Crouch and "Weatherby"

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 57059

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Eric Oppen" <oppen at m...> wrote:
> You know, I wonder if Mr. Crouch wasn't beginning to come unglued 
even
> before his visit from Lord Voldemort.  When he's raving, he is 
addressing
> someone called "Weatherby" and talking about how his son (apparently 
the
> same one we know) got twelve OWLs.
> 
> By the time he meets Percy Weasley, his son's long, long past the
> getting-OWLs stage...he's been his father's prisoner for years and 
years.
> So whoever he thinks he's talking to in his flashback, it can't be 
Percy.
> 
> But addressing someone by the name of someone else, someone you 
_used to_
> work with, is Not A Good Sign in us Muggles, and I doubt it's a good 
sign
> for wizards.

Annemehr:
Hmmm... Maybe you're right.  I always assumed Crouch thought he was 
talking to Percy and that it was part of his madness that he'd got the 
people mixed together from separate years, but... you're making me 
think...

Eric Oppen again:
  I think that the long strain of keeping his son 
imprisoned
> told on him in a lot of ways, and he was already a few cards short 
of a
> Tarot deck from the stress.
<snip>

Annemehr:
You know, this could answer a question that's always bothered me.  How 
could Crouch Sr. *not know* that Percy was Arthur Weasley's son?  He'd 
known Arthur for how many years?  At the QWC, he certainly spoke with 
him as an old and respected colleague.  Even if he never spared much 
thought at all for Percy, I still can't see why he would think his 
name was "Weatherby."  When Percy was first introduced to him, 
his brain should have filed him away as "Arthur Weasley' son."  Unless 
your theory is true!

Annemehr
jumping on board with both feet