Polyjuice Potion

Polyjuice potion has proved itself in the wizarding world as one of the most useful yet dangerous potions available. Throughout the course of the books, it has shown itself as a fickle friend: though in the Chamber of Secrets, when it was first introduced, Polyjuice allowed the trio to rule off another possible Heir of Slytherin, in the Goblet of Fire it nearly caused Harry's death. But despite being told much about the potion, a closer inspection seems to show that we know very little. Hopefully this essay will shed a little light on one of the most important potions used throughout the Harry Potter series.

Firstly, does Polyjuice use DNA to create a perfect replica of a person? It's use in the fourth book would suggest not – when Barty Crouch Jnr. changes into Mad Eye Moody, he appears with a missing leg and eye, neither of which are genetic. However, in the second book, when Harry turns into Goyle, his eyesight is restored and he no longer needs to wear glasses, which means his, shall we say “insides” have clearly been altered.

Another aspect of the potion (and one regularly debated across forums) is the change of gender. In a way related to the above, it seems it IS possible to change from male to female, as Crabbe and Goyle prove in the Half-Blood Prince, after transforming into girls in an attempt to be less conspicuous. However, a question regularly raised is whether the changes are purely external (again, see above for my opinion on this), or whether Polyjuice could make possible things like m-preg (male pregnancies). It seems most likely that, was a male to conceive whilst using Polyjuice, provided the potion was taken every hour for the proceeding nine months, it would be possible, though unlikely, for a male to give birth. However, were the person in question to fail to take the potion at any point, the foetus would be trapped inside the body – the laws of energy/matter mean that the baby couldn't simply vanish, so it could only be assumed that it would require some sort of surgery at that point. Otherwise, there would be some quite serious, and possibly nasty, side-effects.

Death is also an interesting factor to be taken into account. In the case of Mrs Crouch, who took Polyjuice until her death in Azkaban, it seems obvious that she would have had to have died whilst under the guise of her son, to avoid arousing suspicion. However, how long the potion would have lasted following death is anyone's guess. My theory, though, is that, as the potion is, as far as we know, always swallowed, and it takes just a few seconds for transformation to be completed, it must enter the bloodstream fast. The heart stopping, though, would not extend the life of the potion. If we assume that the change is caused by cells absorbing Polyjuice from the bloodstream, the potion would still only last an hour, even if the drinker died, as the cells would continue to absorb it – it's generally agreed that there are still some chemical changes within the body following death. This would have allowed Mrs. Crouch to, hopefully, die and be covered before she returned to her actual appearance, avoiding any suspicion.

An essay on MuggleNet introduced the idea of using the Polyjuice potion to create Metamorphmagi. The possibilities (many of which being ideas both the writer and I shared) came down to something like this:

The user of Polyjuice became able to morph at will whilst taking the potion.

The user of Polyjuice was transformed into the appearance of the Metamorphmagus when the hair/toenail/whatever was removed.

The user of Polyjuice was connected to the Metamorphmagus, similar to the concept of the Death Eaters tattoos. When the Metamorphmagus changed, so did the user.

The user of Polyjuice was transformed into the 'normal' image of the Metamorphmagus, assuming there is a 'normal' image.

The user of Polyjuice had limited morphing abilities but by large had their own appearance.

Out of these five possibilities, the most likely seems the second – if Barty Crouch Jnr. was changed into Mad Eye's leg-less, eye-less appearance, surely this suggests that the article removed from the person takes a, shall we call it a 'current reading' upon removal. However, this would suggest that people could transform into their own past appearances – George Weasley, for example, could regain his ear, if he had something to add the the Polyjuice from before it was severed.

Another option I thought deserved a paragraph all of its own, was the idea of self-image. Basically, the user of Polyjuice would transform into however the Metamorphmagus saw themselves, within reason. For example, if Tonks had bright purple hair and a pig's nose, yet always thought of herself as looking similar to Hermione, then the user would look similar to Hermione. This could hold some fairly interesting clues to people's self-image, though.

In conclusion, I'd like to point out how versatile a potion Polyjuice could be – some of the uses I've laid out above could have medicinal purposes, as well as being, of course, a useful tool of disguise.

I'd love to hear people's comments and opinions on this – feel free to email me on twisted.glamourx3 [at] googlemail [dot] com.