Still Crouch and not Moody/Imperius plot hole (Was: Secular Universes)

[blpurdom]

No: HPFGUIDX 34389

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Chris Parnell" <chspnll at p...> wrote:
> Harry Potter and co are dealing with a reality that is permeated 
> with the workings of spirit, albeit via wands. What is gradually 
> happening and it may spread, as Mad Eye was trying to teach in 
> DADA, that the real doer or force or power of  magic and 
> witchcraft is the self, which lies within. Witness Mad Eye trying 
> to teach students in DADA to resist the Imperius Curse by force of 
> their mind and will, elements of that inner self.
 
::sigh:: That would be all well and good if it really WERE Moody 
teaching them this.  But we must remember that it was Barty Crouch, 
Jr., and almost everything he did had the purpose of helping Harry 
to win the Triwizard Tournament so that he would be the one to touch 
the cup and be transported to Voldemort.  That's why he was nice to 
Neville and gave him the book on Mediterranean water plants.  That's 
why he prodded Harry to figure out to use his flying to get past the 
dragon.  

The Imperius lesson is the one thing which Crouch did which doesn't 
add up.  (That's why I wrote "almost everything.")  Why should he 
want Harry--or any of the students--to be able to resist Imperius?  
The other things he did potentially contributed to Harry winning the 
Tournament; unless one of the other Champions cursed Harry (and Krum 
only cursed Cedric when HE was placed under Imperius by Crouch) this 
wouldn't be a necessary part of his training.  In fact, because he 
learned to resist Imperius, Harry angered Voldemort in the 
graveyard.  (Too bad Harry didn't yet know that Moody was really 
Crouch, Voldemort's servant, so he could have told Voldemort what a 
stupid thing his star Death Eater did.)

The only possibility that comes to mind is that Crouch wanted to 
guarantee that Harry COULDN'T overcome Imperius, and the only way he 
could find out one way or the other was to incorporate it into a 
lesson.  Of course, once he learned that Harry was the only one who 
came even close to overcoming it completely on the first try, he had 
no choice but to continue with the lesson, the result being that 
Harry ended up mastering the resistance.  You'd think, though, that 
after that, Crouch would have contacted Pettigrew to tell him to 
tell Voldemort not to bother with the Imperius when he confronted 
Harry, because it would be pointless.  (Unless, again, he didn't 
want to admit to what a stupid thing he did.)

I have to say, though, even given my rather insane ability to play 
devil's advocate for Crouch and concoct the above excuse for him, I 
think that JKR didn't think of this possibility and the Imperius 
lesson is really just a big ole plot hole.  During the time he was 
under Veritaserum, Crouch outlined his entire plan for Harry and 
Dumbledore.  Teaching Harry to overcome Imperius wasn't part of the 
plan he discussed.  

Harry needed to learn to overcome Imperius to confront Voldemort, 
and this is how he learned.  There's no logical reason for Crouch to 
do this.  I doubt it would even be in character for the real Moody, 
so he doesn't have that excuse either.  JKR quite simply needed for 
Harry to learn to do this and she failed to come up with a plausible 
rationale for it.

--Barb
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP_Psych
http://schnoogle.com/authorLinks/Barb