Dementors -- talking?

[blpurdom at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26316

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., caliburncy at y... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Mindy C.L." <mindyatime at j...> wrote:
> > I am just reading my brand spankin' new copy of the POA in 
> > paperback and I was struck by something in one of the earlier 
> > chapters -- it was something to the effect that the Azkaban 
> > guards told the MOM officials that Sirius Black was muttering in 
> > his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts, He's at Hogwarts." I thought that 
> > the dementors can't talk!!! Can they? Or perhaps only to the MOM?
> 
> Yep, noticed that too when I first read the book and thought it was 
> too bad: there's something so much more chilling about silent 
> villains.  But I suppose it's almost as chilling that they can 
> talk, but simply choose not to.  Anyway, I think we have to assume 
> from this that they can, unless there are other Azkaban guards that 
> are not Dementors--for which there is basically no evidence that 
> I'm aware of.

It doesn't have to be verbal communication.  Someone at the Ministry 
may be able to communicate telepathically with the dementors, or the 
dementors may have sent a written communication via owl to the MoM.  
I'm not ruling out talking, but there's more ways to communicate than 
verbally.  If there were non-dementors for guards they would also 
have to be non-human (perhaps some breed of troll) in order to be 
immune from the dementors.

--Barb