Crouch!Moody and the Goblet of Fire -- why so complicated?

[littleleahstill]

No: HPFGUIDX 157331

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Mike" <mcrudele78 at ...> wrote:

> Which brings up an interesting question: How could Crouch Jr. know 
how 
> to act like Moody well enough to fool Dumbledore? He had no time to 
> even question Moody prior to showing up Sept. 1 at Hogwarts, much 
less 
> time to get a feel for the character he was going to impersonate.
> 
> Besides, he just spent 12-13 years under the Imperious curse. Not 
real 
> conducive to developing ones social skills. And he was at Azkaban and 
> a junior DE before that. How could this neophyte possibly fool DD 
into 
> believing that he was DD's old friend Moody?
>


Crouch Jnr was brought up in the house of a senior Ministry official.  
I imagine this would have given him the opportunity to meet other 
senior Ministry staff, including Aurors.  Moody must have been a pretty 
unforgettable character for a small boy to witness.  We also know that 
Voldemort arrived at the Crouchs' house in the arms of Wormtail.  
Pettigrew had been an Order member alongside Moody, and presumably had 
memories which could have been extracted for a teaching session or two 
(assuming the Crouchs owned a pensieve; their use doesn't seem to be 
general).

So, I think impersonation would be possible, though whether it would be 
good enough to fool DD is another question.  Perhaps we are meant to 
assume that DD is too preoccupied with the hosting of the tournament 
and pondering on Diary!Tom to give the DADA teacher his full 
attention.   

There are many good things in GOF, but I do feel that in terms of plot 
it is the creakiest of the six books.  Was it in GOF that JKR said she 
found a large plot hole half way through and had to rewrite?

Leah