The following podcast contains audio extracted from videos on the Harry Potter Theory YouTube channel.

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.

Today we're going to be discussing Veritasyrum, an incredibly powerful and I feel underutilized

potion that forces individuals to reveal the truth.

It is Veritasyrum, a truth potion so powerful that three drops would have you spilling

your innermost secrets for this entire class to hear.

Now the use of this potion is controlled by very strict ministry guidelines, but unless

you watch your step, you might just find that my hand slips right over your evening

pumpkin juice, and then Potter, then we'll find out whether you've been in my office

or not.

Besides maybe Felix Felices, Polyju's potion and Amortensia, I feel as though Veritasirum,

aka Truth Serum, is one of the most powerful potions in the entire wizarding world.

And given this fact, I can't help but notice that it's ludicrously underutilized,

at least in the series. In fact, the list of times

that it's actually used in the story is exceedingly short. These moments include,

giving it to Barty Crouch Jr. after discovering that he was disguised as Dada Professor

Mad I Moody, and Rita Skeeter using it on Batilda Backshot while interviewing her for Albus Dumbledore's

biography.

There were of course other times that it was mentioned, like when Dolores Umbridge used a fake

potion made by Snape on Harry Potter that he only pretended to drink, but on the whole

it's not even talked about that much, and I feel like it could bring about a whole lot of clarity,

especially in the context of convicting criminals. In the Death-Eater trials, for example,

...