Polyjuice!Arabella and other Polydoubts

[Morgan D.]

No: HPFGUIDX 53181

Replying to my post on Arabella and Polyjuice, Pippin said:
> I have another to add to the mix. Doesn't it seem a mite 
> suspicious that we have two sets of twins in Harry's generation 
> (the Patils and the Weasleys) and none for the Marauder years?

And I (Morgan D.) frown and answer:
Ahn... no, not really. I dont know what are the statistics for twins,
but even if they say there MUST be a set of twins at the Marauder
years, its not like we know that many people from those days. There
might have been tons of twins. 


Pippin reminded us:
> Now in fan fiction it's usually Remus who has a twin, the 
> Romulus/Remus connection being irresistable, 

And of course, Mrs Lupin was a Seer, to name her kids like that. 


And Pippin suggested:
> but here's an alternative:
> What if Arabella Figg and Mrs. Lestrange are twins? We don't 
> have a maiden name for either of them, do we? Suppose that 
> Quirrell kidnapped Mrs. Figg and smuggled her into Azkaban, 
> swapping her for Mrs. Lestrange, who then took Mrs. Figg's 
> place in Little Whinging? 

Maybe Quirrell and Figg swapped places: Mrs Figg was the one Voldemort
used to try to get the Philosophers Stone, and Quirrell is living
peacefully in Little Whinging, taking care of Mrs Figgs cats? ^__^


> There'd be no need for polyjuice if the women are twins. As for 
> the cabbage-y smell...aging potion? 

Then why didnt Fred and George smell of cabbage when they tried to put
their names in the Goblet? (GoF ch16) 


> Mrs Lestrange may indeed have made more than one attempt to 
> harm Harry (the funny tasting chocolate cake comes to mind) but 
> been thwarted by the protections Voldemort speaks of. And how 
> would he know they're so potent if he hasn't tested them? 

Now that would be the perfect end for the HP series: Voldemort kills
Harry with bad chocolate cakes made by Mrs Figg -- or whoever she is.
An ending no one predicted besides us, from the HPfGU! @_@


Later, Pippin added:
> Also, a young (and attractive?) woman living on her own in a 
> suburban neighborhood like Privet Drive would attract a lot more 
> attention from snoopy neighbors like Petunia than an elderly 
> widow in the same circumstances.

I'm not so sure about that. Isn't she a witch pretending to be muggle?
Tell me, which would you suspect to be a witch: a young, attractive
woman or a mad old lady living with dozens of cats?

Unless that US show about the three young witches ("Charmed"?) has
completely annihilated witch lore in Britain...


And Kary concluded:
> I have a hard time going with all that polyjuice for such a long time

> just to impersonate an older person - I'd go with the later reply 
> (orry I can't remember after reading so many who said it.) - just use

> an agining potion whenever you expect to see Harry which I'm sure 
> wasn't very often. 

But that is the point: why are we so sure that Mrs Figg is anything BUT
an old woman? The only hint that she might be something else that I
could find was the cabbage smell (arguably implying the use of
Polyjuice), and even that doesn't seem to make much sense. 


And David wrote:
> One possibility is that Polyjuice only works as long as the person 
> being mimicked is alive. I think there must be some sort of magical 
> connection to the person: for example, how does Moody's hair contain 
> the information that he has a missing leg? We can speculate under 
> this possibility what would happen to a Polyjuice disguise if the 
> original suffers injury or death while the disguise is in force.

Oops... you have a point. This is more than simple DNA if Moodys hair
is aware of his injuries. But as Errol also pointed out in his post,
Barty Jr didn't suffer with Moody's confinement in that trunk, so there
can't be a direct link. And if Moody's health doesn't affect Barty's,
why would his death be a problem?


And Errol theorized: 
> I tend to think you get a version of 
> the person as of the moment you "stole" some of their
> essence. Which is why Barty would have had to set aside his supply of

> MoodyHair before Moody became thin & starved

Yeah, but didn't Crabbe and Goyle got drugged before Ron and Harry got
samples of their hair? Wouldn't they have felt groggy then?


And David wrote also:
> I agree that the timescale is very tight for the whole Moody kidnap 
> sub-plot, and it stretches credibility. Why did Voldemort leave it 
> so late? However, perhaps the wording of Crouch's confession may 
> just indicate his very strong identification with Voldemort and his 
> gang. So, we can interpret this passage along the lines 
> of: "Wormtail and I kidnapped Moody. We the conspirators had 
> already prepared the potion."

Yeah, that could work. I doubt it was what JKR had in mind when she
wrote those lines, but your interpretation would save her from my
accusing math. Good point.


Morgan D.
Hogwarts Letters - http://www.hogwartsletters.hpg.com.br

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