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

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 189239


> Jeanine
> 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?



Potioncat:
Thanks for the discussion!

Madam Pomfrey is a puzzle--she seems a cross between a school nurse and the matron at a boarding school. (Geoff, is that the right word?) She isn't a Healer--I can't remember if she's called a Mediwitch or if that is fanfic. We have no way of knowing if a Healer ever comes to see the patients on the ward. Certainly it hasn't happened when Harry is there. We do know that Snape prepared certain potions for her and that he wast he one who treated the injuries caused by Dark Magic.

Would she keep a secret? Would she avoid asking questions? It seems the cultural norm for the WW, doesn't it? And I think she would. If anyone here has reached the stage in life where your teenaged adult children have gone to the doctor, you know how tight lipped the medical profession can be on issues of privacy. I wasn't even allowed to make the phone call to make the appointment at one office. (They were quick to take my check though.)

But I think she would keep mum just so students would come when they had a problem. Knowing she would take care of them, and not get them in trouble would be important. 

But we don't know if Hermione ever told her about the potion, do we? Or if Hermione ever told  her about the curse on the parchment that scarred whats-her-name. Knowing the cause is half the cure.