Hmm. Point taken. (Although the point that potion != transfiguration still holds.)

Comment author: Alsadius 17 February 2015 01:25:06AM 1 point [-]

Petunia was made pretty by a potion that made her ill for an extended period, which doesn't sound like the Philosopher's Stone. Interesting theory, but I lean towards it being false.

Comment author: polymathwannabe 17 February 2015 01:28:49AM 0 points [-]

If I remember correctly, in the canon first book the Stone is meant to be used to make a potion.

Comment author: Osuniev 17 February 2015 01:06:15PM 2 points [-]

Yes, it's used to make the Elixir of Life.

Comment author: Alsadius 17 February 2015 01:35:56AM 1 point [-]

I don't have HP&PS on hand, but if true, that'd be evidence for your theory. That said, while Transfiguration sickness is canonical, it seems that the whole point of the Philosopher's Stone is to bypass concerns like that, so I still lean against it being true.

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