Snape and Polyjuice Potion in CoS

[Kelly Grosskreutz]

No: HPFGUIDX 60449

I was rereading CoS when something popped out at me.  It's in the scene
where Hermione is first telling Harry and Ron about the Polyjuice Potion.  I
had remembered that she said she heard Snape talking about it in Potions
Class a few weeks earlier, which had always intrigued me, but one thing she
also says is that he said it could be found in a book called Moste Potente
Potions in the Restricted Section.  So, I wonder.  Why would he give out all
this information?  This is a second year class.  Why would he be going on
about some potion that is supposedly too advanced for them to make?  Even
more interestingly, why would he actually state exactly where the recipe and
directions for making this recipe can be found?  He did everything but tell
them exactly what shelf and position on that shelf the book could be found.
So what was his purpose?  I somehow can't picture even Dumbledore getting
the inkling that Harry and co. would need to brew up some Polyjuice Potion
to help them find out more about the CoS.  It just seems like one of those
weird things.  I can buy him dropping a mention of the existence of the
Polyjuice Potion, but then to actually go on about where the book with the
recipe for it can be found resides?  Bizarre.  Any thoughts on this?

Kelly Grosskreutz
http://www.idcnet.com/~ivanova