[HPforGrownups] A theory of Lupin's transformation

[Maria Kirilenko]

No: HPFGUIDX 51026


 Irene Mikhlin <irene_mikhlin at btopenworld.com> wrote:
We went many times through all the explanations as for how Lupin could 
have forgotten his potion and was not reminded by Hermione's guess or 
even by the prank memories. And frankly, none of the explanations was 
completely satisfactory. I believe this theory was not presented before, 
so here it goes:
Let's start with the episode in the "Flight of the fat lady" chapter
(p.118 of UK hardcover):
"I made an entire cauldronful", Snape continued. "If you need more".
It follows that the potion dose is not fixed, and that Lupin somehow can 
determine the correct dose by himself. How he does it? It might be some 
physical characteristic, but more interesting would be if the dose of 
the potion is determined by his emotional state.
The whole year Lupin makes a point of being perfectly polite and nice to 
everyone. What if the potion is counteracted by patient's feelings of 
anger, hate, murderous rage or similar dark emotions? That would explain 
his transformation without making Lupin senile or in deep denial about 
his illness. During that evening he experienced some hard feelings 
towards Black, then Pettigrew and finally Snape - probably enough to 
neutralize twice his normal dose.

So how was that for Lupin's apology? :-)


Me:

You know, I'm first to defend Lupin if anything :-), but I don't think your theory works, although it's very interesting. Snape *says* to Lupin in the Shrieking Shack that he'd forgotten to take his potion.

I think that "I made an entire cauldronful", Snape continued. "If you need more" can be explained thus:

Suppose Lupin accidentally knocks over the goblet with the potion - anything can happen. If Snape makes just enough potion for 7 gobletfuls, Lupin is in trouble. So Snape makes extra, and tells Lupin about it just in case.

But I don't think Lupin really needs that apology. *Everybody* in the Shrieking Shack behaved strangely. I never, ever thought that Harry would seriously contemplate *murdering* somebody, and I certainly never thought I'd see such irrational actions and words from Snape. That whole scene was almost grotesque, really. I can just imagine - a greenish Ron with his leg stuck out at a strange angle, trying to contain a bony balding rat that keeps squeaking and biting,  Hermione just standing there, not knowing what to do, Sirius Black-the-escaped-convict-with-an-Edmond-Dantes-look-about-him, lying on the floor with a huge orange cat with hair standing on end like it's been electrocuted on his chest, and The Boy Who Lived pointing his wand at him. That alone would make anyone forget whatever other important things they might have in mind. Add to it the just-acquired knowledge that one of your friends who you had thought was dead is in fact alive, and that the escaped convict friend is about to be blasted apart by the son of your yet another friend is innocent, and then just toss in Snape's later promises about getting a good-night kiss from a couple of dementors... 

But of course you've heard all that before... :)

I don't hesitate to say, however, that Lupin *should* have remembered about the full moon, especially since Snape himself reminded Lupin of the potion he needed to take when they were having that jolly one-sided conversation in the Shack, but I can understand it and I do forgive him.

Regards,

Maria



---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now

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