Does Polyjuice Work with a Dead Person's Hair? (WAS: Voldemort murders in GoF)

[erisedstraeh2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 42680

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "ats_fhc3" <the.gremlin at v...> wrote:

> Which brings me to ask this question: If someone is dead, can you 
> still use their hair to make Polyjuice Potion, and look like them?

Now me:

I agree with your theory that the real Moody was the murder Voldemort 
was referring to that didn't wind up materializing.  I think Crouch 
Jr.'s orders were to kill the real Moody, but he decided instead to 
keep him alive (to help him with his impersonation). Since 
Voldemort's plan was to have Crouch Jr. take polyjuice potion for an 
entire school year, this suggests that you *can* use a dead person's 
hair to make Polyjuice Potion.  This makes sense to me since our hair 
isn't alive, it's dead (same goes for Crabbe's fingernail clips that 
Ron said he wouldn't drink in CoS!).

Which leads *me* to yet another question - how is it that Crouch Jr. 
was able to get away with defying Voldemort's orders?

Cheers,
Phyllis