polyjuice potion (was: Moody was really Crouch, Jr.)

[uilnslcoap]

No: HPFGUIDX 34053

Rachel wrote:

>I couldn't agree more! We do not know the real moody yet. We know
> Barty Crouch Jnr's estimation of moody and that is all.

Hey everyone, first-time writer.  Let me start by saying I'm glad to 
have found a forum for the thoughts running around like caged animals 
in my head, and thanks to the people who started this wonderful board.

Now, I have to disagree with the argument that we know precious 
little about the real Moody.  I think we know a great deal about him, 
though we may be slightly off on a few issues.  If we take Crouch 
Jr.'s performance as Moody, up until after the third task/Harry and 
Voldemort's encounter, as excellent, then we are clued in greatly to 
what Moody is like.

The question is, why take his performance as excellent?  It's 
obvious.  DUMBLEDORE, he who sees all (practically), knows all (just 
about), and fears nothing (almost), probably one of the most 
difficult people in the world to hoodwink, was fooled by Crouch Jr.  
Crouch tripped at the goal line and gave the game away when he took 
Harry off the field, but up until then, he had been fooling people 
who had had (yes, "had had" is correct) contact with Moody for 
years.  Therefore, he was giving a great impression of what the real 
Moody's actions would be like in the situations he was thrown into.  
One could counter that Crouch probably did not have much personal 
contact with Dumbledore, et al., during the school year, but I think 
that's unlikely.  Staff meetings, the occasional Dumbledore interview 
to discuss the current goings-on on the Dark Side (Where is 
Voldemort?  Where is Pettigrew?  What do we know about the current 
activities of the Death Eaters?), and other such encounters probably 
gave Crouch plenty of opportunity to give himself away.  Yet, he did 
not, and so he must have been doing the best imaginable Moody 
impression.  One might be able to argue that Crouch's actions as 
Moody when he was alone with Harry might not have been in-line, but 
his actions and words in class (teaching students about pretty 
dangerous magic), and in public (turning Draco into a ferret) were 
probably completely lined up with what the real Moody's would have 
been.  Therefore, I think we have at least a decent idea of what 
Moody is like.

I agree with certain people on this board who dislike Moody's 
character (or at least his devil-may-care attitude with civil 
liberties and the rights of the condemned).  Both his actions in the 
past (the Pensieve) and Crouch Jr.'s actions, which we can take to be 
pretty Moody-like, send a shiver up my spine.  Such a person may 
forsake one person's justice when he views the ultimate goal worthy 
of such an action, and that is reprehensible.  Still, we haven't 
REALLY seen him, so I may open my mind when he shows up in future 
books.

Before I leave off on this topic, even though I know it's probably 
been addressed somewhere before, I cannot for the life of me 
understand why Crouch as Moody would teach Harry how to break the 
Imperius Curse (or at least give him opportunities to learn how since 
it seems to be a possibly un-learnable skill, more something one 
empirically has as a gift).  Or at least, having done so, why he 
wouldn't let Voldemort know that Harry could break the curse.  Could 
someone reference where this has been discussed or start talking 
about it?

Thanks everybody.  See you later.

Devin