Chapter Discussion: Chapter Fourteen, Goblet of Fire: The Unforgivable Curses

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 192202

 
> Questions:
> 
> 
> 1. In the beginning of class, Crouch!Moody says he'll only be staying for a
> year. We know why Barty Crouch, Jr had no intention of staying any longer. But
> do you think this was originally agreed upon between the real Moody and DD, and
> did that have anything to do with the DADA curse?


Surely Moody would be able to detect the DADA curse, and of course Barty would know about it if Voldemort chose to tell him.


> 2. Do you think Crouch!Moody* left the Cruciatus on the second spider too long? 
> Do you remember the impression it made on you on your first reading, if any?

JKR has said that up until Crouch!Moody gave himself away by taking Harry off with him at the end, his impersonation of the real Moody was flawless, so I guess this is something the real Moody would have done. Aurors under Crouch Sr were authorized to use the unforgivable curses against Death Eaters.

The demonstration was certainly too long for Neville (and for the spider), but it seems to have made the desired impression on the other students. 

 
> 3. Having seen Crouch!Moody demonstrate the Unforgivables in Harry's class, what
> do you think of the Ministry's policy of not showing dark curses to students
> until they're in sixth year, and about DD ignoring that?

Pippin:
I am sure that if Harry had been in sixth year when Voldemort had shown signs of returning to power, Dumbledore would not have felt any need to involve the fourth and fifth year students. 

> 4. Harry didn't seem to make anything of Neville's distress after seeing the
> Cruciatus curse. Given his own feelings about Avada Kedavra, do you think he
> should have been more perceptive about Neville, or did he have too much to think
> about on his own account?

Pippin:
Harry was never terribly interested in Neville. 
> 
> 
> 
> 

> 6. What do you think of the name S.P.E.W. and Hermione sticking with it after
> Harry's and Ron's immediate reactions?
> 

Pippin:
I think this was a tip of the hat to the ineptly initialed Anti-Slavery Society (or as it was formally known, the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions) founded by William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson in 1823. 

I think Hermione was so dedicated to her cause that she simply refused to admit she'd picked a silly  name for it. 
 
> 7. Sirius says DD has been reading the signs. What are they? How many can we
> list?

Sirius would know about The Death Eater riot at the World Cup and the conjuring of the Dark Mark. He doesn't appear to know about the dark marks borne by the DE's themselves, but Dumbledore does, and would be aware that Snape's was coming back. 
 

Readers do not learn until DH that the Death Eaters can use the Dark Marks to communicate with each other as well as with Voldemort, although this will be hinted at in GoF when Crouch!Moody causes Snape's dark mark to twinge. But that explains how Lucius could have summoned so many Death Eater to riot at the World Cup although he only knew the identities of the few in his cell.


There is also the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins in Albania where Voldemort was rumored to be hiding,  and the subsequent  disappearance of the caretaker of the Riddle House.

Thanks for the questions, Annemehr!


Pippin