Love Magic Lore

What Is It:

Students attending any of the nine wizarding schools across the globe, whether they be born of legacy creating Pureblood lineages or whether they find themselves dipping their toes into the world of magic for the first time having come from Muggle-born upbringings, quickly find themselves immersed in a world of varying kinds of magic. Magic itself is strictly hereditary and is a supernatural force that changes aspects of the world at fundamental levels. It operates within the bounds of the laws of nature, but what witches and wizards are taught to do is to wield their power to manipulate those laws in specific and creative ways.

What no student of magic takes classes in, anywhere, however, is the subject of Love. There is no known curriculum for that subject, yet it could be argued that love is truly the most powerful magic that exists. Albus Dumbledore certainly thought that it was. That might sound contrary if one stops to ponder whether love itself is really even a form of magic. The answer, from a magical standpoint, has to be no because even Muggles can love. But even so, there is something about it that has captured the attention of the wizarding world.

Almost everyone has had the pleasure of feelings of love and the heartbreak that inevitably goes along with it. The bonding and affection between a child and his parents or siblings, caregivers, or sometimes even pets is the first brush we have with love. It is vulnerable, needy, protective and trusting by its very nature. As the child matures and begins to venture outside his immediate familial circle, he is hopefully exposed to friendship and camaraderie attachments, borne of common interests, but stoked by mutual trust and admiration for the other. Finally there is romantic love. This is often rooted at the outset from a physical and hormonal attraction to another person and differentiates itself from the other types of love as the two may share both tender affections with one another and possibly a desire to spend their lives together.

Once again, almost everyone has, or at one time will if they are lucky enough, experienced feelings of love so overwhelmingly powerful that they will inevitably be struck dumb, unable to even express properly what they are feeling because there are simply not the words to do so. This could come about due to all encompassing delight or gut wrenching grief, but both experiences come from two sides of the same coin. Wonderful and miraculous things have been done in the name of love, but so, too, have devastatingly misguided and destructive things.

History:

Love Magic in Mythology:

Throughout history, people have always told tales of love in mythology all across the world. In a lot of traditional classic European mythology, witches have been attributed as people who would use and manipulate love magic and potions and offer them to people who request their help, in exchange for favours or promises. This has contributed to witches' notoriety for being cruel or heartless in traditional folklore. This has also influenced a variety of commonly known European muggle fairy-tales, like Snow White's witch that poisoned her, Sleeping Beauty's fairy that cursed her to sleep, and the Little Mermaid's sea witch that gave her the ability to walk in exchange for her voice. Whilst these are not necessarily true tales, they are believed to be inspired from rumours of witches and their enchanting capabilities across Europe.

In the wizarding world, enchanting creatures are still fairly commonplace, and no longer simply a myth. Some of the most well-known are the Veela, who are known for their enticing beauty that can charm many, and are oft found east in Europe of in Western Russia. More lore on them can be found here under Ancestry. Another creature are the sirens, a Grecian race of merfolk, known for their alluring song that would lure unsuspecting sailors into their waters.

Notable uses in History:

Cadmus Peverell , (12th century) – Cadmus Peverell was one of three brothers who met Death on a bridge as recounted in the story of the Deathly Hallows in The Tales of Beedle the Bard. The brothers met Death when they used magic to conjure a bridge over a raging river and thereby avoided drowning. This angered Death because they had evaded his grasp with their magic. He nevertheless ventured to secure their fates to his whim by granting each brother a gift of their choice which he later planned to use to kill them. Cadmus asked for the ability to resurrect loved ones from their graves, so he was given a stone that Death picked up from the river. Death turned it into the Resurrection Stone and it was later used by Cadmus to bring back to life a woman he had once loved deeply. The resurrection itself was technically successful, but Cadmus soon found that what had come back to him was not the vibrant, living woman he had loved, but a only a mockery, a shell of her likeness. After realizing too late that the dead can never truly return to world of the living, Cadmus hanged himself so that he could go be with her in death.

Gormlaith Gaunt, (17th century) – Cast a slumber enchantment, known as Gormlaith Gaunt’s Curse, at the home of Isolt Sayer and James Steward, the husband and wife founders of Ilvermorny School of Witchchcraft and Wizardry. Gormlaith spoke the names Isolt and James as she approached their home and the two fell into such a deep sleep that no counter spells or anything else could awaken them until they were roused after hearing the terrified screams of their daughters who were being attacked by Gormlaith. It is thought that the deep love Isolt and James felt for their daughters in their moments of need broke the curse.

