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harry potter - Could Mad-Eye Moody See the Natural State of a Boggart With His Magical Eye?


In Order of the Phoenix, Mad-Eye Moody identifies a Boggart for Molly Weasley.



"We've been wanting to ask you for ages -- could you have a look in the writing desk in the drawing room and tell us what's inside it? We haven't wanted to open it just in case it's something really nasty."


"No problem, Molly."



Moody's electric-blue eye swiveled upward and stared fixedly through the ceiling of the kitchen.


"Drawing room . . ." he growled, as the pupil contracted. "Desk in the corner? Yeah, I see it. . . .Yeah, it's a boggart. . . .Want me to go up and get rid of it, Molly?"


(Order of the Phoenix - Page 169 - US Hardcover)



Prisoner of Azkaban tells us that no one knows the natural appearance of a boggart. However, would Moody's magical eye allow him to see a boggart in its natural state? Or would he have just seen his own boggart, the thing that scares him the most?



Answer



Since the boggart takes its form from whatever has its attention, and I don't think it's likely to know that Moody is watching it from downstairs, I think Moody would indeed see the natural(*) state of the boggart.


Recall their first class with Lupin, when they tackled the boggart. It only turned into one thing at a time, the fear of whoever had its attention. It has to know what to turn into, and I don't think it is likely to be focusing on anything in particular, sitting happily in its hiding spot, oblivious that Moody is watching it.


(*) Assuming they have a natural state. Lupin says they do, but how would anyone know if it's never been seen? In that case it would likely be in the form it had assumed at its last encounter.


For reference, Lupin's description of a boggart, p.133, first American edition:




So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.



And the boggart's defeat, p.139:



the boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.



So there's no corpse after they're dead.


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