Trio's Auror Skills (WAS: Hermione: Panic Attacks & Tears?)

[charisjulia]

No: HPFGUIDX 39064

A bit of a late intervention into the Crouch's—Auror—comments thread 
here. I would have posted earlier but got caught up in that pesky 
thing called Everyday Reality. Bah! Exams coming round again. <sigh> 
They tend to do that somehow. Like an annoying, buzzing mosquito that 
just * won't* leave you alone.And really, how much knowledge does one 
person * need* to cram into their head for a university degree? Or 
until they're, you know, a well—rounded, educated, culturally 
cultivated individual? Yes? What's that you say? Eh? Infinite? Huh. 
That is * not* what I wanted to hear. 


But yeah, err, hmmm. . .Where was I? Ah, yes. Aurors. And 
Crouch/Moody's career suggestions to Harry and Hermione. Yes, right. 
On track again now. Now, I know others have pointed out the suspect 
character of these suggestions– if somebody has just said what I'm 
just about to say please excuse the repeat. If they did I missed it. 
However, yes, not only do I also find Moody's comments suspicious in 
light of the fact that he is actually * Crouch*, but furthermore I am 
rather inclined to reject them completely as utterly unfounded – 
well, at least on anything else but personal interest that is.


I mean, what you've got to do here is look at the * context*, right? 
What are the events that surround these little compliments? And then 
let's try to extrapolate from those and then examine Moody's * 
motives* for saying them, ok? Because I am not really all that 
convinced that Crouch altruistically thought his pupils needed a bit 
of a confidence boost, to tell you the truth :--).


OK, right, so:

A. Harry.


I * highly* distrust that Crouch/Moody is expressing an honest 
opinion here. The context is all * wrong* for that. I mean, right, 
ok, let's take a closer look, yeah? The relevant scene takes place 
in "The Egg and the Eye" chapter. What has proceeded it though? What 
has Harry just done that night to deserve such high praise from "one 
of the best" Dark—Wizard Catchers? Hmm, let's think, right, yeah, he:


a) Got lost in his thoughts and mixed up emotions over the message of 
the Egg. Uh—oh. Big no—no for Aurors. Major breach of the Constant 
Vigilance rule. Never, ever drop your guard. You need to be prepared. 
You need to be alert and watchful. You need to not get your foot 
stuck in trick steps in the middle on the night when you're not 
supposed to be out of bed and when teachers who just happen to hate 
your guts are on the prowl. Which is of course. . .


b) . . . exactly what Harry proceeds to do. In a step the skipping of 
which is second nature to Hogwarts students, for Pete's sake. With 
the exception of * Neville*, for crying out loud.


c) Harry then dropped his Egg. His Golden Egg. The one he got from 
the First Task. The one that's a dead give—away to his identity.


d) and his Map. The very map that is a dead give away to his present 
location. Oh no. Not good. Not good at all.


e) Manages thus to attract the attention of the two very people who 
would simply * delight* in finding him in such a tidy little fix. 
Filch and Snape zoom up to the scene.


f) There still is of course a – very obvious-- way out of this 
beautiful mess. Accio. And, hey! Wasn't that the very charm he 
performed so impressively only a month or so ago? In front of a 
gasping, enthralled audience? When faced with a fire—breathing 
dragon? The one he practiced with Hermione * incessantly* for days? 
The very charm in fact that after all that he should be able to 
remember even when all else is lost? The charm he actually * does* 
use again once more in the books when he's got a Seriously Mad Evil 
Overlord and several Death Eaters after him? Urr, hang on a sec-- 
yep. That's right. The very one. So does Harry use this charm? Err, 
no actually. It, err, escapes him.


So to cut a long story short, Harry messed up. Big time. Of course I 
personally think Harry is usually great in such situations. He 
usually manages fine. Totally together, keeps his cool, no problem. 
But here he has messed up and there's just no denying it.


Except that Crouch/Moody * does* deny it. Huh, he actually does a lot 
* more* than deny it. He * praises* Harry. He tells Harry that Harry 
ought to consider taking up this kind of thing professionally. 
Because, well, you know, going on what he's just witnessed tonight 
it's crystal clear the boy is * made* for the job. A natural. Would 
never slip once. Just perfect for it.


Snort.


So I think Crouch is lying. But if he doesn't really consider Harry 
Auror material then why does he tell him so? Well, for one thing I 
think he's doing a nifty bit of misdirecting here. Reinforcing his 
previous skillful, little double—barrelled comments. Making sure 
Harry believes he's actually on the right track when he suspects 
Snape and Crouch Sr. And secondly, well flattery will got you 
anywhere, won't it? In this case it certainly works: "And Moody 
thought he, Harry, ought to be an Auror! Interesting idea. . ." Yeah, 
I'm guessing C/M just won himself a nice batch of popularity points 
from Harry. 


Anything more would you say? Hmmm. . . well. . .


It was a narrow miss for Barty, wasn't it? I mean his name was * 
right there* on the Marauder's Map, on * Harry Potter's* bedside 
table all along. So easy to just think "Hmm, somebody at Hogwarts is 
out to get me. Huh. Well, lets just see what the Marauder's Map has 
to say about this shall we?" But, now, ah, * now*, after a highly 
profitable night—time stroll this very useful tool is where? In 
Crouch's own * pocket*! I mean, *pheeeeeeooouw!" Close call!


