Was always surprised that Severus never picked up on it, mind reading and all
this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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One thing that always bothered me, was that barty was so good at playing the part he bonded with harry as a mentor figure all year, then when the switcheroo was discovered they acted like harry and the real moody had still bonded all year, when really the guy locked in a box for 7 months and never even seen this kid before.
This always bugged me as well. Any time Moody is around in the following books it always felt weird, because the writing acts like Harry knows Moody really well, despite hardly having interacted with the real Moody at all.
The weirdness is acknowledged at the start of OotP:
‘Professor Moody?’ he said uncertainly.
‘I don’t know so much about “Professor”,’ growled the voice, ‘never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly.’
Harry lowered his wand slightly but did not relax his grip on it, nor did he move. He had very good reason to be suspicious. He had recently spent nine months in what he had thought was Mad-Eye Moody’s company only to find out that it wasn’t Moody at all, but an impostor; an impostor, moreover, who had tried to kill Harry before being unmasked.
Mad-Eye Moody was now sitting at the kitchen table swigging from a hip flask, his magical eye spinning in all directions, taking in the Dursleys’ many labour-saving appliances.
‘This is Alastor Moody, Harry,’ Lupin continued, pointing towards Moody.
‘Yeah, I know,’ said Harry uncomfortably. It felt odd to be introduced to somebody he’d thought he’d known for a year.
Call it a parasocial relationship, like what some people develop watching streamers. Harry knows Moody somewhat, because Barty Crouch Junior apparently acted so well in this role that nobody noticed any difference.
That is a great comparison. Harry feels like he knows Moody somewhat well, while Moody doesnt really know Harry.
There was that initial meeting after, where Harry calls him "professor" and Moody corrects him saying that he'd never taught. Beyond that, I can't remember what their relationship was like
Severus is a lot better at occlumency than legilimency though.
what's the difference again?
legilimency = reading someone else's mind
occlumency = blocking a legilimens from reading your mind
Ah I see, yeah good context -- he was good at shielding himself from Voldemort's probes, but couldn't read Voldemort himself
Ron is in the other corner sulking somewhere.
What a bad book