UNFORGIVABLE CURSES FOR MUGGLES

(MISS DERMARK ADVISES: Please don't try this at home! Unless you have an opponent whom you REALLY WANT TO FEEL the effect of an Unforgivable Curse! Also, these ones won't give you life sentence at Azkaban, but SURELY life sentence in a Muggle maximum security prison, or, in the worst case, a death sentence!)

Let's say you are a Muggle with a grudge, who wants to cast an Unforgivable Curse (regardless of the consequences) but the wand has no effect on your victim!

Nema problema! There are plant-based substances with the same effect as Unforgivable Curses! All three of these can be consumed via the oral route, so you can slip them into your victim's drink or soup while they are not looking...

DATURA - MUGGLE IMPERIUS

Comes from the plants in the Datura genus, which grows wild in both Asia and the New World, and which you surely have domesticated in your back garden or public park. Look for a flower that hangs down, has a trumpetlike look, and five small tips on its petals.

It has the same effect as Imperius: full control of the victim's mind, the victim will in a trance, under your control, for longer or shorter time, depending on the dose.

STRYCHNINE - MUGGLE CRUCIO

Comes from the dried strychnine seed, from a very orange-like fruit (that is best not to confuse with a real orange) from South and Southeast Asia. The substance has also been isolated chemically.

You will need to mask the taste - choose a drink with an intense flavour: strychnine has a special spicy-bitter flavour that will raise suspicions!

It has the same effect as Crucio: excruciating pain all over the victim's flesh. Plus they can't close their eyes, or open their mouth (whether to scream or to breathe). The only difference is that, while Crucio wears off, strychnine is always lethal (death comes as a relief).

CYANIDE - MUGGLE AVADA KEDAVRA

Can be found in apple seeds and stones/pits from the genus Prunus (peach pits, plum pits, cherry pits, and bitter almonds which are also Prunus). Also from the chemical Prussian blue or Prussic acid, which is the deep blue of old Prussian uniforms.

You will need to mask the taste and the scent - choose a strong perfume and a drink with an intense flavour: cyanide has a special bitter-almond flavour and matching aroma (like very concentrated marzipan) that will raise suspicions!

It has the same effect as Avada Kedavra: the victim dies on the spot, nearly painlessly (instantly in the case of Avada Kedavra, within seconds in the case of cyanide).

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Quite a morbid article to post during Black Week, right? Just imagine that I've posted it on Halloween...