[HPforGrownups] Re: Arabella Figg & cabbage

[Scott Northrup]

No: HPFGUIDX 49796

Pickle Jimmy wrote:
>If a store dealing in potion ingredients smells of "eggs and rotten
>cabbage", isn't it possible that a person that made a lot of potions
>(or had a lot of potion ingredients around) would have a house with a
>similar smell. And, if one of the major smells in a potion shop
>is "cabbage", maybe many/most potions have that flavour.

Janet wrote:
> But if so, then during their experience in a) Potions class and b) Snape's
> office, wouldn't Harry or Hermione have noticed a cabbage smell? Or even a
> cabbage smell around Snape, to match the charm of his greasy hair?

Me:

The hypothesis that cabbage juice implies polyjuice potion, and vice versa,
is flawed.  By that logic, Crouch!Moody's office in GoF should smell like
cabbage, and probably Crouch!Moody himself.  However, as far as I know (I
don't have the books with me, but I do not recall any instance in which
Crouch!Moody is related with a cabbage smell), this is not the case.  Thus,
the hypothesis that polyjuice potion implies a cabbage smell is clearly
wrong.  Of course, you can't really apply precise logic to works of fiction
(you can try, but the outcome won't always be right), and JKR only knows if
any mention of cabbage smell implies polyjuice potion.

Personally, I'd say that any reference to an object/person/place smelling
like cabbage will only imply one thing: that the object/person/place in
question smells like cabbage.  (Especially when you take into account that
the reference n CoS, "Pinching his nose, Harry drank the potion down in two
large gulps. It tasted like overcooked cabbage." doesn't even relate cabbage
smell to polyjuice potion, it relates cabbage taste to polyjuice potion.  I
know that's nitpicking, but it still should be taken into account.  And if
there is another quote that actually relates the smell, well, I don't have
my books with me.)

-Scott
(if that sounds strange, I was in the middle of my math homework, so sue me.
:D )