mainly HBP musings - the potion in the cave

[kennahijja]

Ah, Christmas is over! Hope you all had a good and not too stressful time! Ours was nice, relaxed and enjoyable, and I spent an hour on the phone to my best friend in the US on the 25th (after 1am, but... shudders at thought of phone bill). Still, it left me lots of time with fanfic in front of the computer, and curled up with HBP in bed. Which means a substantial fic rec post should be forthcoming tonight :).

But while re-reading HBP (and after mulling over Horcrux traps for the recent fic), something occurred to me about the potion Harry and Dumbledore encounter in the Cave in HBP...

In HBP, the Horcrux is at the bottom of the basin, and Dumbledore concludes:

"But how to reach it? This potion cannot be penetrated by hand, Vanished, parted, scooped up, or siphoned away, nor can it be Transfigured, Charmed, or otherwise made to change its nature." Almost absentmindedly, Dumbledore raised his wand again, twirled it once in midair, and then caught the crystal goblet that he had conjured out of nowhere. "I can only conclude that this potion is supposed to be drunk."
"What?" said Harry. "No!"
"Yes, I think so: Only by drinking it can I empty the basin and see what lies in its depths."

And then:

Before Harry could make any further protest, Dumbledore lowered the crystal goblet into the potion. For a split second, Harry hoped that he would not be able to touch the potion with the goblet, but the crystal sank into the surface as nothing else had; when the glass was full to the brim, Dumbledore lifted it to his mouth. "Your good health, Harry."

So... if the potion can be scooped out by goblet, why does Dumbledore *drink* the stuff? Why not empty the goblet on the floor or something? I'm sure this has been discussed by someone before, but I just wonder... Anyone encountered any theories?

Comments

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

You're right, actually my problem is twofold: why he can scoop out the potion in a goblet at all, and then *if* he can, why he does drink it... I would assume the potion has some magical qualities that might be accessible upon the 'intent' to drink, but that would make it not only psychic, but also semi-sentinent, wouldn't it? (not to mention that making it *totally* inaccessible would protect the Horcrux...)

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

Well it's partly a Plot Device of Doom but we don't know much about Morcruxes (Horcruxi), so you could fudge it a bit and make it so that part of the spell is that it has to be accessible in some way in case you want your soul back. You could make it as difficult as you like to gain access but there has to be some way of gaining access.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

That's an excellent point! And for someone like Voldemort, it would be dead easy to bring along a captured enemy (or fanatic devotee) to take care of the drinking. I'm still curious why Dumbledore did not even try to pour out the stuff to see if it was possible... (or perhaps - as always - he knew more about it than he let on...)

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

He probably knows more than he let on to Harry and knew that it couldn't be just poured away. Then any sort of sea life swimming along could accidently knock the bowl over and the point of actually hiding your soul away would be completely lost.

The diary in CoS was a Horucrux and when Ginny tried to flush it down the loo, it wouldn't go, so it's probably the same sort of idea.

[moltensulfur.livejournal.com]

The diary in CoS was a Horucrux and when Ginny tried to flush it down the loo, it wouldn't go, so it's probably the same sort of idea.

This just made me laugh and has nothing to do with the overall conversation. I just had to ask if you've ever tried to flush a diary down the toilet? Horcrux or not, I think it would be very difficult. Keys no, diary, yes.

[magic-at-mungos.livejournal.com]

Magic toilet? :) It's the catcall argument when you realised you've made a bit of an idoit of yourself.

[siamkatze.livejournal.com]

> I'm still curious why Dumbledore did not even try to pour out the stuff to see if it was possible... (or perhaps - as always - he knew more about it than he let on...)

I'm still convinced that the potion itself is the Horcrux. DD knew this, that's why he insisted on drinking it (and ALL of it), and later making sure he got himself killed (and so effectively destroying that Horcrux).

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting theory! Although then I wonder what exactly RAB carried off and was so smug about... Still, it would be a brilliant double-cross on Voldemort's part - I like it (just as I've always loved the theory that the 'Chosen One' is really Neville, and Dumbledore just played up Harry as a decoy...).

[siamkatze.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I like that one as well! One of my favorite theories. I doubt JKR would take away the glory from Harry, though. Too bad.

Here is my blog post where I wrote about the Horcrux theory, but it's pretty much the same as I just wrote here. RAB of course didn't know the potion was the Horcrux - he thought it was the locket, when the locket was actually the decoy in this case.

[chthonya]

I would assume the potion has some magical qualities that might be accessible upon the 'intent' to drink

That's what I would have thought. It wouldn't have to be sentient though - perhaps if it's poured onto the ground it reappears in the basin, and only by passing through the body is it kept 'out'.

No idea why he didn't make it completely inaccessible, though! As MaM says, perhaps we have to assume that some accessibility is part of the magic.

And now I'm wondering how RAB got there, if two people were needed...

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

And now I'm wondering how RAB got there, if two people were needed...
Oh, oh, I wanted to rec this tonight, but if you have five minutes, *don't* pass this up. Because it just answers your question :).

[chthonya]

Thanks for the link - awesome writing of the sort that makes me feel v inadequate!

I'm still not sure how both of them got across the lake, though. Unless RAB was underaged at the time? I haven't figured through the timelines.