How The Weasley Twins Almost Poisoned People In Harry Potter
When it comes to pranks and hijinx in the Wizarding World, it's hard to find a pair who makes more mischief than the Weasley twins. Over the course of the Harry Potter series, Fred and George (James and Oliver Phelps) pull off their fair share of ruses that range from tricking their mother about which twin is which to snatching the Marauder's Map to hitting Professor Quirrell with snowballs. The duo become such prolific pranksters that they eventually quit school (in a spectacular fireworks frenzy) and started their own Diagon Alley-based joke shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which was launched with help from Harry Potter's Triwizard Tournament winnings, became a lucrative endeavor, full of practical joke items like Patented Daydream Charms, Extendable Ears, and a Portable Swamp. But one of the shop's items wasn't so innocent. The one containing sweets intended to make the user ill — the Skiving Snackbox – truly tested the limits of the magical FDA regulations by incorporating a lethal venom as one of its main ingredients.
Fred and George Weasley put Doxy venom in their Skiving Snackboxes
Anyone who's ever been in school has dreamt of ways to get out of class, and the Skiving Snackbox is designed for just that. The purpose of the item is for its users, after consuming one of its sweets, to get ill enough to exhibit symptoms so they can skip class. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, George admits to Harry that he and his brother are hoping to use Doxy venom as an ingredient. "We want to experiment with Doxy venom for our Skiving Snackboxes," George says.
A Doxy, according to J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them companion book, is a fairy-like creature (here are the many things Harry Potter gets wrong about magical creatures). But unlike a fairy, the Doxy is "covered in thick black hair and has an extra pair of arms and legs." The creature has "thick, curved, and shiny" wings and "have double rows of sharp, venomous teeth." The book says that if one is bitten by a Doxy "an antidote should be taken."
While it has been speculated that Fred and George used Doxy eggs to help their brother Ron (Rupert Grint) become the Gryffindor Quidditch team's Keeper, it is confirmed in the books that the twins did experiment with the venom for their Skiving Snackboxes.
Though the mischievous Weasley twins do experiment directly with the poison, they assure Hermoine that they've "already tested them all on ourselves, this is just to see if everyone reacts the same." Luckily, the Skiving Snackboxes not only get you sick, but also contain the cure. That's some foreword-thinking product design.