A question about Unforgivables (specifically Imperius).

[grey_wolf_c]

No: HPFGUIDX 42723

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., karen mcvicker <dedanaan at s...> wrote:
> Hi Grey Wolf,
> 
> Thanks for all the info about the unforgivables.  I specifically
> needed to know about the Imperius and how it works in regards to
> breaking its hold on a person and my brother has stolen my HP books
> to read and hasn't given them back yet so I was working from memory. 
> Your answers were along the lines of what I was thinking.

You're welcome. Don't take the answers as absolute canon, though. 
Although I've been working around Unforgivable's theory since I started 
on the list (my first post ever was on the nature of AK), there are 
still many blanck spots which I fill in what I believe is a logical 
fashion, but other people tend to think differently.
 
> I have another question, though.  Would it be possible for a person
> to be under the influence of more than one Imperius at a time?   I'm
> thinking that it would be possible but would like to know what others 
> think.
>
> Karen

There is no canon that prevents two equal curses from affecting the 
same individual, although I don't think I've ever though about it. Off 
the top of my head, I get two ideas of how would that go:

Option a) You can be under two imperius at once, and you have to obey 
all the orders you're given. If at one moment the orders contradict 
themselves, either your brain goes haywire, you manage to obey both of 
them (a Murphy Law about working states "If you're given two 
contradictory orders, follow both"), or you have to obey the one with 
higher priority (how this priority gets set also subdivides into 
several theories, like the most powerful wizard gets higher priority, 
the most recent order gets higher priority, or the one ordered more 
harshly gets the higher priority, and there are other possibilities).

Option b) as demonstrated by the effects of the several different 
curses thrown at Draco and his two bodyguards, several curses thrown 
against the same person interfere with each other and have unexpected 
results. What this effects could be are material for fan-fic, though, 
and I won't even begin to speculate (more because of lack of 
imagination due to sleepiness than because it's OT).

I'd personally go for option B, because there is more canon to support 
it, although the multi-curse effect on Crabbe, Goyle and Drtaco were 
the result of different curses instead of the same one several times 
over. The bottom line is that the strange, unpredicatalbe result is 
more fun for imagination (or will be, when a good night's sleep gets it 
working once again).

Of course, another possibility exists: that a second Imperius 
automatically dispells the first one, or eliminates it in some other 
way, but I don't beliewve that's possible, so I'll leave the 
development of that option to some other listee that believes in it.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf