Veritaseum

[lipglossusa]

No: HPFGUIDX 31328

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "supergirl1024" <supergirl1024 at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Chelsea2162 at a... wrote:


If the wizarding world has Veritaseum then why don't they just use it 
> to find out 
> > if someone's guilty of committing a crime or not? All anyone had 
to 
> do (or 
> > could do now) would be to give Sirius a few drops of Veritaseum, 
> and then ask 
> > him what really happened on the day that he faced off with Peter 
> (that rat!). 
> > Doesn't this seem logical? This way, Sirius would be free, and 
> Peter would be 
> > found and prosecuted. Does this make snese to anyone else, or am 
i 
> missing 
> > anything?



I wondered this myself, but I think that the reason Veritaserum is 
was not used is probably because it is unreliable for some reason.  
Perhaps there is an antidote that can be taken before the serum is 
given, that someone who wanted to lie could make.  Or, maybe the 
spell or bewitchment it puts you under can be fought, like the 
Imperius curse.  I also have a feeling that the brewing of this serum 
is probably very difficult; perhaps it takes a very long time to make 
and requires many obscure ingredients. (Remember how long it took to 
brew the Polyjuice?)  It may be that Snape "happened" to keep some 
around (and it's such a very Snape-ish thing to do, isn't it) but the 
serum is not commonly found and too painstaking for the MoM to use. 


marina