The green liquid in the basin

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 165709

-- <snipped all of Pippin's preceeding, but you'll see it again ;) >
> 
> > Mike previously:
> > Next, DD says "... this potion is supposed to be drunk." Huh? How
> > does the potion know that it's being taken out a cupfull at a time
> > and being drunk? Conjure a pail and pour it into that! Don't 
> > drink the stuff! Where's the logic that DD "can only conclude" 
> > that drinking isthe solution?
> 
> Pippin:
> Because that's what you do with potions! Clearly Voldemort put the
> potion there as a challenge, like the protections around the Stone. 
> He would have arranged it so that there wasn't any simple way of
> retrieving the locket otherwise. 
> 
> JKR could have had Dumbledore make more than a cursory effort
> to confirm this, but that would be rather dull for us readers, 
> seeing as how in the end he's bound to drink the potion so the 
> story can take its course.

Mike:
Exactly my point. JKR needed Dumbledore to drink that potion, whether 
or not it makes sense from a logical readers point of view. 
Therefore, boring or not, she's not going to put any effort into 
showing Dumbledore exploring other avenues. She needs him to *drink* 
that potion, not make it go away.

BTW, the more I think on it, the more I'm convinced that Voldemort 
didn't put the locket in the cave nor did he transform the potion. 
I'm convinced that was all Bellatrix Black-Lestrange. Red Hen turned 
me on to the concept that the cave, the lake, and the basin are 
probably ancient; Going back to Merlin's time or before. She also 
explained that the cave reeks of being a *Womans Place* with the 
blood-payment symbolism et al. It follows for me that it would be 
Bella who exploited the cave for her/LV's twisted purposes.

It could be that Voldemort made some preparatory changes then 
instructed Bella to put the locket there. The problem with that is 
then why give the locket to Bella in the first place? No, I think 
that Voldemort had been to the cave, had made the little boat to get 
to the island (then subsequently hid it), and found out what was 
originally in the basin. 

It was much later in his career, after he made the Hxes that he gave 
the locket to Bella, told her where to hide it and instructed her to 
protect it by transforming whatever was originally in the basin into 
something that would protect the locket. But I think the green liquid 
was all Bella. And I think those tortured memories come from her, 
whether they are hers or those of people she tortured and extracted 
the memories from. The first time I read those utterances, to me, 
they sounded like they came from a woman. In fact, they sound eerily 
similar to what Lily said to Voldemort, "Not Harry, please no, take 
me, kill me instead -" (PoA p.179, US ed.)

Mike, who thinks this whole cave incident was one giant red herring 
on JKR's part but is nonetheless interesting magic to discuss and 
explore.