Dementors & Harry, Dumbledore's portrait

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 30965

Elizabeth wrote:

> Last night I was re-reading a bit of PoA and I noticed this for the 
> first time: in the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff (in which 
> Harry falls off his broom), the Dementors have gathered onto the 
> field and are all *looking at Harry*. This rather weakens Lupin's 
> explanation that they just came in looking for a feast from all the 
> excited students. They aren't randomly milling about, soaking up 
> everyone's stray happy thoughts. 

<snip>

> Then at the end, they try to give him the Kiss, of course. And 
> nobody offers much of an explanation as to why. Even Fudge seems to 
> think that was an unexpected thing for them to do. Maybe it was 
> simply because he was between them and Sirius, whom they intended 
to 
> Kiss, but maybe not, after all.
> 

I think the things you mention are also really weird.  Here are some 
inconsistent theories:

1.  Perhaps the reason the dementors are looking up is that they are 
focusing on the people in the stadium with the most emotion.  That 
would be the 14 players.  Harry thinks they are all looking at him, 
but really, how would he know that?  They don't lower their hoods, so 
he doesn't know where they are looking, particularly since they don't 
even have eyes.

2.  As for the dementor who tried to Kiss Harry, maybe you have to be 
conscious for a dementor to kiss you.  When they Kiss Crouch Jr. in 
GoF, he is conscious, although under the influence of Veritaserum.  
>From the dementor's POV in PoA, they see Sirius, then two more people 
arrive, then Sirius collapses.  They move in, and they sense one 
conscious person (Harry) with strong emotions, so perhaps they assume 
it is still Sirius.  

I have an ulterior motive for proposing Theory No. 2, though.  Recall 
that Snape threatens to take Sirius to the dementors for a Kiss 
instead of taking Sirius to the castle.  When Snape wakes up on the 
grounds, he finds Sirius, but does not take Sirius to the dementors.  
One could believe that Snape shows mercy because Snape is 
fundamentally good and his previous statement was just an empty 
threat.  I prefer to believe Snape desperately wanted to take Sirius 
to the dementors, but he couldn't because dementors can't Kiss 
someone who is unconscious.  That way, I can keep believing Snape is 
awful.  ;-)

Elizabeth again:

I 
> seriously doubt Dumbledore would come back as a ghost, and I also 
> can't see him channelling through Trelawney, but I *could* see him 
> getting a portrait made which could provide some limited advice 
> after he's gone. I thought this item might have been thrown in to 
> suggest this.
> 
> Has anyone else noticed that wizard's moving photographs are 
silent, 
> whereas painted portraits can speak? Or is that just because we've 
> only seen "cheap" photos (on candy cards and newspapers), and 
> speaking images with personality are more difficult to create, 
> whether painting or photograph?
> 

Good observations.  Hmmm, you're right that there must be a 
qualitative difference between the portraits and other wizarding 
photos.  After all, there seems to be much concern about the Fat Lady 
when Sirius attacks her.  Also, Hogwarts portraits have free will and 
must be capable of experiencing pain, as all decline to replace the 
Fat Lady except brave little Sir Cadogan.  

On the other hand, Dumbledore vacates his Chocolate Frog card in 
PS/SS, and Ron observes that it isn't reasonable to expect Dumbledore 
to hang around forever.  That suggests that the Chocolate Frog 
pictures aren't ordinary wizarding photos, either.

Wizarding pictures seem to be accorded much less respect than 
Hogwarts photos, as you mentioned.  Sirius gathers discarded 
newspapers in GoF, which suggests that people casually toss out their 
newspapers, wizarding pictures and all.

Let me add that little models of things must be considered much less 
important than Hogwarts portraits.  Ron rips apart his Krum action 
figure, and no one is aghast about it.

Cindy (who is still in a bloodthirsty mood and wonders if Moody's 
magical eye is really an eye harvested from a dementor)