In Chamber of Secrets, Hermione tells Ron and Harry about Polyjuice Potion: “It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into three of the Slytherins. No one would know it was us.”
When a few fifth-graders attended a Harry Potter reading group with me, we discussed the notion of understanding how it feels to be in someone else’s skin, especially someone you don’t know well, maybe someone of a different race or religion. I had them think about it while brewing their own Polyjuice Potion, since at their age, cooking was within their skills, though still novel. I figured lentil soup would be a good choice to avoid most food sensitivities and approximate the mud-like consistency of Polyjuice Potion.
I had prepped ingredients ahead of time and put them in containers with labels like potion ingredients, which I had printed onto parchment paper and cut out.
• Lacewing flies = 1 onion, diced and browned in olive oil
• Leeches = 2 carrots, diced
• Fluxweed = bay leaf
• Knotgrass = ground sage, dried thyme
• Boomslang skin = 1 one-pound package lentils, rinsed and drained
• Bits of the person you want to change into = 2 tomatoes, chopped
• Powdered bicorn horn = salt and pepper
I adapted the Moosewood Cookbook’s lentil soup recipe for the Polyjuice Potion instructions and printed out parchment scrolls tied with ribbon for each student. I used a black Korean soup pot, ttukbaegi, that looks like a cauldron.
Moste Potente Polyjuice Potion
Preparation time: Approximately 1 hour
1. Put lacewing flies into a clean, dry cauldron.
2. Heat the cauldron over a medium flame for about two minutes, stirring five times clockwise, slowly, with a nonreactive wooden stirring rod.
3. Add leeches. Stir five times, clockwise.
4. Add a leaf of fluxweed.
5. Add knotgrass.
6. Add shredded boomslang skin plus enough water to cover generously. Adjust flame to high. Stir gently counterclockwise, three times.
7. When potion begins to bubble, reduce flame to low. Stir gently clockwise, three times.
8. The potion should simmer for three quarters of an hour. Cast an hourglass charm to track the time. Every quarter hour, stir gently, twice. Add water as necessary. Adjust flame to maintain a slow simmer.
9. Add powdered horn of bicorn and stir in a figure eight pattern, gently and slowly, four times. At this stage, the potion should be nearing the consistency of thick mud, bubbling sluggishly.
10. Add bits of the person you want to change into. Simmer ten more minutes.
11. Test potion for doneness. If the boomslang skin has begun to dissolve, cast an extinguishing spell on the flame and decant potion.
During the hour it took to brew, we conducted other discussion exercises. Once the Polyjuice Potion was ready, we served it into bowls and I said ceremonially, “Now take the potion that puts you into someone else’s skin.” The students seemed pleased that they had made their own lunch and it was good. As they ate thoughtfully, I instructed them to visualize entering the Slytherin common room. What is the mood like in there? I suggested that they think of someone — a real-life person they don’t know well and don’t necessarily like, or maybe a character from the book. What might it be like to be Polyjuiced into that person for an hour, go where they hang out, and convince people that you are them? What might you have to do? What might you learn?