[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape brewing Polyjuice Potion (was: Snape the spy)

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 18234

catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk wrote:

> I'm not saying that I find the whole polyjuice thing plausible with
> regard to Snape, but as to it taking weeks to brew - surely Barty
> Crouch would have some on standby to keep him transformed as Moody? It
> would be good enough, as the hair/part of whoever one wants to
> transform into is only added at the end.

This isn't really a response to this message in particular, but I wanted
to toss out a thought or two. There's a couple real big reasons I don't
think that polyjuicing into anyone would be the brightest thing to do in
trying to fool Voldemort right now. One, the ploy was initially
Voldemort's, or at least he's intimately aware of it, so it's at the
forefront of his mind. Two, it only lasts for an HOUR, don't forget. I
imagine Crouch Jr. would have been in a world of trouble if anyone had
burst in on him for some reason at night. All Voldemort has to do to
check for this particular disguise is lock someone in a room for an hour
and ten minutes. Poof. And more boringly, on the authorial level,
polyjuice has now been a major plot device twice in two books, and I
think JKR will give it a rest.

By the way, this theory, among others, was discussed in a thread a month
or two back--I know one subject line was "Snape's Task" but it got
lengthy and varied. If I were wonderful and had loads of time I'd find
message numbers for you. But it was a long-lasting and productive
thread, well worth looking into.

--Amanda


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]