gwern comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, part 12

gwern 25 Mar 2012 20:39 UTC
4 points

When Quirrell is being interrogated, he “sneezes” to cancel the spell “polyfluis reverso”, which would show who, if anyone, had polyjuiced into Quirrell.

Is this your inference? When I read that chapter, I immediately googled it and ‘polyfluis’ to see what it did, but only turned up MoR.

Why does Quirrell not try to hide this ability better when he knows the strategic value of hidden abilities and, IIRC, only a few wizards (Voldemort among them) are known to be capable of wandless magic?

Or ask why he told the lackey to tell the Ministry that he ate the Dementor. Why is he painting a target on his back, indeed...
- pedanterrific 25 Mar 2012 21:24 UTC
  12 points
  Parent
  
  Is this your inference? When I read that chapter, I immediately googled it and ‘polyfluis’ to see what it did, but only turned up MoR.
  
  Well, that’s the obvious implication of
  
  The round-faced first-year girl stood facing the remaining two bullies with one hand cocked on her hip.
  
  Grinning.
  
  And surrounded by faceted blue haze.
  
  “Polyjuice!” spat the bully-girl.
  
  “Polyfluis Reverso!” roared the remaining boy bully.
  
  Something like the form of a mirrored scarf spat out of his wand -
  
  Passed without resistance through the haze surrounding Susan -
  
  For an instant, she glowed in a strange mirror-color, like a reflection of herself -
  
  And then the glow faded.
  
  The young girl still stood there, hand on her hip.
  
  “Wrong,” said Susan.
  - gwern 25 Mar 2012 21:27 UTC
    4 points
    Parent
    Ah. Should’ve looked harder at the other MoR hit.