[HPforGrownups] The DADA jinx and its victims

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 138221

Carol wrote:
>I just realized that Crouch!Moody is not the teacher Dumbledore hired,
>which may be the way around that apparent exception to the rule.
>Clearly the real Moody's fall (being placed in his own trunk as the
>result of his paranoia backfiring) is to Voldemort's advantage, as is
>having Crouch!Moody in his place. I suppose Voldemort didn't care that
>Crouch!Moody would be revealed and destroyed by the DADA curse. He
>intended simply to use him and discard him. His advantage occurred
>through the curse falling on the real Alastor Moody. (Obviously the
>explanation isn't perfect and some examples work better than others,
>but I think the general pattern of the DADA curse working the will of
>Voldemort is clear, and he cares no more about his supporters than his
>enemies once they've worked his will.)

Given that not all the DADA professors provide Voldemort with a direct
advantage, then maybe that's not a necessary part of the jinx (and of course
there's a long line before Quirrell that we don't have information on).

I'm happy to conclude that the jinx focuses on a particular weakness of the
professor in question (which would be reputation in Lockhart's case and
ambition in Umbridge's) and uses it to bring about their downfall.

>Voldemort's advantage in having Snape as DADA teacher is clear,
>whether he's consciously directing the curse or letting it work his
>will without direction, which I think is the case. He wants Snape to
>kill Dumbledore, which might be why he ordered young Severus to apply
>for the job in the first place, though he only told him he was sending
>him to Hogwarts as a spy. LV knew the curse would act to his own
>advantage and Severus's undoing, and he wouldn't care about the
>consequences to his servant once he had "done the deed." Nothing of
>the sort happened, of course, because Dumbledore hired Snape as
>Potions Master and Voldemort himself was vaporized a mere two months
>later. (We don't know what happened to the unfortunate person who was
>hired as DADA teacher in his stead.)

It also seems unlikely that Dumbledore, having turned Voldemort down, would
have hired Snape, especially after the eavesdropper incident, without some
pretty convincing proof that he'd turned coat (do we have actual canon that
Snape's appointment was _before_ Voldemort's downfall?)

hwyl

Ffred


O Benryn wleth hyd Luch Reon
Cymru yn unfryd gerhyd Wrion
Gwret dy Cymry yghymeiri