Another Barty Crouch, Jr. theory

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 51862

Reading back on the many interesting posts about Barty Crouch, Jr. and his
experience with the Imperius Curse, it occured to me to wonder---was his
time after his escape from Azkaban his _first_ time under Imperius?

What if this was what had happened: Barty Crouch, Jr., a  young and
impressionable wizard, was more or less lured into the lower levels of
Voldemort's organization before the Harry Potter Incident, for whatever
reasons.  Maybe a woman he really, really liked was already in.  Or maybe it
was just a more-serious version of rebellion against his father and his
father's neglect of him---"so, Dad spends all his time chasing Death Eaters,
does he?  Maybe if I'm a DE he'll pay some attention to me for a change!"
Or it could have been honest conviction---"The Dark Lord's
right---Muggle-borns and Mudbloods _are_ screwing up the Wizard World, and
it's our duty to root them out!"

The classic reasons for betrayal are summed up in MICE:  Money, Ideology,
Compromised, and Ego.  We don't know what the Crouch's finances are like, so
I'll leave Money aside for the moment.  However, this leaves Ideology (as in
"converted to follower of Lord V") Compromised (as in "this woman I really
like and want to be with is in, so I'll join too," or else "They know too
much about me---I'd better join so they don't use this information against
me!") and Ego (covered above under resentment of Dad's obsession with his
job and neglect of his son).

As a very low-level DE (I'm using this title for all who were in Voldemort's
organization, although it's possible that it properly only refers to the
higher levels, the sort that Lord V would personally want to summon) he's
mostly useful to them as a conduit into his father's activities.  Until the
Dark Lord falls.  Then the remaining True Believers (not including
opportunists like the Malfoys) want him back and right NOW.

Could it have been that the Penseive Trio Imperius'd young Barty into
leading them to the Longbottoms and past their defenses?  As the son of his
father, he would probably know where they lived and how to get in, and he'd
not be suspected instantly, as the others would be.  Even if he was willing,
the Imperius would make sure that he did things the _right_ way and didn't
hopefully screw them up too badly.

This would account for a great deal:

His hatred of the Imperius Curse

His father's willingness to rescue him from Azkaban (possibly after finding
out for sure that the kid _was_ Imperiused---he wouldn't want to lose face
by saying he was wrong and the sentence was unjust, but knowing that it
_was_ unjust, he'd be willing to listen to his wife's pleas for her boy's
freedom)

His shrieks of "It wasn't me!" at his sentencing.  Barty Crouch Jr., as far
as we can tell, says misleading things, but never lies outright.   It has
been established, even by us lowly Muggles, that having been hypnotized into
committing a crime is a valid defense against charges of having committed a
crime.  The Imperius Curse would almost certainly have worked the same way.
IOW, if somebody Imperiuses or successfully hypnotizes somebody into robbing
a bank or shooting another person, the crime is the hypnotist's or the
Imperius-wielder, not that of the person who did the deed under Imperius or
hypnotism.

His odd failure to ever say "But I'm not a Death Eater!"  See above about
Barty's twisty sort of truthfulness.  By this theory, while he _was_ a Death
Eater, and even present for the torture of the Longbottoms, he wasn't guilty
of _the torture_ because he was under Imperius and therefore not
responsible.  His own loyalty to the Dark Lord didn't save him from
experiencing one of the Unforgivable Curses, any more than it saved
Wormtail/Pettigrew from having to cut off his own hand (wouldn't a little
toe or two, or a few fingers, have done as well???) or Avery from the
Cruciatus Curse.

And---while Moody/Crouch doesn't actually demonstrate the other two
Unforgivables on his students, this could be because doing so presents
problems.  Imperius can be taken off with very little after-effect, while
Cruciatus is excruciatingly painful, and _Avada Kedavra_ kind of leaves you
dead.  If he were "Crucio!"ing students, I think that even Professor
Dumbledore would begin to smell a rat, and that goes double, triple and with
horseradish sauce on it for the Killing Curse.