Did Snape set up the Pensieve scene?

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 169583

lizzyben04 wrote:
> He's reading this as part of an assignment from Snape.  The quote is
> repeated TWICE, as Harry wonders if the potion might be used against
> Sirius. Again, why go into detail about a potion if it didn't have
> some relevance to the events of the novel? This is virtually the only
> time that the novel directly quotes from a textbook. Why? I think this
> was a clue - so readers could combine the description of a "confusing
> & befuddlement draught" w/later descriptions of Montague as "confused
> & disoriented." Snape knows how to brew "confusing draughts", and was
> one of the first to discover Montague; Montague is confused &
> disoriented for months, while he's being fed a blue potion. What if
> that potion was the "confusing draught?" That would actually explain
> Montague's symptoms. He's apparently confused throughout this time - I
> don't know when he told Draco this "great story," - perhaps on the
> train home? Maybe he was only befuddled while at the clinic until the
> MOM plan could take place? I dunno.

Miles:
I think this idea is reasonable. There might be other explanations, but I
agree that it's unlikely to think that the description of the potion and the
scene showing Montague taking a potion while he is confused are
coincidential.

lizzyben04 wrote:
> I actually tend to think that Snape is on the good side, but this
> incident nags at me, & almost convinces me that Snape planned this
> out.

Why Snape?
It was Madame Pomfrey who gave him the potion. She is the Healer at
Hogwarts. That means, she is not just a nurse that obeys the orders of a
doctor (I know real nurses do much more, but I don't want to write an
excursus on that here ;) ). I doubt very much that other people, not even
Snape would usually interfere with her treatment of people in the hospital
wing.
Now - what do we know about Madame Pomfrey? Could she possibly be a DE, or
imperiused?
Or could she act on someone else's orders, maybe Dumbledore's, who wants to
keep information secret, which is not necessary anymore after the MoM
incident, so the confusement ends then?

Many possible explanations without Snape, or without an ESE!Snape.

Miles