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harry potter - Would real Moody have taught 4th year students about Unforgiveable curses?


Would real Moody have taught 4th year students about Unforgiveable curses the way fake Barty Crouch Moody did?


In other words, did Barty teach about them (leaving aside his hands-on teaching approach) just to satisfy his Death Eater wishes, or did he teach them as part of his cover as Moody impersonator because Moody would have taught about them?



Answer



I'd say it's probably a combination of the two, though mostly part of his cover. Barty Crouch, Jr. likely wouldn't have passed up the opportunity to use the Unforgivable curses, but it also doesn't seem out of character for the real Mad-Eye Moody to give a practical demonstration to fourth year students.




"... I’m not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you’re in the sixth year. You’re not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore’s got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you’re up against, the better. ..."



Assuming that we can take the statement that it was approved by Dumbledore as the truth - and I see no reason why we can't, it would be very difficult to keep performing the Unforgiveables in front of students secret from the other teachers - then it seems that it was indeed part of the cover.


Crouch's job was to disguise himself as Moody and make sure that Harry won the Triwizard Cup, so he's not going to push heavily in favour of something that wouldn't be considered normal for Moody because it would raise questions. I suppose the beauty of impersonating Moody, as opposed to anybody else, is that he's viewed as pretty unstable by a lot of people anyway. Any slightly questionable actions - such as turning Draco Malfoy into a bouncing ferret - aren't going to make anybody suspicious.


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