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

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

apologies for repost; I hate messing up html codes

What I have a problem with - if RAB also drank the potion (the theory surely would be that no one's cleverer than Dumbledore, so if RAB had a better way of getting to the locket, my, Dumbledore's slipping, or JKR is being careless yet again) - then how come the locket's covered with potion again?

If Tom hasn't been back to check (and obviously he hasn't, or that taunting message would have been destroyed in a spectacular fit of pique), is there some spell on the bowl that causes the potion to renew itself/ bowl to refill, once the bowl's emptied?

Thinking around this issue makes my head hurt: your question, mine, and others. In the event, the Inferi weren't much of a threat either, were they? All you need is a boat and due care.

They're just there for the scary - like the information in chapter 1 that the mists were due to Dementors mating, which never came up again (naughty JKR), which I hope someone will run with some day. (Charting the incidence of Dementors in the British Isles by weather records back to Roman times? Heh, it wasn't a little ice age when the Thames froze over a couple of times in Elizabeth I's reign after all. And the greater warmth in Edwardian times - which has caused so many external water pipes on houses built then to crack from freezing up, many mid-century on winters since - is clearly due to some great wizard getting rid of them. Y'know, I like this theory. It might absolve Australia and the USA from getting on board with the Kyoto agreement.)

I need an icon for crack!meta, clearly.

[kennahijja.livejournal.com]

I always thought that RAB had also brought somebody with him... (an interesting theory - forgot who brought it up - pointed at Kreacher once). Which of course doesn't solve the where-does-the-potion-come-from problem. Unless it's self-refilling, but on a slower rate than it is scooped out?

Totally with you on the spectacular fit of pique :).

I *really* think you should write that Dementor theory up as fic - it's brilliant! :)

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

I've thought Kreacher might have been his companion, too. You'd need one, if only because the person who drinks is going to go loopy long before he's done.

I enjoyed promulgating the Dementor theory, but I dunno about writing it up as fic – it's more the kind of thing sollersuk does when she writes these pseudo-scholarly bits of history of magic in early Britain. However, I will bear your encouragement in mind.