Lupin, Snape, Wolfsbane

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 17849

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tina Smart" <vaile2000 at h...> wrote:
> >"All right, I've been lurking for a long time, but this topic will 
make me 
> >stay awake screaming any time.  There's nothing I can think of to 
make this 
> >not a plot hole, unless you want to subscribe to complex theories 
such as 
> >"Snape doctored the Wolfsbane Potion, and the moon wasn't really 
full that 
> >night," or somesuch.  It's a glaring error, for the painful reason 
that if 
> >all Lupin had to do to avoid transformation was stay indoors, 
there never 
> >would've been a need for Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs (heresy!)"
> 
> >Anyway you're absolutely right. I really want to explain it, but 
there 
> >doesn't seem to be an explanation does there? I'm certainly not 
satisfied 
> >with Jo's answer, which I think was asked by someone in this 
group. It's a 
> >glaring mistake, a Flint still stuck at hogwarts in his retirement 
years!
> 
> >The only thing I've come up with is that maybe taking "Wolfsbane" 
over an 
> >extended period of time lessens the effects. However I still don't 
buy it.
> 
> Ok, I'm not sure if you're both referring to a specific incident, 
but this 
> is how I understood this part of the story:
> Lupin as a student got sent to that "haunted house" at Hogsmede for 
his 
> monthly transformation.
> JK was blunt about the wolfsbane potion being difficult to make, 
and above 
> the level of an ordinary wizard. That it needed someone who was 
proficient 
> at potions, which Snape is.
> However, maybe when Lupin was a student there was not a teacher who 
could 
> make this potion. And even if they could it might not have been 
invented 
> yet. There is some detail in one of the books about the division of 
the 
> ministry that works on trying out new magics and the like.
> So he got sent to the house. The marauderers went there to keep him 
company, 
> it must have been boring...?
> So then when he is a teacher, Snape is handy to make the potion for 
him when 
> it's needed.
> This however, does not explain how he got through his life between 
school 
> and teaching. Maybe he was a hermit, I cannot remember JK's 
explaination.
> So, in any case, if you are talking of a specific incident I would 
like to 
> know the reference. I would be interested to reread this part.
> 
> Tina.
> 

Sorry about the brevity of this message, but whilst in the Shreiking 
Shack, Lupin does say that the potion is of very recent discovery.  
Ch.18/PoA.  (English edition pg 258)

Catherine