Chapter Discussion: Chapter Fifteen, Goblet of Fire: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 192217

 
> Questions:
> 1. To jump on the question from the previous chapter about Dumbledore wanting 
> Fake!Moody to demonstrate Unforgivables in all their glory – in this one Moody
> claims Dumbledore wanted him to put the Imperio on the students. I believed him
> without any hesitation, but you all know how I feel about Dumbledore, so could
> somebody please convince me that this was Fake!Moody's own desire and
> Dumbledore had nothing to do with it?

Pippin:
Not me. Fake!Moody made no effort to keep this a secret. So he either had, or took it for granted that he would get, the tacit consent of not only Dumbledore but the Ministry and the parents (even the Malfoys, I suppose.) Wizards just don't have the concept that their wills ought to be inviolable and there's no such thing as a benign use of such power. Even Hermione only objects because it's illegal, not because she thinks they're going to be harmed. 

Moody's explanation, IIRC, is that Dumbledore wants the students to know how it feels. I have puzzled over that myself, because what good did it do?  Only Harry learned to resist the curse, and no one, even Harry, learned to recognize the signs that someone might be under it, at least not in time to do any good. 

But it does make a difference, IMO, in the way that victims of the curse are treated. Harry, who had this lesson, believes that Stan Shunpike shouldn't be held responsible for his actions under the curse, while Lupin and Percy, who didn't have it, are inclined to retaliate against Stan and Pius Thicknesse regardless. 



> 5. How do you think the Durmstrang ship arrived in the lake? Was this
> apparition? Something else? Why do you think this mode of transportation was
> not more widely used in the Potterverse?


Pippin:
I thought it traveled by underground rivers, and was chosen by JKR to emphasize the affinity between the Durmstrang students and Slytherin as the water House. Of course the Beaux Batons students arrive by air, and are seated with the Ravenclaws. 

It may be that Slytherin's somewhat sinister reputation has made British wizards wary of water magic in general. Or perhaps this is just a secret of Durmstrang, never shared with the outside world.

Pippin