Wolfsbane Dosing (was: Neville/Wolfsbane/Fluffy/Filk/Snape/Time Travel)

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 169463

 
> JW:
> I've always wondered why Snape made a cauldronful (however much that 
> is) when it is best used when fresh.  Either there is an awful lot of 
> wasted potion, or perhaps Hogwarts has several werewolves.
>

Neri:
The Goblet of potion Snape brings Lupin is still smoking, and Snape
says that Lupin should drink it right away, yet he has made an entire
cauldronful if Lupin needs more. Presumably this means that as long as
the potion is kept boiling in its cauldron over the fire it is still
good, but once it was taken from the cauldron it loses it potency
relatively quickly and therefore should be drunk right away.

As to why an entire cauldron is needed - no available data. I find it
quite possible that Snape's cauldron is of the small kind and doesn't
contain much more than seven goblets. We can also hypothesize
additional werewolves at Hogwarts although in such a case I doubt
Lupin's addition would be that controversial. 

Pharmacologists would know that sometimes you prepare more than you
really need because of precision considerations. For example, if the
recipe says you must not use more than 0.001 ounces of aconite powder
per goblet, but the minimum weight your scale can precisely measure is
0.1 ounce, then you'd better prepare a total amount for 100 goblets
even if you don't need all of them, or you'd embarrass yourself by
killing your patient. But I kind of doubt JKR would be aware of that,
and IIRC she wrote PoA before she married a doctor.


Neri, who swore off Potterverse Lycanthropy some time ago