Chapter Discussion: Chamber of Secrets Chapter 12, The Polyjuice Potion

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 189063

<snip summary>
1. Did you think the reference to the healing powers of phoenix tears would subsequently prove important?

Carol responds:
Probably, since I tend to watch for foreshadowing. I really don't remember my first reading.

2. Why does Harry not confide in Dumbledore?

Carol:
It's possible that Harry feels slightly guilty or fears that Dumbledore won't approve of his breaking school rules and taking largish risks to discover information that isn't really any of his own business (the implication being that kids can handle the detective work better than the adults--which does happen to be true, but that's JKR for you). But the narrator, IIRC, compares Harry's hesitation to that of Tom Riddle in the diary memory, so maybe the soul bit is influencing him to distrust Dumbledore. (Of course, Harry's reluctance to confide in anyone, sometimes even including Ron and Hermione, is a personality trait that works nicely as a motif or plot device--if only Harry had confided such and such, matters would have turned out differently (but then again, the plot would have been ruined).
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3. Do you think that Harry believes he knows better than anyone else?

Carol:
Sorry. I don't understand the question.
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4. Would Harry have got anywhere in his attempt to hoodwink Malfoy without Hermione's help, knowledge and hard work?

Carol:
Clearly not. Harry doesn't pay attention in Potions and would not have known about Polyjuice Potion, let alone where to find the recipe and ingredients. He wouldn't even have known about Moaning Myrtle's bathroom (or whatever it's called in the British edition) without Hermione.
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5. What reason did you come up with as to why, after all her efforts with the polyjuice potion, with producing the drugged cakes and obtaining the larger robes Harry and Ron would need when reincarnated as Crabbe and Goyle, Hermione apparently decided not to go with the boys?

Carol:
I guess I just thought that she didn't want to be seen looking like Millicent Bulstrode. I certainly didn't anticipate that she'd grown a cat's fur and a tail.
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6. Why do you think Hogwarts students of any one house are apparently not allowed to know the password to the other houses' common rooms?

Carol:
I don't think it's a matter of not being allowed. Theoretically, a student could probably invite a student from another House into his or her common room, which would involve saying the password (or, in the case of the Ravenclaws, answering a riddle). If that happened, though, the password (for the Houses that have one) would probably change immediately afterward for security reasons--i.e., the other student might be untrustworthy, just as boys in general are assumed to be untrustworthy when it comes to entering the girls' dormitory. Slytherins probably wouldn't invite students from other Houses into their common room on principle--never trust anyone who's not one of us. (I don't really understand how the Slytherin password works since there's no equivalent of the Fat Lady. How would the prefects find it out if there's no portrait?)
 
7. If Harry and Ron could see that the polyjuice potion was wearing off, why could not Malfoy see it too?

Carol:
Harry and Ron were probably on the alert, knowing that they were in danger of discovery. Draco, however, had no reason to suspect that anything was wrong.
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8. How likely did you think it was that Madam Pomfrey would not ask "too many questions" when a student turns up having been transformed into an animal? Would she not at least have approached Minerva McGonagall who was the expert in transformation? The only other way we're told of, to transform someone, is Polyjuice Potion. This involves restricted ingredients. Wouldn't it be Madam Pomfrey's duty to follow this up?

Carol responds:
But Polyjuice Potion isn't (normally) used to transform into animals, and students who could transform themselves into animals (e.g., Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail in an earlier generation) would not have informed her or needed her help. Also, Polyjuice Potion is not dangerous and (normally) wears off after about an hour. As for Madam Pomfrey not asking questions, I suspect that it's true. The students are always using magic against each other, and she would not expect them to tell tales on each other. The only exception would probably be if she encountered Dark magic that she couldn't counteract, in which case, she would inform Dumbledore. It would probably be up to him to conduct an investigation (and he would probably send in Snape to heal or stabilize the patient, as he did with Katy Bell).

Carol, who has taken the liberty of numbering the questions