Unforgivables - from a different angle

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 174559

Magpie:

> I consider Bellatrix and Barty perfectly credible 
> witnesses for this information, there's no scenes 
> where somebody disproves it, iirc Harry himself 
> verifies it once he's done a Crucio successfully. 
> So why would it be wrong?

houyhnhnm:

Well, there is the scene Harry witnesses through 
the Voldemort connection of Rowle being crucio'd by Draco. 
(Scholastic, p.174)

Draco doesn't seem to be enjoying it very much.  
His face is described as white and terrified, petrified 
and gaunt. His motivation seems to come from the fear 
of having the same thing done to him if he doesn't comply.

Before DH came out there was a discussion about whether 
or not Snape could cast a Patronus (answered by DH, of 
course).  I liked Mike's suggestion that a happy memory 
might be necessary for beginners learning to cast a 
Patronus, but not for someone who was proficient.  I 
was not so taken with the idea of Love being the force 
behind them, but someone else suggested something like 
muscle memory.  Kind of like learning a song.  You might 
need mnemonic devices to remember the words initially, 
but once learned, the words come out automatically.

Maybe it's the same with Crucio.  To learn to do the 
spell properly, one has to concentrate on the sadistic 
pleasure it gives, but once the caster becomes proficient 
it may be possible to toss them off quite casually 
(Bellatrix is stuck on sadism because she's Bellatrix).  
If that's the case, it makes the use of Crucio even more 
evil, IMO, and it doesn't let Harry off the hook by any means.

I don't like the use of Unforgiveables by supposedly 
good characters in DH.  Rowling's answer was unsatisfactory.  
I liked Carol's a little better, at least with respect 
to Harry's use of them.  I don't have an answer of my 
own.  Maybe I will when I finish my second reading of 
the book.  I had to read it through the first time really 
fast and I'm nowhere near the end on the second go.