[HPforGrownups] Re: Polyjuice Potions... Dead or alive?

[Odile Falaise]

No: HPFGUIDX 59259

Becky ("gopotter2004") wrote:
<<<Now, I realize that Crouch, Jr. had to keep Moody
alive to get hair and ask him questions and such like
that. But was it indeed necessary to keep him alive in
a potion sense? Couldn't you just keep a few finger
nails (already dead anyway) of anyone dead, and pop
them in for a quick-use potion? >>>

<snippage>

Then Peg wrote:
<<<That's something I've wondered about, too. When
Moody was found alive in the trunk, I was surprised
(not the only thing that I found surprising--I've
eaten large meals of red herring).

<<<The Polyjuice Potion only affects a person's
appearance. So, it *seems* that the hair of a dead
person *ought* to work. For someone who doesn't find
handling a corpse too creepy, that might be a solution
to the problem of taking someone else's place, without
the risk of the other person wandering into the room.
That makes for awkward questions at parties.>>>

And now moi, Odile, chiming in with:
Let me start off by saying: ewwwww!!  But yeah, I
thought that was weird too, that Moody was alive all
along in Moody!Crouch Jr.'s trunk.  However, since
Moody!Crouch had the trunk with him at Hogwarts,
imagine the horrific stench that a rotting corpse
wouold produce.  He would have certainly attracted
some unwanted attention!  (ewwww!)

Then Peg went on:

<<<Maybe Voldemort's intention was to have Peter and
Junior kill Moody and use his corpse's hair. Barty
realized he couldn't impersonate Moody without keeping
him alive for questioning, so he stuffed him in the
trunk rather than doing him in. That, I think, is
going to be one of the mistakes that leads to
Voldemort's downfall. As I read somewhere (long, long
ago), "Never leave a living enemy behind you.">>>

Me again (Odile):

Another good point.  That saying brings to mind
another saying (I know it from the X-Files, though I
have a feeling that Deep Throat wasn't the first to
say it): "Keep your friends close, and your enemies
closer."  You can't get all that much closer than a
foot locker!  ^_~

Odile,  going to bed now....