The Polyjuice Potion and Mrs Crouch in Azkaban

[butagirl at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29694

I have just finished re-reading GoF, and came across a point I hadn't noticed 
before.

When Mrs Crouch takes her son's place in Azkaban, she uses Polyjuice potion 
to disguise herself as young Barty, and Crouch tells us that she continues to 
take the potion until the end. We know from Dumbledore that she would need to 
take it on the hour, every hour, for the potion to remain effective. However, 
we also know from Crouch Jr that she was buried with his appearance.

This leaves us with several possibilities:

1) If the potion wears off after an hour then the Dementors would have to 
have found Mrs Crouch's body and buried it within an hour of the last time 
she took the potion. Unlikely. 

I would also assume that Crouch Sr and any other mourners would be informed 
before a funeral took place (although for Prisoners of Azkaban, this may not 
apply).

2) If the potion wears off upon death, the Dementors, being  blind, do not 
see a difference. However, this would mean that the Dementors would have to 
have buried the body without anyone else being present. In this case, how 
does Crouch Jr know that the body bore his appearance? The Dementors were not 
likely to tell him anything.

3) That the potion remains in the body at death and the body's appearance 
does not revert to its former state.

Thoughts anyone?

Sharon Brindle