Dumbledore's suspicions of Moody, was The Problem with Lupin

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 97510

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:

> As I've said before, I do think that bits and pieces of 
evidence--all of it presumably reported to him by others, 
including Snape and the portraits--created suspicions in DD's 
mind long before the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Incidents like 
turning Draco into a ferret and Imperioing the students would 
have come to his attention in some way, and I think he would 
have wondered at that point what was wrong with Moody (as
 opposed to suspecting that someone was impersonating him). 
<snip>
. Rather than *suddenly* figuring out exactly what happened
 (which struck me as unrealistic the first time I read the book), he
 must have been thinking about it all along, and at that point the 
last piece of the puzzle slipped into place--he knew who "Moody" 
was--whichis why he had no hesitation about asking Snape to 
fetch Winky.<<

Alternatively, Dumbledore knew that "Bartemius Crouch" was 
impersonating *somebody*.  He was in correspondence with  
Sirius, who could  tell him that Harry had spotted Bartemius 
Crouch in Snape's office the night it was burgled. Snape could 
tell Dumbledore that polyjuice ingredients had been stolen. So 
Dumbledore's looking for an impostor, but doesn't know who it is 
until Moody takes Harry from his side.

I think that Impostor!Moody's only real slip was the ferret-bounce, 
and that he was extremely careful to do as Dumbledore wished 
after that, even if it meant risking the Ministry's attention by 
demonstrating the Unforgivables, or teaching Harry how to resist 
Imperius. Though that was technically illegal, I don't think JKR 
means us to see it as immoral.

 I think Dumbledore (and JKR) regard  both laws and rules as 
machines--they help us choose between good and evil, but they 
aren't infallible guides and sometimes they are no substitute for 
human discernment.

Pippin