Crouch!Moody and the Unforgiveable Curses

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 96416

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tim Regan \(Intl Vendor\)"
<v-tregan at m...> wrote:
> Hi All,
>  
> <Carol>
> Harry failed to cast a Crucio because he couldn't summon the evil
will necessary to perform it properly.
</Carol>


> Dumbledad:
>  
> Or because no-one had taught him how. Now Bellatrix has. His first
Expecto Patronum wasn't exactly awesome either. 
>  
> There are moments when the trio seem to enjoy inflicting pain on
Draco, not excrutiating pain granted, but pain. 
>  
> I don't think we have good evidence that Harry is incapable of
learning to perform a very skilled Crutiatus. One of the spooky things
about Harry's interaction with Bellatrix was that it felt (to me) like
his ultimate (DA)DA lesson to-date.
>  
> Cheers,
>  
> Dumbledad.

bboy_mn:

I've brought this up before, but it doesn't seem to have appealed to
anyone, as it got very little response. None the less, I think it is a
very important point that you are all overlooking.

The Curciatus Curse is a SUSTAINED curse, not a 'curse and duck' curse.

In all cases of the Pain curse, the wizard has to cast the spell and
continue to sustain the spell by intent. Only when a wizard or witch
withdraws their wand and their intent does the curse cease.

That also means this is a very bad curse to use in a duel as you are
leaving yourself exposed while you stand facing your opponent holding
the sustained curse and intent. The would provide the perfect
opportunity for some one else to curse you.

The Stunning Curse on the other hand is indeed a 'curse and duck'
curse, it is instantaneous, and requires only the initial intent. Once
cast, you can duck under cover while the spell continues on it's merry
way.

So, Harry is not incapable of casting the pain curse because he did
indeed cause Bellatrix pain. However, Harry cast the curse wrong. He
cast it and immediately withdrew his wand and his intent while he
ducked for cover. Consequently, the curse didn't do much damage.

So, it was his techinque more than his intent that cause the curse to
be ineffective.

I will agree that the degree of vicious intent would control the
intensity of the Pain Curse while the wizard sustains that intent, so,
in that sense, what Bellatrix said to Harry is correct. You do have to
have vicious and willfill intent in order to inflict intense pain. But
I don't believe you need that vicious intent to actually cast the
initial curse.

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn