I think Felix Felicis can be very beneficial in some cases. If you think about how long and hard you've been working on a cure for some disease and you're so close but something just isn't fitting right... take a little bit of FF and you just might be able to perfect your cure. I don't think FF is going to let you stumble upon all the right answers if you just think to yourself "I want to cure cancer" and then walk into a lab, but I think if you're close and just need an edge then it will help guide you to what you need to fix.
It was mentioned in HBP that FF is more likely to give the drinker the ability to do something they already can do, so it's not a miracle potion that will fix all your ills. For example, I think if your relationship is on the rocks and you're trying to use FF to fix something that is beyond repair then the potion is more likely to make you see that your relationship can't be fixed than show you a way to fix it.
I don't perticularly agree that luck would help you see that your relationship can't be fixed. Well, I suppose it depends on what you're open to. But, most people wouldn't see that as "lucky" and may just assume that they took too much Felix Felicis and became reckless. Therefore assuring that they won't end the relationship, even though it may be the best course of action. But, that's the fickleness of luck for you.
It might be lucky if realizing that your relationship was doomed anyway brought along something or someone better. Or if your partner were just yanking you around and playing you for a fool you might realize that you're lucky to get away when you did. Most people wouldn't feel lucky about it at first but I think in the end they would probably realize they were, particularly in the cases when their partner is running around on them.
I wonder if you can take too much FF. I'm pretty sure Slughorn said it was addictive but it sounded like the amount you take gives you a certain about of time to be lucky. So if you were to take two tablespoons that might equal one lucky day not a really super lucky hour.
Perhaps? It does seem to just last longer depending on how much you take. I wrote it into a fanfic and decided that it would be a certain amount in so many hours and more than that would be a "overdose." And, you'd just need to re-dose to keep it up. But, really, it could be any which way until JKR says otherwise.
And, I still don't think that during the time frame of taking FF, you'd realize what was really "lucky" and in your best interest. Those kind of realizations take a lot of time to digest and it just seems to abrupt for me to believe.
Luck is tricky. It isn't so much a "miracle" as it is just boosting odds. If you're odds at something are 0 to begin with, it won't help you out. However, it could be just the edge you need to sneak out your competition. This would explain why it's banned in many situations in the wizarding world
( ... )
Job interviews were definitely the first type of situation that came to mind for me when considering how Felix would be useful. I had the same experience for a long time, with not being hired because I'd not worked much before, up until about a year ago when I got my current job. Although I definitely would have liked to have some FF handy back in the day to get a job that I "wanted", ultimately it would have been to my detriment, because I probably wouldn't have the job I'm at now, which is where I know I belong right now. :) As you say, luck is rather fickle like that. And I'm thinking job interviews and the like are probably some of the circumstances in which it would be forbidden to use FF anyway, because it would definitely give an applicant unfair advantage over others.
Oh! Good call. I hadn't thought about banning FF in that situation, even though it's banned in plenty of others. I can see them doing a drug screen and testing for FF. How hilarious would that be? "No, ma'am, I'm sorry, but you didn't pass the FF screening; therefore, we can't offer you the job. Please apply again without the use of luck."
I think you might be right about forbiding using FF in a job interview. An interview really is like an organized competition in most cases since the employer is looking for the most qualified applicant. Though I could see someone taking a bit before working on their resume and cover letter so they know exactly what to write and put themselves into the best light possible. That would also be a lot harder to screen for. An employer might be able to give a drug test like gluedupsidedown mentioned, to find out if someone took FF before coming in on the interview, but if someone took it a month prior when they were working on their resume how would someone be able to say if it was taken for that purpose or something else entirely? Maybe someone would have to sign off saying they didn't use FF to help prepare their resume sort of like you have to sign a job application saying that everything you've listed is true.
Felix Felicis is supposedly luck in a bottle. What is luck? Is there such thing as someone having a trend of bad or good luck?
