Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts

[jenjar2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 93021

I searched the list for anything on this topic and can't seem to find 
any posts like it but forgive me if I missed one and please feel free 
to direct me to the info...

I think while Sirius was living in the House of Black Kreacher may 
have been slipping him a Confusing or Befuddlement Draught.  On page 
383 in OoP it reads,

"Midnight came and went while Harry was reading and rereading a 
passage about the uses of scurvy-grass, lovage, and sneezewort and 
not taking in a word of it....
     These plantes are moste efficacious in the inflaming of the 
braine, and are therefore much used in Confusing and Befuddlement 
Draughts, where the wizard is desirous of producing hot-headedness 
and recklessnes....
Hermione said Sirius was becoming reckless cooped up in Grimmauld 
Place...."

JKR continues to repeat parts of this description intermingled with 
Harry's thoughts as he's falling asleep.

We know that Kreacher was probably gone from the house most of 
Christmas time and coincidentally Sirius' mood lightened 
significantly - of course most would assume this is because he is 
happy to have Harry and company staying for the Holiday but I think 
not.

Then, on page 516 after Sirius "finds" Kreacher in the attic, near 
the end of the Christmas vacation, It reads,

"Harry did not mention his vague suspicions to Sirius, whose 
cheerfulness was evaporating fast now that Christmas was over.  As 
the date of their departure back to Hogwarts drew nearer, he became 
more and more prone to what Mrs. Weasley called 'fits of the 
sullens,' in which he would become taciturn and grumpy, often 
withdrawing to Buckbeak's room for hours at a time.  His gloom seeped 
through the house, oozing under doorways like some noxious gas, so 
that all of them became infected by it."

The description of Sirius' mood even sounds poisonous.  Also at the 
end of the book Dumbledore tells Harry he blames himself for Sirus' 
death because he did not fully appreciate how hard it was for Sirius 
to stay trapped in Grimauld Place.  But, if Sirius mood was being 
altered by some draught that Kreacher was slipping him without 
Sirius' knowledge, that would explain his less than wise decisions 
and sometimes seemingly out of character actions. 

Anyone?