Moody!Crouch and defence against Imperius (WAS Re: Dumbledore is ok with it as l

[maralenenok]

No: HPFGUIDX 95363

Delurking to throw another opinion on why Barty Crouch taught Harry 
to defend himself from the Imperius Curse.

Carol wrote:
> As for Fake!Moody teaching the children to defend 
> themselves, that was the only way he could make sure 
> that someone else, say, Karkaroff, didn't ruin his 
> plan by Imperioing Harry to keep him from winning 
> the tournament. 

vmonte disagreed, and suggested:
> We don't really know why Moody taught Harry how to 
> protect himself. He may have been testing Harry, to 
> check his strength as a wizard; just like I believe 
> (and I'm sure you do not agree) that Snape was testing 
> Harry when he whispered into Draco's ear Serpentsortia 
> (and yes I know that we did not hear what he whispered 
> into Draco's ear).

Maria Alena:

I think it's important to remember that this isn't Moody teaching 
Harry to resist Imperius, it's Barty Crouch Jr, and things are rarely 
very simple with him. In this case, I believe that it's a combination 
of different factors coming into play.

Carol and vmonte both have good points, IMO, (and I agree with them), 
and they're not mutually exclusive, but I think there are more 
factors contributing to Crouch's decision to teach Imperius defence. 

There's the obvious answer - that Crouch is playing Moody, and has to 
behave like Moody would, but IMO the persistence he shows in the 
lesson is too great for it to be simple pretense. There's also
the 
fact that he really does seem to target Harry there – he only
gives 
everyone else one go. (It would actually be interesting to speculate 
on what he would have done had someone else, not Harry, demonstrated 
resistance to the curse.)

It could also be that Moody!Crouch was trying to weaken Harry's
mind 
by repeatedly casting Imperius on him, and thus making him more 
vulnerable. We've seen evidence (in OOP, with Legilimency) that 
violent mental intrusion has a tendency to weaken Harry. In GOF, 
however, it doesn't do anything of the sort. Well, Moody!Crouch
stops 
training him after that one time (IIRC, I'm forgetting canon).

But really, IMO the most important reason for Crouch to teach Harry 
to conquer the curse isn't even that. Barty Crouch Jr. spent the 
previous ten years under an Invisibility Cloak, controlled by the 
Imperius Curse. And I really think that however he justifies these 
lessons and whatever practical reasons he has for them (which he 
definitely does), a good part of his motivation comes from trying to 
make sure that Harry, just a few years away from nineteen,
doesn't 
have the same ghastly experience that Barty Crouch had himself.
 
Maria Alena