Merope Riddle (née Gaunt), (20th century) – Merope Gaunt Riddle and her abuse of love magic is responsible for bringing the single most dangerous and powerful Dark Wizard of all time, into the world. The half-blood wizard was conceived while Merope’s husband, Tom Riddle Sr., whom she was completely obsessed with, had been bewitched into marrying her. Tom Riddle Sr. was being repeatedly dosed with a love potion, most likely Amortentia, by his wife for close to a year. The enchantment was eventually lifted by Merope when she discovered she was pregnant. Her joy mistakenly had her believe that all the love and attention and tender affections her bewitched husband had bestowed upon her must surely be real and not the result of the love potion. She, unsurprisingly, found out differently when he quickly abandoned her and their unborn child. Merope died in Wool’s Orphanage shortly after giving birth to their son, whom she named Tom Marvolo Riddle, but who would be better known to the magical world as Lord Voldemort.

Love Magic's Modern Influences:

In the modern day, there is much less emphasis placed on the ritualistic aspects of love magic unlike in the past, however people do like to use certain divinatory areas of magic to try and predict or foretell their love lives. A common practice of this is the use of tarot cards or crystal-gazing in Divination, where people will use these methods to try and discover what sort of person could be in their future, or what they should do regarding their romantic situations. This is not only common practice in the wizarding world, but also the muggle world too. Astrology and horoscopes are also commonly used, especially by muggles in the modern day, to glean insight on their potential love lives. Zodiac signs can be used to determine a pairing's compatibility, with certain signs more likely to be drawn together due to compatible qualities, and others being advised to avoid each other due to clashing qualities that could result in a more turbulent relationship. Even in the muggle world, these magical forms of predicting the future can be surprisingly accurate depending on the person's interpretation of their reading.

Forms of Love Magic:

Love Potions:

One of the most common and arguably most popular usages of love magic is through potions. Use of these potions are not illegal, though their legality has been the source of great debate due to its potential dangerous uses, especially due to their potency. Potions of a certain strength (e.g. Amortentia) are illegalised for underage witches and wizards to administer or consume, though potions with a lower potency are permitted. Hogwarts and other similar institutions (this includes international wizarding schools) have a ban on all love potions, regardless of strength.

Love potions often can cause symptoms such as obsessive romantic infatuation with the person who administered the potion to the drinker, mimicking the effect of love but not creating actual love. However, to maintain this facade, the potion has to be continuously supplied, else the effects will slowly weaken after 24 hours until the effect has worn off.

Love potions are notoriously complex to craft, and require a fair amount of rare ingredients. Pearl dust is a staple necessary in all love potions, which also offers them their tell-tale shimmer. Other commonly found ingredients include ashwinder eggs, roses (either the petal, the thorns or both), peppermint and moonstone. Love potions' potency also tends to grow stronger over time, peaking in potency 30 days after brewing. Any use after this time could result in disastrous consequences.

There are a large variety of love potions with different effects, but they usually last around 12-24 hours at an absolute maximum. The strongest and arguably most-well known love potion is the classic Amortentia, which is recognisable by their mother-of-pearl shimmer and individual scent, varying from person to person depending on what they deem attractive.

Love Spells:

Alongside love potions, love spells (also known as entrancing enchantments) are regularly used for similar reasons. Though potions are more complex to create, given that they have to be brewed, they typically have longer lasting effects than their spell counterparts. However, these charms are useful for a short period of time and they all have relatively strong effects, compared to the variety of potencies potions can hold.

Another difference between love potions and entrancing enchantments is that the enchantments in fact do affect the memory, erasing any memories of what occurred whilst the spell was still in effect. They have similar, though limited, effects to potions, but instead of obsession the feeling is more like adoration. Love spells can be identified by their bright purple light when casting. Currently, they are not actively taught in Hogwarts' curriculum due to their potential danger, however certain details regarding them can be found in the restricted section of the Library.

Plants to bring Love into your Life:

Some muggles have done some research, and come to the following conclusions about plants that could bring love into your life. Whilst these have since been disproven in the magical community, some still believe in their power to help people have a more positive outlook on love.

• Basil - Place potted Basil in your living space to prevent infidelity and increase devotion
• Lavendar - Smudge with Lavender to attract eternal love
• Patchouli - Wear Patchouli perfume to attract your soulmate
• Rosemary - Keep Rosemary in your room to prevent heartbreak and increase faithfulness
• Spearmint - Keep dried Spearmint in your house to attract a stable relationship
• Bay Leaves - Carry dried bay leaves in your wallet, purse, or bag to attract a faithful partner
• Thyme - Hang dried Thyme in your bedroom to attract the love of your life
• Fennel - Plant Fennel in your home for a long-lasting love attraction ritual
• Dill Seeds - Put Dill Seeds in your shoes to attract love and remove jealousy
• Coriander Seeds - Place a bowl of dried Corriander in your home to stop arguments and fights
• Cinnamon - Smudge your home with Cinnamon to attract the right people in your life
• Cloves - Carry dried Cloves with you to steer clear of unfaithful partners
• Ginger - Bathe with Ginger to attract love
• Nutmeg - Sprinkle Nutmeg powder under your bed to attract love
• Majoram - Place Majoram under your pillow to dream about and manifest your soul mate

There is also a magic ritual you can do that can allegedly attract love. These ingredients can be found in the Potions Storeroom or in the First-Year Greenhouse (please ask our Potions Professor and Herbology Professor OOC if you are able to go and grab these ingredients!), and is a common pastime for people wanting to find romance.

