Dementors - Travel query

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 22492

Naama wrote:

>[Note: Do Dementors feed on the good stuff they suck out or on the 
>bad stuff that's left and stimulated inside? From Lupin's description 
>it would seem that the former is true, but then they are driven away 
>by the Patronus, which is a projection of "good stuff" and is 
>incapable of despair.]

>From Lupin's description, I'd say they do feed on the good stuff, but 
they can only get it from someone who has the bad stuff too, because 
it's that experience of being overwhelmed with bad feeling that makes 
the good feeling rush out even more.  At first that may sound 
backwards, but it fits with depression, in which, in my experience, 
one starts out feeling just kinda bad and the toxicity of that badness 
causes bad feelings to escalate and good feelings to plummet, a sort 
of snowball effect.  The Dementors can't suck the good feeling out of 
a Patronus because it has no vulnerability.  They might get a nibble 
but the Patronus doesn't panic and let all the good feeling seep out, 
because it has no capacity for panic.  Am I making any sense?

It's as if Dementors would be easily frightened even by a human if 
only that human could make him/herself invulnerable to the fear they 
spread.  A Patronus is like a person who can't be scared or saddened.

Monika wrote:

>And Muggles can feel the presence of Dementors, so there seems to be 
>something in their brain/perception that keeps them from seeing them.

It strikes me that the effect of Dementors is even crueler if you 
can't see them.  I bet Dementors get even more out of Muggles than out 
of wizards because Muggles can't externalize their despair:  "It's not 
in me, it's caused by those horrible creatures."  We can try the same 
remedy--conjuring up our happiest memories--but it would be easier to 
do if we had something concrete like a Patronus to fight something 
concrete like a Dementor.  Instead, when we're depressed, we feel like 
we're fighting ourselves.

Edis wrote:

>If you want a real plot and life problem how about getting (in GoF) 
>from Ottery St Catchpole (a Devonshire village if there ever was one) 
>to Kings Cross in a couple of Muggle taxis?  Two taxis 250 odd miles? 

AHA!  Someone who can help me with my travel question.  Sorry I can't 
help you with yours, Edis--I'm 3000 miles west of Little Whinging, 
myself.

My question is this:  in PS/SS 6, it takes the Dursleys about 3 hours 
to get from home to King's Cross.

"Harry woke at five the next morning and was too excited and nervous 
to go back to sleep.  He got up and pulled on his jeans because he 
didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes--he'd 
change on the train.  He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make 
sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in 
her cage and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. 
 Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the 
Dursley's car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to 
Harry and they had set off.
  "They reached King's Cross at half past ten."

Even if the "two hours later" counts from 6 a.m. (that gives Harry a 
whole hour to dress, recheck his trunk, and see to Hedwig, so I'm sure 
it's actually more like 20 minutes), they left at 8, so that's 2 1/2 
hours.

I just want someone near London to tell me if this is so outrageous a 
figure for a drive from anywhere in Surrey (looks it on the map) that 
it must be either a Flint or, better, a joke by JKR about London 
logjams.

?
Amy Z
who drives 70 minutes each way to work, but it's scenic and 
traffic-jamless all the way

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 "=Wow!=" said Dennis, as though nobody in their wildest 
 dreams could hope for more than being thrown into a 
 storm-tossed, fathoms-deep lake and pushed out of it 
 again by a giant sea-monster.
                           -HP and the Goblet of Fire
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