Moody!Crouch & Defence Against Imperius Lessons

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 95484

I'm not sure exactly where to jump into this thread with my comments,
so I'll start near the point in the thread where the subject changed. 

We all know that with the exception of Lupin, Harry has had really
crappy DADA teachers, so the class (and logically the whole school) is
behind in their lessons.

Now we are in 4th year and Moody appears on the scene, and Dumbledore
is reading the 'signs'. The biggest of which is, in first year,
Voldemort was so bold as to actually make his way into Hogwart's
castle and to live there for an extended period of time. True
Voldemort was living on the back of Quirrel's head, but he was none
the less inside Hogwarts, and that is no small thing.

That is a strong sign to Dumbledore that Voldemort is no longer
content to lurk about a dark Albanian forest feeling sorry for
himself. For him to make his way all the way to Hogwarts to steal one
of the world's most valuable and powerful objects, is a sure sign that
Voldemort is trying to regain strength.

In addition, Voldemort's renewed efforts to regain strength coincide
with Harry's return to the wizard world. Time is running out for
Voldemort. If Harry becomes a fully trained wizard, there is likely no
way that Voldemort could ever regain power. So, he must act before
it's too late; this is his last and final chance.

Fast Forward to Fouth year - GoF...

Moody, or as we eventually find out, Fake!Moody comes to teach DADA at
the invitation of Dumbledore. In his introduction to the DADA class,
Moody points out that the students have a fair understanding of Dark
Creatures, but are very very far behind on curses and self-defense. 

Dumbledore knows trouble is coming and he knows his students are going
to have to be strong and effective if there is any hope of keeping
Voldemort at bay. So, he assigns Moody the task of bringing the
students up to scratch on curses and defensive spells.

Any DADA teacher who is going to concentrate the entire year on curses
is certainly going to cover the Unforgivable Curses. Logically, if
there is a new war, these curses will play an important role. And I
don't think it's that unreasonable that Moody would demonstrate these
curses, since by his own statement, they are only illegal when used on
another humans.

Regardless of whether you view the situation from Moody's, Crouch's,
or Dumbledore's perspective, all that makes sense to me. I see nothing
out of the ordinary. Especially given the fact that the teacher is a
hardcore no nonsense person like Moody, regardless of whether it's
Crouch portraying Moody.

Now to the 'catch'. Moody uses the Imperious Curse on the students.
Strictly speaking, an indisputably illegal curse. But the Imperious
Curse is different from the other Unforgivables, it doesn't actually
cause any harm. The immorality of it is taking away a persons free
will, and the horrible things the spell caster might make that
bewitched person do. But the spell/curse itself causes no harm or pain.

Next point, the Imperious Curse gave the wizard world a great deal of
trouble in the first war. People were extremely vulnerable to it, and
it's reasonably logical that the bulk of the wizard world had not been
exposed to it, and had not been trained to resist it. That gave the
wizard would a tremedous point of vulnerability and put them at a
great disavantage. 

If Dumbledore senses that Voldemort is going to make one last
desperate effort to return, then the wizard world needs to be
prepared, and part of that preparation is to make sure that a new
generation is not as susceptible to the Imperious. 

To truly understand it, and to be able to defeat or at least resist
the Curse, the students need to be exposed. I suspect Dumbledore
justified it under the premise, 'no harm, no foul'. Since the curse
itself can't actually cause any harm, and since it is put on people
with their conscent, and under controlled conditions while being
observed by others, the potential for abuse was minimal, and the
potential for harm was near zero. No harm, no foul.

To prevent the Imperious Curse from devistating the wizard world in
the next potential war, the student must be taught to resist it. I see
it as just that simple.

As far as Fake!Moody's interaction and reactions, I think they were
part play-acting and part genuine. For someone who had spent his life
under the Imperious Curse struggling to fight it, I think Crouch Jr
would have been truly impressed by Harry's ability to fight it, and
would have been eager to see just how well Harry could do; hence the
repeated attempts until Harry masters it.

I think this particular perspective explains Dumbledore's, Moody's,
and Crouch's actions, perspectives, and motivation for exposing the
students to the Unforgivable Curse.

But then... it's just a thought.

bboy_mn