Ingredients:

• A few dried petals of roses
• A little catnip
• Half a handful of yarrow
• Some mint
• Coltsfoot
• Raspberry leaves
• Ground iris root
• Chrysanthemum
• A little verbena

Process:

1. Mix the herbs well on a Friday night when the moon is growing.
2. Divide them into 3 equal parts.
3. Throw the first part up towards the moon and ask it to send love into your life.
4. Sprinkle the second part in your bedroom.
5. Sew the third part in a canvas satchel and carry with you until the spell has worked its magic.

Sacrificial Love:

One of the most, if not the most, powerful displays of love magic is through the action known as sacrificial protection, coined by many as the ultimate form of protection. It is an ancient and powerful magic that only triggers when a person willingly sacrifices themselves to the Killing Curse in order to protect the lives of another/others out of their love for them. The way this works is that the person who sacrificed themselves (we will use the term Sacrificed) must have had the option to live, and makes the conscious decision to purposefully move their body in the way to become the new victim of the attack, thus saving the other (we will use the term Saved). This magical protection seeps into the blood of the 'saved' and remains with them for the rest of their life, making any jinx, hex or curse's effects weaker against them, especially Unforgiveable Curses.

This protection can take effect over a group or just a single individual, but the effects of the ward are stronger when they are focused on less people. If focused on a single person, the ward could do so much as to cause an excruciating and searing pain when the Saved comes into contact with the person who intended to murder, and if that individual tried to cast the Killing Curse at the Saved, it could rebound. For a larger group, the exact effects are unconfirmed, but it seems to weaken (but not prevent) the effects of hexes, jinxes and curses, though it is unlikely to work against Unforgiveable Curses. This magical protection is incredibly uncommon and rare, so the exact details are not fully known.

It is believed that the type of relationship between the Sacrificed and the Saved can have an effect on the strength of the protection that is placed upon the Saved. Familial love is believed to be the strongest form of protection, with romantic and platonic love having a similar strength about two-thirds as strong as familial love. The reason that familial love creates a stronger ward is through what is known as a Bond of Blood Charm. This is when the magical ward seeps into the blood of the Saved, and it could be truly activated when the charm was recognised and cast by another and the Saved had been accepted by another family member as a part of their own household, preventing any harm from befalling the Saved whilst in that household, unlike normally when they would only be partially shielded from the effects of a jinx, hex or curse. It can even make the Saved untouchable by the person who attempted to murder them. However, these effects would only last whilst the Saved still resided in this house, or until they reached the age of 17. If the sacrifice occurs when the Saved is 18+, the Bond of Blood Charm cannot be cast. It is assumed that only immediate family of the Sacrificed can accept the Saved and have the protection take place. The only recorded example of this occurring was with Harry Potter, after his mother sacrificed herself, Albus Dumbledore cast the charm, and his aunt took him in, securing the charm's success.

Dangers of Love Magic:

Love in the Department of Mysteries:

Hidden away in the Department of Mysteries, the Ministry of Magic has a room that is locked away and unenterable but specifically dedicated to the study of love magic. There is little recorded knowledge of this room and what occurs behind those doors, however, the small amount that is known states that there is a fountain of Amortentia which Unspeakables use to study the effects on witches and wizards. It may be somewhat common knowledge that there is a Love Room in the Department of Mysteries, however the details of any activities or research occurring inside would not be.

The most prominent research that has been published by the Ministry on the topic is regarding the differentiation between love itself and love magic, which are believed to be two separate things. In this research, they confirm that there is a difference between actual love and love magic because true love is something pure and not possible to recreate in this way. Even in the best and strongest love potions, what is created is an illusion of obsession and infatuation rather than the emotion itself, and when the effects wear off, the drinker still retains the memories of when they were infatuated. The Ministry strongly advises against the use of love potions for serious purposes for these reasons.

Furthermore, their research shows that any child conceived whilst either or both of the parents are subject to the effects of Amortentia will suffer from an inability to truly understand love and be unable to display any form of attachment or affection. Whilst this has not been fully proven in study (this would be highly unethical), it is predicted to be incredibly likely with examples cited from across wizarding history. The Ministry strongly advises against the use of love potions for serious purposes for these reasons.