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"I’ve got one last bottle of this oak-matured mead... hmm... meant to give that to Dumbledore for Christmas... ah well... he can’t miss what he’s never had! Why don’t we open it now and celebrate Mr Weasley’s birthday? Nothing like a fine spirit to chase away the pangs of disappointed love..."
Horace Slughorn unknowingly offering poisoned mead to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley[src]

Mead is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey that has been diluted by water. Mead was popularised in classical Greece and imperial Rome. It became the favourite drink of many European tribes after the fall of Rome. Mead is also a favourite drink in the wizarding world.

Known uses[]

In Harry Potter's third year, Rubeus Hagrid ordered four pints of mulled mead from Madam Rosmerta at the Three Broomsticks pub in Hogsmeade.[1]

During the 1994-1995 school year, there was a rumour abound that Albus Dumbledore had ordered many barrels of mead for the Yule Ball, but this was proven false.[3]

Harry first had mead in the summer of 1996 when Dumbledore arrived at 4 Privet Drive to explain Sirius Black's will to him. He remarked that though he had never had anything like it, he enjoyed it immensely. The Dursleys, however, refused to touch the mead offered them and were rapped over the head by their glasses until Albus Dumbledore non-verbally removed the glasses from their presence.[4]

Mead was served at the Slug Club Christmas party. At one point during the party, Horace Slughorn had a huge mince pie in one hand and a glass of mead in the other. Harry also enjoyed some mead during the party, and after Luna Lovegood explained what she meant by the Rotfang Conspiracy, he inhaled half his mead up his nose in amusement.[5]

Ron-poison

Ron Weasley, after getting poisoned by drinking Horace Slughorn's Oak Matured Mead

Later in the school year, Professor Slughorn gave Ron Weasley a glass of oak-matured mead, after giving him the antidote to a love potion as a pick-me-up,[6] unaware that the mead had been poisoned by Draco Malfoy via a bewitched Rosmerta, who had intended that the mead bottle reach Dumbledore. Argus Filch did not detect the poison due to him not recognising poison, nor did he doubt anything from Rosmerta. Draco said that he got the idea when he overheard Hermione Granger saying that Filch did not recognise potions (when she was talking about Romilda Vane's love potion from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes).[7] Only quick work by Harry, who shoved a bezoar down Ron's throat, saved his life.[6] Dumbledore would later comment to Draco that this was a crude and desperate method of assassination.[7] Hermione had claimed that Slughorn would have kept something that tasty for himself instead of giving it away as a gift, believing the assailant was unaware of Slughorn's personality,[8] and Slughorn himself claimed to have forgotten to give it to the intended recipient anyway.[6]

In 1998, Aberforth Dumbledore served mead to Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Hog's Head before the Battle of Hogwarts.[2]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 10 (The Marauder's Map)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 28 (The Missing Mirror)
  3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 22 (The Unexpected Task)
  4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 3 (Will and Won't)
  5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 15 (The Unbreakable Vow)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 18 (Birthday Surprises)
  7. 7.0 7.1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 27 (The Lightning-Struck Tower)
  8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 19 (Elf Tails)
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