We all have our days when we wake up, start the day beautifully, but my afternoon everything turns upside down. You're making common mistakes at work. You've bombed a test that you studied VERY hard for. You become klutzilla when you're around your crush. OK. Who wouldn't want to have a taste of this sweet potion to turn the day around and make it beautiful again?
But in my opinion luck is really only a person's state of mind. And as long as you've got something called confidence and priority, you can deal without such a potion. When you think positively and see the silver lining in a situation, things lighten up. And you learn to deal with life itself. Embarassment. Mistakes. It makes you human. I fear that Felix Felicis can be used as an addictive drug; as a way to escape. I believe this potion has its uses, but only with minimal amount and lots of discretion.
I think you're very right about the state of mind thing. Ron is the perfect example of this, in HBP when he thinks he's taken Felix Felicis. He plays the best Quidditch game of his life, because he thinks he's lucky. Really it was his own talent all the time, but he performs better than usual only because his state of mind was different. He expected to be "lucky", so he was. I wonder if the magical community would ever put FF to the test against a placebo, (and assuming all participants believe they're receiving FF,) to determine if there's much of a difference in outcome between the "real" luck and the people's own luck from their state of mind.
That would be a super awesome experiment. I know FF is kind of a fickle example, but even if FF and "natural luck" proved more or less equal... Think about what that would mean for the wizarding community? I mean, FF is magic and if you can reproduce that yourself, or better yet, with Muggles... what are the implications? That would be crazy.
That's an interesting way to think about it. Does Felix Felicis really give you luck or just the confidence to go about your day? In the case of Ron thinking he took FF, he just had the confidence to play the best game he's ever played. In the case of Harry taking it, he had mixed results. He had the confidence to silently pull off a refilling charm, which he said himself (in his head). But he also had some guidance in his notion to go down to Hagrid's and then to take the long way around. That's something a bit more than confidence. Harry had no way of knowing that letting Slughorn know about Aragog would help put him in a mood to be more compliant. So, I think confidence is a big part of what makes FF work but it also gives you the ability to make sure you're in the right place at the right time.
Comments 20
It was mentioned in HBP that FF is more likely to give the drinker the ability to do something they already can do, so it's not a miracle potion that will fix all your ills. For example, I think if your relationship is on the rocks and you're trying to use FF to fix something that is beyond repair then the potion is more likely to make you see that your relationship can't be fixed than show you a way to fix it.
Elizabeth * Gryffindor
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Carly//Ravenclaw
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I wonder if you can take too much FF. I'm pretty sure Slughorn said it was addictive but it sounded like the amount you take gives you a certain about of time to be lucky. So if you were to take two tablespoons that might equal one lucky day not a really super lucky hour.
Elizabeth * Gryffindor
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And, I still don't think that during the time frame of taking FF, you'd realize what was really "lucky" and in your best interest. Those kind of realizations take a lot of time to digest and it just seems to abrupt for me to believe.
Carly//Ravenclaw
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And I'm thinking job interviews and the like are probably some of the circumstances in which it would be forbidden to use FF anyway, because it would definitely give an applicant unfair advantage over others.
Jitterbug // Hufflepuff
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Carly//Ravenclaw
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Elizabeth * Gryffindor
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We all have our days when we wake up, start the day beautifully, but my afternoon everything turns upside down. You're making common mistakes at work. You've bombed a test that you studied VERY hard for. You become klutzilla when you're around your crush. OK. Who wouldn't want to have a taste of this sweet potion to turn the day around and make it beautiful again?
But in my opinion luck is really only a person's state of mind. And as long as you've got something called confidence and priority, you can deal without such a potion. When you think positively and see the silver lining in a situation, things lighten up. And you learn to deal with life itself. Embarassment. Mistakes. It makes you human. I fear that Felix Felicis can be used as an addictive drug; as a way to escape. I believe this potion has its uses, but only with minimal amount and lots of discretion.
||Mary of Gryffindor||
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Jitterbug // Hufflepuff
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Carly/Ravenclaw
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Elizabeth * Gryffindor
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