Is Lupin good at potions was Re: Is Snape

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 119532


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nkafkafi" 
<nkafkafi at y...> wrote:

> 
> It is reasonable to suppose that Lupin completed a Potions 
NEWT with  a good grade: he is intelligent, was probably a good 
student (a  prefect and a "good boy" who started studying for the 
Transfiguration  OWL minutes after getting out of the DADA 
exam) and he had a strong  study group. He also has the 
disposition for Potions: quiet, patient,  subtle and motivated. In 
fact, in the Pensive scene 15 yrs old Remus seems to be more 
patient and subtle than 15 yrs old Severus. For all  we know, he 
could have got a better grade in his Potions NEWT than  Snape 
did.
> 
> Even if Lupin isn't "much of a potion brewer", he has very good 
 reasons to make an exception and invest a lot of effort in 
learning  how to brew the Wolfsbane Potion. He cannot always 
rely on expert  Potions Masters brewing it for him. The price is 
likely to be high  and he doesn't appear to be wealthy. He is a 
member of an outcast  minority and might not want to reveal 
what he is in every new place  he arrives at. He is also a 
member of an underground organization  that at times was on 
the run from both DEs and the Ministry.

 If  indeed only a small number of potions masters can brew the 
Wolfsbane Potion, and Lupin must get his potion every month 
from one of them,  this means that it would be very easy to track 
Lupin down, no matter  how well he is hiding. 

Pippin:

I was agreeing with you (!) up to this point. Lupin  does not have 
to take his potion at all if there is a safe place he can go to 
transform, or if there is an animagus whose presence can 
comfort and control him.  

You adduce good reasons that Lupin might want to learn to 
make the potion himself. However potion-making is not simply a 
matter of being careful and studious, or even Muggles could do 
it. Wizards seem to be naturally skilled at some magical arts 
more than others -- Hermione, for all she studies, is nowhere 
near as good at DADA as Harry.   Neville is not nearly the 
disaster in other classes that he is at potion-making, even 
before Snape says anything hostile to him.

If the ingredients are rare, controlled or expensive, it might be 
difficult for Lupin to get hold of them, and the learning process 
itself would be costly. This is a different situation than illegal 
drugs, where there is a huge mark-up between the price of the 
raw materials and the street value, so do-it-yourself would pay. 

Also, there is the matter of the disguised wizard in the Hogs 
Head who gave Hagrid the dragon's egg in Book One. This 
wizard can't have been much of a potion-maker, or he would 
have used polyjuice instead. Lupin's lack of ability  may be  a 
clue that he was the wizard in the Hogs Head.

Pippin