Crouch and the Imperius Curse

[ssk7882]

No: HPFGUIDX 34133

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "uilnslcoap" <devin.smither at y...> wrote:

 > Hey everyone, first-time writer. 

Hi, Devin!  I'm new here, too.  <Newbies wave shyly to each other>

I tend to agree with you that we probably can deduce quite a bit
about Real Moody from Crouch's masquerade, and for all the reasons
you cite, while also conceding that we can't really know for sure
until we see Real Moody in action.  (Waffle, waffle, qualify, 
hedge...)

About Crouch and the Imperius, you wrote:

> 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.  

This has been discussed here before, at some length, but then,
so have the SHIPping debates -- and besides, why shouldn't the
new kids on the block get to have a bit of fun?  So a quick 
summary of what, IIRC, people have said about this and related
issues in the past.

---

Question One: 

Surely Dumbledore didn't *really* tell Moody to teach the 
Unforgiveables to fourth-year students, did he?  And even if he did, 
he didn't really authorize Moody to cast Imperius on students.  Did 
he?  Did he?


Possible Answers:

(a) No, Dumbledore did not really give his new DADA teacher 
instruction to cast Imperius on students.  Crouch only did so because 
he's a sadist who enjoys casting Unforgivables, or because he wanted 
to size up the students' capabilities so that he could advise
Voldemort later on which members of the younger generation would be
the easiest to control.

(b) Yes, Dumbledore most certainly *did* ask Moody both to teach 
students about the Unforgivables and to give them practical hands-on 
experience in shaking off the Imperius Curse.  Crouch, in his role as 
Moody, therefore complied.


Of these, I insist on (b).  Crouch may be a tad deranged, but he is
no fool, and he could not possibly have thought that word of what he
was doing in class would not have made its way back to Dumbledore's
ears.  Use of the Unforgivables on human beings carries severe 
penalty, and Crouch is on an important mission.  He just wouldn't 
take that risk.  For that matter, if Dumbledore really hadn't
authorized it, then surely he *would* have heard about it -- the 
entire student body was excitedly chattering about Moody's DADA 
class -- and he would have put a stop to it.  So while Crouch may 
indeed have enjoyed making the students do odd things in class, and 
he may well have been noting carefully which of the students seemed 
likely candidates for later use, my vote is for (b).

---

Question Two:

Surely it's counterproductive to teach an enemy as useful a skill as 
resisting the Imperius Curse!  So why does Crouch/Moody seem so 
pleased by Harry's talent in this arena, and why does he continue to
encourage him to strengthen his resistance?


Possible Explanations:

(a) Crouch is deeply immersed in his role.  The real Alastor Moody
would have been pleased by Harry's talent and would have gone out of
his way to encourage him to develop this skill.  Crouch therefore does
the same.

(b) Little Barty Crouch, the Boo Radley of the wizarding world, 
*hates* Imperius, having been himself enslaved by it for over a 
decade.  He is thrilled to see *anyone* succeed in fighting it off
and takes a grim satisfaction in teaching students to resist it.

(c) Crouch doesn't believe for a moment that Harry's talent at 
resisting the Imperius Curse will do squat for him in the long run.
Voldemort plans on *killing* Harry, not controlling him.  And even if 
he does decide to play with the boy for a little while first, it 
will not matter: Harry's resistance to Imperius will not save him, 
and may even bring greater glory to the Dark Lord's inevitable 
victory.  So why on earth *not* teach him?  And why bother to inform
Voldemort of his talent in this arena?

(d) Crouch would have been an excellent teacher himself, if only
his life had turned out differently; like all good teachers, he
takes a genuine and instinctive pleasure in helping students to 
succeed at difficult tasks.


Of these, I prefer (e), all of the above.

---

Your suggestion that resisting the Imperius Curse might be an
unteachable talent is new to me.  If it's come up here before, I
must have missed it.  

Hmmm.  Well, Harry obviously has unusual native talent in this 
arena -- he very nearly throws it off on his first try -- but I
don't think that it's unteachable, or unlearnable.  People can 
train themselves to withstand higher levels of pain and fatigue than
those they could cope with before training; learning to withstand
attempts at mental domination would seem to me to be much the same
thing.  

Obviously, certain personality types are going to be better suited to 
this than others (I myself am a coward and a weakling, and so suspect 
that I would not fair well), but with the proper training, I'm sure 
that just about anyone can at the very least improve their *chances.*

And I think that ones chances of fighting off Imperius are
probably raised dramatically simply by virtue of knowing what it 
feels like when someone's doing it to you.  ("Ah...what a pleasant 
feeling.  Just like floating.  This is lovely, really, it's very 
nice, it's...oh.  Hold on, wait a moment.  I've *felt* this before.  
This is...this...this...oh.  OH!  Oh, damn.")

-- Elkins