Sirius, Snape, and befuddlement draughts.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 113100

"arienastera" wrote:
<snip>
> > Could Snape have given Sirius a potion to make him more reckless 
> > than normal?  I know anyone would get bored cooped up that long, 
> but  surely even he knows when to draw the line?  JKR seems to 
> emphasize  that Potions Text bit, so maybe we're supposed to look at
it more  than just "Harry's tired, he's allowed to be distracted this
late".
<snip>
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Hi, yep, I think it was discussed, but what stops us from doing it 
> again? :o)
> 
> I think more or less general consensus was that Kreacher MAY have 
> slipped the Potion to Sirius, although even that is not clear yet.
> 
> I am hoping that Snape did not do it, because that would mean that 
> he is really partially to blame for Sirius' death and I don't want 
> to think that Snape revenge can go THAT FAR.
> 
> Although, you never know with JKR, of course. :)

Carol:
There's also the view, in which I don't think I'm alone, that Sirius
doesn't need a potion to make him reckless and hot-headed. Note that
his behavior is perfectly in keeping with slashing the portrait and
bedcurtains in PoA. Even though he seems more reasonable and normal in
GoF, he's also free (even though he's in dog form and eating rats part
of the time). In OoP, he's confined in the house he hates, incapable
of helping the Order, stuck with his mother's portrait and Kreacher
for company. No wonder he drinks and no wonder he disregards Snape's
advice to stay put and wait for Dumbledore rather than going to the
MoM. Even if Snape, who never eats at GP or stays after a meeting, had
the opportunity to give him such a potion and could do so without his
knowing it, there's no need for a potion to explain Sirius's behavior.
That house plus the memory of Azkaban plus Sirius's natural
temperament equals clinical depression or something very like it. You
can add to that being deprived of Harry's company just as he's getting
to know him. What Sirius needs is to go back to that tropical island
and wait till the Order calls him, but he'd probably be anxious and
depressed even there.

As for Kreacher, how could he find the recipe for that obscure potion,
not to mention the necessary ingredients and a cauldron? And a potion
has to be watched and timed and stirred exactly the right number of
times--with a wand, if I'm not mistaken. I'm not sure that anyone
other than a wizard can brew a potion, especially a complicated one,
and there's no way he could do so without Sirius catching him in any case.

Again, it seems to me, people are searching for an explanation when
none is needed beyond the character and the situation. As for that
potion being detailed, maybe it will come up in Snape's class and
Harry or Hermione will find a use for it. But I think it's needlessly
complicating matters to infer its presence in this instance.

Carol, who would not want to spend so much as a minute alone in the
Black mansion