interesting thought re: Mrs. Figg (cabbage smell)

[Bente13 at peoplepc.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24924

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., scaryfairymary at h... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Neil Ward" <neilward at d...> wrote:
> > Steve wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > <<"Also, isn't it peculiar that the smell of her house is 
described 
> as
> > cabbage? And in the CS the finished Polyjuice potion smells like 
> overcooked
> > cabbage. Could Arabella really be someone else in disguise?">>
> 
> I have to say that this idea crossed my mind briefly but then i 
> thought,  that maybe Dumbledore has one of his friends disguised as 
> an unthreatening old woman so as to protect Harry without drawing 
> notice to herself, so that the Dursleys would not suspect what she 
> was and prevent her from having contact with Harry.  It's just a 
> thoery, but it was mentioned  (I think by Voldemort) that Harry was 
> protected by very old magic envoked by Dumbledore while he was in 
the 
> care of the Dursleys.  Maybe this is what he was referring to? 
> 
At first thought, it 
> seems
> > inconceivable that Dumbledore could be so fooled by a fake 
Arabella 
> Figg,
> > but he was so fooled by a fake Alastor Moody... the old fool!


The thing about Polyjuice Potion, though, is that it requires 'a bit 
of whoever we want to change into'; which is why Crouch Jr. kept 
Moody in his magical trunk for ten months, hacking off chunks of his 
hair whenever necessary, and why Crabbe and Goyle had to be fed a 
sleeping draught and had their hair yanked out. If there already was 
an old Arabella Figg living in the house, what would be the purpose 
of polyjuicing someone else to look like her? Someone like Crouch Jr. 
could do it for evil purposes, to get closer to Harry, but how would 
it work the other way? Of course, the aging potion (or any other kind 
of potion, for that matter) might also smell like cooked cabbage, so 
maybe it wasn't Polyjuice Potion at all, but something else entirely. 
Or maybe it was just cabbage....

Bente