Frogs, Cats and Sadistic Teachers (was:Re: Teaching Styles)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 148085

Gerry:
> I'd say that is pragmatic. Yes, it is awful and evil, but says far
> more about how 'creative' fake!Moody is in manipulation people to get
> what he wants than about how he gets his kicks. As far as we know he
> could not care less in what way he got a one on one with Neville and
> to him this was just the easiest way to create an opportunity. I can
> very well imagine Barty being the kind of person who does not care 
one
> bit one way or the other about the pawns in his game, as long as they
> lead him to capture the king. 

Magpie:
Was it?  I was originally going to agree with you (despite Barty's 
plan being actually incredibly impractical!) but thinking about it it 
occured to me that it might not have been pragmatic at all, because 
didn't Moody offer to comfort Neville after Harry was speaking to him 
in the hall, thus making Fake!Moody think he and Harry were friends 
and so think Neville was a good way to get the book to Harry?  Had 
*Harry* not seen the state Neville was in and spoken to him Fake!Moody 
might not have targetted Neville at all.  I think there are signs that 
sometimes Barty just gets a little carried away.  I'd be tempted to 
lean more the opposite way on Barty than you've described and say that 
getting his kicks sometimes might be a priority.

Of course, I like to think that the little tea Neville and Crouch had 
was a sick little sadistic game on its own, with Crouch going on and 
on about what happened to Neville's parents and "not noticing" 
Neville's distress.  After my last re-read of GoF I started to wonder 
if that wasn't an important moment in Neville's arc and the moment he 
started mentally preparing for his role in OotP.

-m