Weatherby

[gwendolyngrace]

No: HPFGUIDX 37822

Green things and salivations.

Barbara, who flies with canons, wrote:

> Crouch also refers to Percy as "Weatherby" when he -
> Percy - is not even present (Chapter 17). Following the revelations of
> the Goblet of Fire, the first task has been explained to the champions
> by the judges. Dumbledore asks Crouch if he wouldn't like to stay at
> Hogwarts overnight.
>
> ...'No, Dumbledore, I must get back to the Ministry,' said Mr Crouch.
> 'It is a very busy, very difficult time at the moment ... I've left
> young Weatherby in charge ... very enthusiastic ... a little
> over-enthusiastic, if truth be told...' ...
>

Nicely spotted, Barbara. However, there is one other instance where
Crouch refers to a "Weatherby," and it is in this final scene that I
think the key lies.

It's in Chapter 28, "The Madness of Mr Crouch." Crouch is behaving
very peculiarly, talking to trees and such, and he mentions Weatherby
three times. The first two are probably in reference to Percy, because
they also relate to the Triwizard Tournament:

1. "...and when you've done that, Weatherby, send an owl to Dumbledore
confirming the number of Durmstrang students who will be attending the
tournament, Karkaroff has just sent word there will be twelve...."

2. "...and then send another owl to Madame Maxime, because she might
want to up the number of students she's bringing, now Karkaroff's made
it a round dozen...do that, Weatherby, will you?"

However, the next time Crouch mentions the name Weatherby, it's in
conjunction with a much older memory:

3. "Thank you, Weatherby, and when you have done that, I would like a
cup of tea. My wife and son will be arriving shortly, we are attending
a concert tonight with Mr and Mrs Fudge."

Crouch's next statement is to brag about Jr.'s 12 O.W.L.'s, and though
it's not clearly indicated, I believe it to be a continuation of the
remembered conversation, much as his second statement is a
continuation of the list of instructions he gave Percy. So these
clearly refer to a time before Crouch Jr.'s imprisonment.

We learn later that Crouch has been fighting the Imperius Curse at
least since the beginning of the year, and that his confusion was
almost certainly a side effect of the mental energy of breaking the
curse--the effort drives him mad.

This is the same struggle going on in Crouch in chapter 17, when he
refuses Dumbledore's offers to stay the night, and calls Percy
"Weatherby" again.

I believe that "Weatherby" is actually the name of a *former*
assistant of Crouch's, perhaps one who was a lot like Percy. I think
it's this similarity that reminds Crouch of Weatherby when he thinks
of Percy--and that lends to his confusion after the Curse is placed on
him.

At first, I thought Crouch may have already had Imperius cast before
the Quidditch World Cup. The timeline is ambiguous, although it
strongly suggests that Voldemort did not make contact until after the
event. However, it may be possible that he *did* arrange to Imperius
Barty Sr. before the cup, or else decided he needed to enlist Barty
Jr. prior to the cup, and perhaps at that time, Crouch is suffering
from the combinative effects of Imperius and a memory charm.

If that is so, then at no point in GoF do we see Crouch when he has
not been the victim of dark spellwork. The confusion over
Weasley/Weatherby, whether initially magically induced or not,
however, I think clearly derives from a previous employee's name, and
the blurring of past and present Crouch suffers under the curse.

Gwen