The Potion in the Cave Possibly Revealed (Re: Dumbledore MAY be alive....)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 150117

Rebecca wrote:
> Glowing green, hmmmm.  Now that glow could be magical to the objects
for whatever reason, and the chain and boat don't appear to be a
memory. While I can almost accept the idea of a poisoned memory, I
could combine a poisonous DLD potion and a memory together and come up
with some intriguing ideas, first of which is that perhaps the potion
DD drank isn't the same as the one Regulus Black had to drink. More on
that in a minute, but before I forget, you quoted the word "misty" in
reference to the potion basin in the cave and I didn't quite get that.
 Since the boat glowed and the chain glowed and the potion glowed,
seems they all glowed not because of memory but because of a magical
spell. Did you mean that in reference of misty to the Pensieve 
instead? A phosphorescent glow is different from a mist to me. I am
confused because I was able to find that word describing the cave's
potion basin, unless you've a British version of the HBP book which
has it and my US one doesn't.  Kindly steer me straight :)

Carol responds:

I have the American edition, but I think they're identical for this
chapter. Here's the reference:

"A misty greenish light shone far away in what looked like the mid­dle
of the lake; it was reflected in the completely still water below"
(HBP Am. ed. 560), repeated after DD says that he thinks the Horcrux
is in the middle: "And Dumbledore pointed toward the misty green light
in the center of the lake" (562).

I agree that the phosphorescent glow of the *copper* chain (copper is
associated with green) and the boat is related to the same death magic
as the potion, but *mist* coming from a Pensievelike basin (see the
quote to this effect in my post) *and* DD's nightmarelike state
suggests to me that he's reliving someone else's memories (maybe Tom
Sr.'s, but I don't want to get into that here.) But yes, the double
reference to the light as "misty" in combination with the description
of the basin as resembling a Pensieve is what gave me the idea that
the potion in the basin combines a poison with a memory of someone 
being tortured and begging to be killedm hence my term, "poisoned memory."

Also the DLD, as I understand it, induces a deathlike sleep, a sleep
so deep that it can be mistaken for death. (Think Snow White, as I  
said before.)It wouldn't (IMO) burn the drinker's insides, torturing
them with thirst and maybe a feeling that their entrails are on fire.
(I'm reminded of the wolf that swallows the Silmaril in "The
Silmarillion.")
> 

> Rebecca:
<snip> 
If so,  Regulus was a wizard smart and powerful enough to figure out 
> all of this:
> 
> - the Horcrux secret,
> - the location (cave)
> - the boat (about which DD professes Voldemort would have been
reasonably confident that none but a very great wizard would have been
able to find it)
> - have enough magical power to get across the lake in the boat
(again, DD states "Voldemort will not have cared about the weight, but
about the amount of magical power that crossed his lake")
> - drank the potion  (DD again "He would want to keep them alive long
enough to find out how they managed to penetrate so far through his
de­fenses and, most importantly of all, why they were so intent upon
emptying the basin.) - got the locket and replaced it, apparently
(from OoP: "......a heavy locket that none of them could open" - and
this is only IF the one referenced in OoP is really Slytherin's locket)

Carol responds:

I don't think that Regulus figured it all out. As I've argued in
another post several months back, I think he overheard Bellatrix, who
had "borrowed" Kreacher to help her place the potion in the cave and
perhaps followed them, then ordered Kreacher to help  him get into the
cave himself. He made Kreacher drink the potion, permanently addling
his brains.

At any rate, Regulus was a kid, nineteen at the very oldest when he
died, and we have no indication that he was exceptionally brilliant
except Slughorn's casual reference to wanting to "collect the set." I
don't see how he could have created such an evil potion himself, not
to mention that if he was a good guy, he wouldn't use Voldemort's own
brand of Dark magic. 

Carol, fighting her space bar this morning andhopingshewon't havetobuy
awhole new keyboard