"Moody" (Barty Crouch Jr) suggests this to Harry after he is almost caught out of bed in the middle of the night.
"You ever thought of a career as an Auror, Potter?"
"No," said Harry, taken aback.
"You want to consider it," said Moody, nodding and looking at Harry thoughtfully.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter-25, The Egg and the Eye
Considering the events of the night, Harry was completely fooled by fake Moody.
Harry walked slowly back to Gryffindor Tower, lost in thought about Snape, and Crouch, and what it all meant....Why was Crouch pretending to be ill, if he could manage to get to Hogwarts when he wanted to? What did he think Snape was concealing in his office?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter-25, The Egg and the Eye
Did "Moody"(Crouch Jr) suggest it only to lead Harry to believe that he was thinking along the right lines, and thereby throw him off scent from discovering his (fake Moody's) true identity? Or was it a genuine suggestion, based on a full term of teaching Harry DADA?
The latter doesn't seem likely considering Barty Crouch Jr was plotting Harry's death by the end of the year. But he could have just been doing his undercover job to perfection.
In either case, Harry does go on to reflect how ironic it was that it was a Death Eater in disguise that first put this idea in him.
My question is, was it an actual observation based on Harry's abilities (ignoring the murder plan), or was it a clever defense mechanism, by way of flattery, by the Death Eater to keep his identity concealed, considering his actual name had just been seen on the Marauder's Map?
Answer
First of all, Barty was Harry's teacher and he certainly recognised that Harry had the aptitude for the job: the boy was good with DADA spells, had a strong will - he even succeeded to resist the Imperius curse put on him by Barty himself. It was also evident that Harry had courage, performed extremely well under pressure, had good reflexes and a quick response. In addition Harry had, as Hermione put it 'a saving people thing'.
All those qualities made Harry a logical candidate for being an auror, something that the real Moody, (who was an excellent auror with vast experience and also a veteran who trained young aurors) would have certainly recognised.
All that Barty did was is staying in character - he indeed did an excellent job at playing the role of Alastair Moody. Barty probably thought that it is exactly what the real Moody would have done: Prepare the students and especially Harry for the battles to come, teach constant vigilance and identify the Unforgivables, even how to resist the Imperius curse (!) and recommend his profession to those who showed capabilities for it.
Barty did all this to maintain his cover under the watchful eyes of Dumbledore.
Also, maybe having an above average intelligence and succeeding in fooling everyone at Hogwarts made Barty somewhat overconfident and he probably concluded that it wouldn't matter in the end - Harry wouldn't live long enough to use all the acquired knowledge, as he, Barty, the Dark Lord's most loyal follower will use his considerable talents to hand him over to his master, so the boy won't be able to grow up, became an auror and cause any real trouble to Voldemort and his followers.
What makes Barty such an intriguing character that the advice he gives is usually on the point - he boosted Neville's confidence praising his herbology skills, in a really tactful way, and did the same with Harry. Empty flattery wouldn't have achieved the same results. Barty seems to have really excellent people skills, as opposed to Moody who is a bit dry and uninspiring. It seems that Barty, regardless of his objectives and blasé attitude towards torture and murder made a better job at being Moody than the original.
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