I’m hoping Eliezer will show us some reason why Dumbledore and company repose so much trust in Quirrell; otherwise, he’s the most obvious agent-of-Voldemort suspect behind the time paradox. (To say nothing of the selection effects on DADA professors caused by the curse.)
It may be because of the “don’t let him be fired before the year ends” effect. Nobody wants to deal with the consequences of the most competent DADA teacher in years being on Voldemort’s side.
Personally, this would make me extra suspicious of him. He’s clearly extremely competent, but if we can take it as given that he’s not going to hold the job for more than a year, then one major possibility is that he’s up to something so bad that they can’t possibly justify keeping him at the school once they find out. Even not knowing that he’s secretly Voldemort, it seems like they have adequate reason to suspect that not investigating into his activities is something they could seriously regret. If he were merely engaged in something harmless but illegal, they could probably brush it under the rug, so they should be prepared for the possibility that it’s something much worse.
Yes, but he’s not familiar with how creepy Quirrel is and there may not be immediate facts available to him that put him at the top of his hypothesis space.
I’m hoping Eliezer will show us some reason why Dumbledore and company repose so much trust in Quirrell; otherwise, he’s the most obvious agent-of-Voldemort suspect behind the time paradox. (To say nothing of the selection effects on DADA professors caused by the curse.)
It may be because of the “don’t let him be fired before the year ends” effect. Nobody wants to deal with the consequences of the most competent DADA teacher in years being on Voldemort’s side.
Personally, this would make me extra suspicious of him. He’s clearly extremely competent, but if we can take it as given that he’s not going to hold the job for more than a year, then one major possibility is that he’s up to something so bad that they can’t possibly justify keeping him at the school once they find out. Even not knowing that he’s secretly Voldemort, it seems like they have adequate reason to suspect that not investigating into his activities is something they could seriously regret. If he were merely engaged in something harmless but illegal, they could probably brush it under the rug, so they should be prepared for the possibility that it’s something much worse.
But shouldn’t Mad-Eye Moody, at least, be immune to that bias?
Yes, but he’s not familiar with how creepy Quirrel is and there may not be immediate facts available to him that put him at the top of his hypothesis space.
Um, Harry’s lunch alone with Quirrell triggered the time paradox. That should definitely raise any Quirrell-centric hypotheses to consideration.
True.
Good catch; I forgot about that.