So I think Crouch is mocking Harry. "Yeah" he's probably 
thinking. "That's just the thing. We could * do* with a few more 
Aurors like that!"


And ooh, wait a sec! What about all those scenarios those guys down 
at the Neville symposium are cooking up too? Like the one according 
to which Crouch Jr knew the Longbottoms and that's how their 
torturers got to them. Frank gave Crouch the keys to his house, 
perhaps? Just offered them over willingly in the same manner Harry is 
now relinquishing his one real weapon against his unknown enemy * 
voluntarily*? Being his father's son I don't find it hard to believe 
Crouch Jr could have got valuable information or items simply 
*landing* in his lap just like * that* in the old days. Duh, those 
dumb Aurors! Yeah, this boy would fit right in.


The indications for such an understanding of the comment are all 
there:


"Moody's magical eye whizzed over the entire surface of the map. He 
suddenly looked alarmed.
"Crouch?" he said. "You're – you're sure, Potter?"


"Harry could tell that this news meant something to Moody, and very 
much wanted to know what it was."


"Put it this way, Potter," Moody muttered finally, "they say old Mad—
Eye's obsessed with catching Dark wizards. . . but Mad—Eye's nothing--
 * nothing*-- compared to Barty Crouch." (Oooh, I love this comment! 
Brilliant, simply brilliant!)


"Good boy," growled Moody. "I can make good use of this. . . this 
might be * exactly* what I've been looking for . . ."


". . . Moody still examining the map as though it was a treasure the 
like of which he had never seen before."


So, here we've got Harry's seventh gaffe on the night. He handed over 
his only indication of the truth behind all the strange happenings at 
Hogwarts to one of his very worst enemies. And, oh, doesn't Crouch 
know it!


Anyway, point is Harry, though generally pretty good in the secretly 
sneaking around the school department, is having a bit of an off—day 
during this particular scene and therefore Crouch/Moody's enthusiasm 
at his abilities is rather over—the-- top. However we are not lacking 
in other reasons to explain them. 



And now:

B) Hermione. 


Well, this scene doesn't provide nearly as much reader--satisfaction, 
but there's enough there to generate scepticism, certainly at least 
for the second (or third, or fourth, or fiftyfourth :--) —time 
reader. This scene is just after Crouch Sr's disappearance. Right. 
Let's take it one phrase at a time, ok?


First Ron makes his Disapparate blunder. Then Hermione corrects him. 
Now, it isn't really as if Ron actually didn't * know* you can't 
Disapparate on the grounds. He just isn't thinking straight. Hermione 
does well to correct him, but it's hardly any astounding feat of 
genius. Heck, even the * reader* knows * that*! It's been drummed 
into us soooooo many times! 


Hermione continues: "There are other ways he could have disappeared, 
aren't there, Professor?" 


Frankly I fail to be impressed. I mean she's simply stating the 
obvious here, isn't she? Crouch Sr is not anywhere on the Hogwarts 
grounds, yet he could not possibly have Disapparated from them. So he 
must have disappeared some other way. Isn't it, well, self—evident? 
Or at any rate it's definitely no marvellous example of Sherlock--
Holmes--like unpercedented logical deduction. So where does all 
the "your mind works like an Auror's" stuff come from?


Personally I think Crouch is attempting another subtle bit of 
misdirection. Hermione in this instance has picked the wrong thread. 
Her starting point (indicated by Ron) is that Crouch Sr himself was 
responsible for his own departure. That he left Hogwarts of his own 
free will. This of course is not quite how things happened. But 
Crouch/Moody wants to set the trio off on wrong leads. He * wants* 
them to reach totally useless conclusions. So he encourages this 
train of thought. 


But huh! Well, lookee here! Two minutes later Hermione's back on 
track : "But under his own steam? Or because someone made him?" Ron 
picks up this tread: "Yeah, someone could've – could've pulled him 
onto a broom and flown off with him, couldn't they?" (A bit of an 
extreme suggestion perhaps, but hey! Ron could've come up with 
something wilder. How about: "Oh, I know! Obviously our Defence 
Against the Dark Arts Professor, who is actually Crouch's believed --
to --be --dead son using Polyjuise Potion to disguise himself, 
must've killed his father and then turned him into a * bone* and then 
* buried* him in the Forbiden Forest! Oh, yes! That sounds likely!)


Well now Crouch Jr does not like the way this little chat is going. 
He grudgingly concedes the point of course: "We can't rule out 
kidnap," growled Moody" What else could he do? But he's hardly 
encouraging the idea, is he?


So to wrap all this up it would seem to me that Crouch/Moody hands 
out Auror praise when people are acting in a way that promotes his 
own wicked little plans and definitely not when they're actually 
getting hot in the chase. In fact I'd say that his comments tell us 
nothing about any of the Trio's DADA abilities whatsoever. I note 
however that personally I'd have to say that –judging from HRH's 
record so far --I agree with Dave. All three together: now that would 
make one hell of an Auror. But I still hope not one of them really 
will chose * that* profession. <shudder!>


Charis Julia.