Presumably, Rosmerta always had the ability to cast the Imperius Curse. She just refrained from doing so because it is both highly illegal and unethical. And as I have pointed out, it was not a particularly well-cast curse. Likewise, Krum was a skilled wizard with rumored training in Dark Arts and thus perfectly capable of casting the Cruciatus. They were merely commanded by the Imperius to perform the curses, not granted the knowledge to do so.

The incantations and wand movements for the Unforgivables are never presented as being particularly secret. All sorts of people who are otherwise respectable demonstrate a remarkable facility for casting these curses across the series.

In the case of Neville, I find it highly likely that the actions he performed while under the curse were things he could in fact perform without it, but that he lacked the confidence to try without making a mess of things. As anyone can say who has had experience with gymnastics, free running, or other physical actions, self-confidence is a must. The Imperius Curse would have removed Neville's timidity and left him quite able to flawlessly do anything of which he was physically capable.

 

That's a good point, but I think you answered it in your edit. A spider (or Neville) has the ability to cartwheel, or dance, or do whatever, because it's pretty much a puppet on a string type deal. "Raise leg, put it down. Push self over, etc." Even if it's not that basic, it's still the same premise.

If that's the case, then dominating the will is merely about telling them which body part(s) to move and that they will not fail doing it (which negates the human capacity for self-doubt/over-thinking, so it just gets done). Telling them to cast spells that they don't know, or to do quadratic equations and come up with the answer in three minutes is something that is completely outside their realm of ability, and so while they may attempt it, they'll never do it.

At least, that's how I'm looking at it.

 

So if Neville didn't know how to do gymnastics, Barty crouch would have looked like a fool in class?

Actually I can't remember but do you give someone verbal instructions or is mental?

When the girl was trying to assassinate Dumbledore, did Malfoy tell her exactly what to do or did he just tell her to assassinate him and the whole idea was hers?

If Mr.Merriman is correct, does it mean or would it be possible to imperio someone whose been kissed to act like they used to?

 

I think the point is that a person under the influence of the imperius acts under the will of another using the facilities of the hosts body. Moody doesn't have to know how to do a cartwheel to know what they look like, and the magic works out the rest. It is magic you know, it probably does what it can with the parts it's given, the intent of the caster, the resistance of the target, and the body of the target to accomplish the goal. It's not a computer or a logical system that has definite limitations and boundries, so I would expect for it to work in an intuitive way. If Neville could do the gymnastics but lacked the confidence, he would succeed, and he physically couldn't he would either attempt to but fail, or simply fail to do anything at all. Probably given Harrys experience with the curse (when he fought it he half preformed the action) and the characteristics of the curse you would get something in order of "total success" "partial success" or "complete failure" based on authorial Fiat and what the situation was.

 

The spell might also give the caster a bit of space or leeway with the physical capabilities of the target. Neville may or may not, with confidence, have had the coordination to do the gymnastics, but even if he didn't, he would under the Imperius. It's not inconceivable for Neville's body to do those gymnastics, he just doesn't know how, and even if he's not coordinated enough to do it on his own, well . . . it's magic. So long as you're not trying to make a paralyzed man walk, you could probably get Slughorn to do a complex tapdance if you wanted, even though he's fat, out of shape, and has no idea what tap dancing is.

Hermione won't even go near a broom, but I bet if Harry bewitched her, she'd be able to fly like Krum.

On that note, how good would DLP say Harry was at the Imperius Curse when he cast it?

 

Is the Dresden Files TV show worth watching?

 

That would be really weird. Brings up the idea of using the Imperius on yourself to do things you normally wouldn't be able to do. Be like its own performance enhancing drug. Would it make you duel better? Could it help you learn? Weird possibilities under the idea of being able to do things you normally couldn't.

 

Wait, you think it's possible to use your will to dominate your will in order to get you to do something you're not willing to do?

 

There is a fic with that premise. I think I saw it in the almost rec thread here but not sure.

 

Or have a friend do it.

 

Friends don't let friends Imperio alone.

 

Weirder than Neville doing complex gymnastics?

 

Now that's an emo/angst fic waiting to happen. I can see the summary now:

And then the real depressing part of it: - Chapters: 4 - Words: 3000 - Reviews: 198 (190 of which being some variation of MOAR! or BEST FIC EVER!

 

I actually had this thought in a dream, thats what you get for falling asleep reading fanfiction.

Despite the fact that Voldemort has essentially taken over all of Britain, its power and control relies on about 6-10 people. Yaxely, Bellatrix, Malfoy ect.

With out them Voldemort cant really rule the nation, he's just a powerful guy but with no means to really wield that power apart from random destruction.

So this idea could work two ways.

First would be to polyjuice themselves like the did in DH then visit the offices of Yaxely, Pious and any other powerful bad guy in the ministry and off them. The bad guy wouldnt expect it and a stunner in the back followed by a knife to the throat then transfigure and vanish the body. They could probably spend hours in the ministry wondering around killing people before people really started to notice somthing wrong. The same tactice could be used at the same time in Hogwarts to take out the Death Eaters there. Harry and Ron in Ministry and Hermione in Hogwarts, could take out 80% of the most powerful and influential Death Eaters in a few hours.

The other option is more prone to failure, but just get the jump on some mid level Death Eater, imperious him and tell him to get all the important Death Eaters alone then kill them 'Excuse me Ms Lestrange, the snatchers have reported in, they have caught the mudblood Granger' Then she follows him out of the room, he steps behind her and stabs her in the back, transfigure, vanish, repeat.

It is the same tactic Voldemort used almost in taking out Dumbledore, Amelia Bones and Refus.

Now his government falls apart, and all you have to do is take out Voldemort... okay so not easy, but still a better state of affairs than the systematic killing of Muggleborns.

The only issue is they might not be able to reestablish a new government with the left over good guys and thus you have total anarchy.

Also as practical as it is, the good guys might not want to use such tactics...

 

Not a bad plan considering that they got into Gringotts using it. As for...

Stun, dose with Dreamless sleep, kill the Dark Lord, wake and prosecute.

 

Yeah, Harry Potter magic is so overpowered that you could practically take over the world with the tickling charm if you took it to logical extremes.

Especially the potential for assassinating people is practically endless with all the concealment, mind manipulation, transportation and instant kill/incapacitation options available.

 

I know, isn't it great?

 

Yes it is.

 

No it isn't.