Old buds? was Moody-Crouch

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 18638

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> Amy Z wrote:
> 
> > He interrogates him as needed all year, using the Imperius Curse
> > ("Veritaserum"); that's why he keeps him alive (though he may 
also do
> > so because you can only make Polyjuice out of stuff from a
> > still-living person--I wonder).  Even so it seems a little weak;
> > impersonating someone well enough to fool his longtime friend 
must be
> > very hard to pull off.
> 
> Is there any evidence in canon that Dumbledore and Moody were 
friends?
> Longtime, close, whatever? I'm not recalling this. And in any case,
> Moody has been pretty much a recluse since the Voldemort years, and 
is
> an odd individual at the best of times. It's a pretty good pick for 
an
> impersonator, since things he gets wrong or does strangely can be
> attributed to the oddball personality of the person being 
impersonated.
> 
> Point being, we're assuming Dumbledore (a) knew Moody pretty well, 
or at
> least knew him well enough to pick up on personality quirks, and (b)
> spent enough time with Moody, hangin' out or whatever, to have 
picked up
> on such things. I don't think either one is necessarily supported by
> canon.
> 
> Moody (the real one, pre-Crouch attack) did agree to come out of
> retirement at Dumbledore's request. However, I submit that 
Dumbledore's
> stature in the wizarding community, coupled with the presence of 
Harry
> at Hogwarts and the need to protect him, would have been enough to
> induce Moody to agree, without there *having* to have been a bond of
> friendship to call upon.
> 
> --Amanda

You could be right, but he does say it is a "great personal favour" 
rather than a favour to the school, the MoM etc.  He also treats 
Moody with slightly more familiarity than we are used to - I don't 
think he often calls other teachers by their first names - at least 
not in the presence of students, and I recall at least one instance 
when he calls him Alastair instead of Professor Moody, which in my 
mind shows that they have at least some history/friendship prior to 
Hogwarts.  Also, we do not know exactly how much time they get to 
spend together whilst at Hogwarts.

Moody is also present at the same trials as Dumbledore (as seen in 
the Pensieve).  Whilst this is not conclusive in itself, the two are 
sitting together, and talking about what is going on - showing again 
that they do have some degree of familiarity.  

I still do agree that it is surprising that Dumbledore didn't twig 
that something wasn't quite right.  However, after reading the book 
again and again, when the element of surprise is no longer there, I 
often have to shake myself to remember that it is Crouch-as-Moody, 
not just Moody, as he seems to do everything right as far as his 
teaching role is concerned.  

Catherine