Professor Moody in Book Four

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 51951

In a message dated 10/02/2003 09:27:46 GMT Standard Time, 
HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com writes:


> But one more thing;
> Why did Moody bust into the chamber right after Harry's name and 
> been 
> drawn and detail exactly what happened - that a skilled dark 
> wizard 
> must've 'hoodwinked' the goblet by putting Harry's name in the 
> goblet 
> under the name of a fourth school - under the guise of a warning 
> (With Dumbledore there, Crouch's greatest enemy, and the greatest 
> threat to his success, and who would be inclined to take a theory 
> coming from Moody quite seriously?)  
> 

Pride. And his own (and JKR's) sheer delight at being able to the wool over 
our eyes.
Look at what Moody says throughout the book. He takes great delight in 
telling us *exactly* what he's up to. He's truthful. It's just that he is so 
skilled at misleading us that we misinterpret what he says.
Crouch is a virtuoso. He plays the people around him with consummate skill.

So in this particular scene,
1) He's feeling full of himself because (so far) his plan has worked.
2) He doesn't want to risk Harry being debarred from the Tournament.
3) He's *diverting* suspicion away from himself - as Moody is a well-known 
auror and friend of Dumbledore's, who would dare accuse *him* of being a Dark 
Wizard?
4) And onto others. Skilled Dark Wizard, eh? Karkaroff is the obvious target 
within the text and from an authorial POV, the reader may be led to suspect 
Snape.

Giving the precise method is partly just in character for Barty Jr, sheer 
delight in his own cleverness. It also lends verisimilitude, I feel. He *is* 
masquerading as a famous auror and that, presumably is the kind of insight 
one might expect. He's also masquerading as an auror well-known for his 
paranoia. Moody might well burst in with some apparently far-fetched story, 
although this one of course makes sense. He's giving *reason* (and supporting 
Dumbledore) as to why Harry couldn't have cheated and a reason why they 
should be looking to the involvement of another Dark Wizard. Since he 
despised Karkaroff and every other DE who didn't go to Azkaban, he presumably 
wouldn't mind throwing suspicion on any of them. But who would suspect Young 
Barty? After all, everyone *knows* that he's dead.

Now my own problems with Crouch/Moody (which have been discussed before) are,

1) As the candidates had to write their name and school clearly on the slip 
and the Goblet threw out the slips which Dumbledore then read, why wasn't it 
apparent initially that Harry's name had been submitted in this way? why did 
Crouch have to say anything at all and why didn't Dumbledore tell the other 
Heads that this was the case?

2) Why did he think Voldemort would honour him for killing Harry personally 
(an act that would humiliate Voldemort who had failed to do it more than 
once), rather than for delivering him back?

~Eloise


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