New Theory Says Harry Potter Was Doping in 'Half-Blood Prince' 

Everyone knows that Harry Potter has some anger issues in Order of the Phoenix that linger in The Half-Blood Prince. But a new theory posits that he could be suffering from the wizarding world’s version of roid rage.

One fan on Reddit suggests that Felix Felicis — otherwise known as Liquid Luck — is actually not luck but the magical version of performance-enhancing drugs. This makes sense if you think about it. After winning Felix Felicis as a prize in Slughorn’s class in Half-Blood Prince, Harry downs the potion in order to boost his chances of extracting Slughorn’s memory. In his lessons with Dumbledore, Harry learned that young Tom Riddle asked Slughorn about Horcruxes, but Slughorn magically tampered with the end of the memory.

Thanks to the potion, Harry’s occasionally questionable social savvy gets a boost. As soon as he downs Felix, he knows he must go to Aragog’s funeral at Hagrid’s hut in order to entice Slughorn, and it helps him manipulate Slughorn into revealing the story.

While this helps Harry obtain the information he needs, it isn’t actually magical. The potion only boosted Harry’s natural abilities — just like performance-enhancing drugs do in the real world.

The counter-argument, of course, is that when Harry takes the Felix Felicis, Dean and Ginny break up. That is indeed lucky, and outside of Harry’s control. But the fight Harry witnesses isn’t random; it’s about an issue that has been brewing between the couple for a long time. He’s only just now noticing it.

“Harry perceives small events occurring during the potion’s effects as directly attributed to his increased luck. Dean and Ginny have a brief spat, Lavender sees Ron together with Hermione. These could have occurred anytime, anywhere else — and indeed, may be true “luck” — but Harry is now looking for them,” says the redditor.

It’s true that drugs are the only explanation for Harry’s behavior during this sequence.