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

[jelly92784]

No: HPFGUIDX 189065

Questions
 
1. Did you think the reference to the healing powers of phoenix tears would subsequently prove important?

Janelle:
Since this is only the second book, probably not.  I don't really remember, but I'm guessing that I hadn't quite realized how important those little details could be!
 
2. Why does Harry not confide in Dumbledore?

Janelle:
He doesn't trust him yet.  At this point Dumbledore is still this elusive, powerful headmaster who Harry has had very little contact with and is still slightly in awe of.  He doesn't yet know that Dumbledore is on his side.

3. Do you think that Harry believes he knows better than anyone else?

Janelle: I'm not sure if you're asking about in this particular chapter or just in general, but I would say no, he doesn't necessarily think he knows better than *anyone* else, just some people!

4. Would Harry have got anywhere in his attempt to hoodwink Malfoy without Hermione's help, knowledge and hard work?
 
Janelle: Probably not.  As someone else pointed out he almost definitely would not have come up with the polyjuice potion plan.  I'm sure he would've come up with something but I don't have a lot of confidence that it would have worked.  Look at how his attempt at spying on Draco at the beginning of HBP worked, and that was several years later...

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?
 
Janelle: I don't remember my initial thoughts, but I'm guessing that I just assumed something had gone wrong with the potion.  In hindsight, it's probably better that she didn't go.  I'm not so sure Draco would've been so quick to open up with Millicent around, even if she is in Slytherin.  It's possible that he might've bragged (like he did at the wall) in such a way as to convince the trio that he *was* Slytherin's heir.

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?
 
Janelle: Probably for security reasons.  If I were Harry or Ron I know I wouldn't want Draco and the other Slytherins to have access to my room!  And at times like this book, with the heir on the loose, it's better to be able to control who has access to what parts of the castle.

7. If Harry and Ron could see that the polyjuice potion was wearing off, why could not Malfoy see it too?
 
Janelle: Like others have said, he wasn't aware that anything odd was going on so he wasn't looking for his friends' features to change.  Adding to that, he was going on about his father and the heir of Slytherin, probably not paying much attention to his friends anyway (other than as admirers of himself).

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?

Janelle: I think it's pretty realistic for her not to go running to Dumbledore every time a student comes in with an unusual injury.  In a school full of young witches and wizards I'm sure they're practicing and trying new things all the time (either for class or experimenting on their own).  It's possible for students to get seriously hurt and they need to be able to go to Madam Pomfrey for the help they need without fearing getting in trouble.  There would probably be much worse results from these accidents if the kids didn't trust Madam Pomfrey.