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

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 95366

I (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 responded:
> 
> 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.
  
Carol responds:
I absolutely agree that it's Crouch!Moody, not Moody himself, and that
he has to keep up the pretense (for example, making his own hatred of
Death Eaters who walked free look like the contempt of an ex-auror for
DEs who got away). But that pretense is essential in order to
accomplish his real goal, as is gaining Harry's trust. I see him as
absolutely single-minded--nothing is important except getting Harry to
finish the Third Task first and grab the cup that will take him to
Voldemort. Everything from his treatment of Snape (whom he wants to
mislead and also wants Harry to distrust) to his seeming kindness to
Neville is done with that aim. So, as I've already said, is the
Imperio lesson (with the extra bonus, for him, of being able to
control others, however briefly). He certainly is not training the
students to fight Voldemort, his beloved Master. He doesn't give
anyone except Harry a chance to fight it.

But making sure that Harry doesn't share his own ghastly experiences?
I don't think Barty has any such motive, partly because he lacks
compassion (other than the pretence of it), but mostly because he
doesn't want Harry to reach nineteen--or even fifteen. He wants him
delivered to Voldemort for Voldemort to kill--and when that fails, he
tries to kill Harry himself, thinking that Voldemort will reward him
for his services.

Crouch!Moody is a psychopath--uncannily skilled at concealing his true
nature and true intentions and working in a seemingly rational way for
for an irrational, immoral, and outright evil goal. We see his
madness, finally, near the end of GoF:

"The Dark Lord and I," said [Fake] Moody, and he looked completely
insane now, towering over Harry, leering down at him, "have much in
common. Both of us . . . have had the pleasure . . . of killing our
fathers to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order!"

"You're mad," Harry said . . . "You're mad!" (GoF Am. ed. 678)

And note the remark by Dean Thomas, of all people, in Umbridge's class
in OoP. Umbridge says:

"It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal
curses in front of you, he actually performed them *on* you."

To which Dean responds:

"Well, he turned out to be a maniac, didn't he?" OoP Am. ed. 243)

That, IMO, sums it up.

Carol, wondering how much of the Crouch!Moody story got into the
Quibbler article