Dumbledore-Fudge confrontation in GoF

[bookraptor11 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29053

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Wanda Sherratt" <sherratt at m...> wrote:
            *Several snips*
 During the confrontation in the infirmary, 
> Fudge is defending himself for having turned a Dementor on Barty 
> Crouch Jr., and says "It seems he has been responsible for several 
> deaths!"  Then Dumbledore retorts that now Crouch "cannot give 
> evidence about why he killed those people,"  
>Dumbledore's remark doesn't make sense, either - 
> Crouch already has given evidence under Veritaserum, and Dumbledore 
> knows everything about the deaths of Cedric and Crouch Sr Anyway, I 
have a bad feeling about 
> Fudge.  Any ideas about this?

I think Dumbledore wanted Crouch to give his testimony in court, 
among impartial witnesses.  Now anyone who doesn't want to believe 
that Voldemort has returned can say there's no real proof, just 
Dumbledore and his cronies spreading unsubstantiated rumors. Also, if 
it becomes known how little control the MOM truly has over the 
dementors, people could demand Fudge's resignation and a total 
shakeup of the MOM.  I read that section of GOF, and while Fudge does 
insist on bringing the dementor in for protection, he never orders it 
to administer the kiss.

So we have two possibilities. First, Fudge could just be a politian 
who wants to keep his head in the sand about Voldemort and avoid 
unpleasant questions about the use of dementors.  Second, he could be 
on V's side, giving him more time to regroup his death eaters, and 
bringing in the dementor knowing it would go after Crouch.  
Unfortunately, whichever it turns out to be, the results are the same 
here. 

This situation also raises the question, which has been discussed 
here before, about the dementors.  How consciously are they 
supporting Voldemort?  Are they little more than animals acting on 
instinct or is a higher intelligence present?  If they are 
intelligent, are they supporting him or using him because they know 
they'll get more souls with him than the MOM?

Donna