Peace Talks - potion plothole?

[Addicted To Stories]

I loved how the "the ingredients aren't important" for the don't-notice-me potion.  Nice call-back to the earlier books where every ingredient was described in detail as well as the potion creation process.

But - when he was describing the effects of the potion - he specifically said that the group had to stay together closely while walking so that the area covered by the shared potion was minimized.  OK.  Makes sense.  Until a few pages later we have Murphy driving the car and she had a drink of the same potion as well!  This puts quite a lot of distance between the group inside the castle and Murphy outside the castle - all sharing the same power from the same potion.   Ummmm...   Explanations?

[Mira]

I loved how the "the ingredients aren't important" for the don't-notice-me potion.  Nice call-back to the earlier books where every ingredient was described in detail as well as the potion creation process.

But - when he was describing the effects of the potion - he specifically said that the group had to stay together closely while walking so that the area covered by the shared potion was minimized.  OK.  Makes sense.  Until a few pages later we have Murphy driving the car and she had a drink of the same potion as well!  This puts quite a lot of distance between the group inside the castle and Murphy outside the castle - all sharing the same power from the same potion.   Ummmm...   Explanations?

I asked many of those questions in another thread.. Where did Harry get the ingredients?  On page
anyway he had no access to a lab.. Was it a recipe he could make off of the top of his head?  He used to need Bob to dictate, and if he got it from Bonea he might have merely ended up with waffles..

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The ingredients are not important - heh! Indeed they will be the least important, dullest, overlooked, most pedestrian ingredients Harry will ever need.

There was enough energy for two groups, not three or more by Harry’s estimation, he didn’t want to chance it. More than he had to.

[Mira]

The ingredients are not important - heh! Indeed they will be the least important, dullest, overlooked, most pedestrian ingredients Harry will ever need.

There was enough energy for two groups, not three or more by Harry’s estimation, he didn’t want to chance it. More than he had to.

Um, ingredients are very important, even pedestrian ones, potions still have to be brewed and bottled..  Without access to the apartment Harry doesn't have a "pantry" either for the ingredients or for the premade potion that he just happens to keep on hand.

[mrbassman]

Maybe he made a second. Bob always says to make 2 potions at a time.

[ClintACK]

Re: Murphy...

Remember that they could see each other because they'd all drunk the potion.

It wasn't that Murphy needed to be invisible too -- it's that she needed to drink the potion so that she'd be able to notice them when they came out.

[Addicted To Stories]

Murphy was under the effects of the potion.  She was don't-notice-me-invisible so that Marcone's men wouldn't see that car approach.  Which also meant other drivers didn't really notice the car...

[Mira]

Murphy was under the effects of the potion.  She was don't-notice-me-invisible so that Marcone's men wouldn't see that car approach.  Which also meant other drivers didn't really notice the car...

The car would have to be under a veil because a potion wouldn't cover the car.  Either Harry has gotten a lot better at veils and can do them while occupied with other very intense stuff, or it makes no sense.  Especially the bit where the guards wouldn't notice a car when the place was under heavy security, especially after an assassination attempt.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I think you are taking the point about the ingredients wrong it’s very important that they are unimportant for this particular potion, nothing rare ar hard to get or valuable, it’s their very unimportantness that Harry is trying to bottle. When Jim says the ingredients are not important thats his little joke, for this potion they better not be, otherwise it won’t work.

[Bad Alias]

Maybe he made a second. Bob always says to make 2 potions at a time.

And Harry says three potions is stretching it.

Remember that they could see each other because they'd all drunk the potion.

Would they need to drink a portion of the same brewing, or could drinking a different brewing work for that?

Which also meant other drivers didn't really notice the car...

People noticed Harry enough to not run into him. Might be the same with the potion.

[vultur]

The car would have to be under a veil because a potion wouldn't cover the car.

Harry worries that other drivers might hit the car because they don't notice it. This doesn't actually happen, so who knows if the potion is actually hiding the car or if Harry is just worrying.

He worries about unintended effects of this potion a couple of times -- it's a call back to how he couldn't warn people while under the potion's effect in FM.

Also, the potion doesn't physically camouflage you, it makes you "not noticeable". So I don't see why it inherently couldn't extend to a car you're driving - the effect seems based on perception not actual visibility. It's not like people notice objects floating in the air if you're carrying them.