Arithmancy & Dementor question

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 55401

Andrea wrote:
> --- Alej wrote:
>> Hi all, I'm Alej, and new to the board. Anyways, I've been thinking
>> of writing my own HP fanfic, but I'm stuck on one part. I wanted to
>> put in a scene where a couple of characters are discussing
>> Arithmancy, but I can't find anything that seems to explain it in 
>> any sort of detail. Does anybody know anything about Arithmancy that
>> might help me, or at least know of some links I can try? Thanks,
> 
> Arithmancy is a type of numerology, using the letters in one's name
> and numbers assigned to those letters to determine a person's
> personality and future.  There's a nify Arithmancy calculator at
> http://www.sorcererscompanion.net/arithmancy.html and a quick Google
> search for "Arithmancy" will give you a number of sites. 
> 
> Andrea

Unfortunately, in this matter this is not as clear cut. While 
arithmancy is a form of divination based on numbers, it has been 
discussed before if that is the case in potterverse. The main reason to 
believe this is that Hermione likes it, while at the same time 
disregards divination as not exact. In fact, she drops divination 
altoghether, but keeps arithmancy in 4th year nonetheless. All this 
implies, for many listees (including me) that JKR has something else in 
mind with arithmancy - maybe some sort of mathematical study of magic, 
we don't know.

To respond to Alej, there isn't any canon about what arithmancy lessons 
might be like, only a couple of references by Hermione (and how she 
didn't get any homework the first day of class, IIRC). You're going to 
have to invent it, alhough if you ask me, I wouldn't make an issue of 
calculating the future - whatever JKR has in mind, I don't think that's 
part of it.

Eric Oppen wrote:
> How fast can a Dementor travel?  

We don't know - there is little canon about them. They have been 
mentioned to "glide" and my impression from the descriptions is that 
they move deceptively fast when needed (like when one got out of 
control and kissed Barty Jr.). At any rate, I doubt that they can move 
faster than a running man - tops the speed of a horse, I'd say

> Or are there other Dementors than
> the ones at Azkaban (and Hogwarts during PoA)?

Yes, certainly. It seems that they're available as escorts when 
required by MoM officials.

> So when "Moody" turned out to be Barty Crouch, Jr., which apparently
> surprised even Professor Dumbledore, he'd have had to get one _fast_
> to have one ready to roll when he was called into the castle.

I always understood that Fudge had been going around with a dementor as 
bodyguard, but that before that moment he had not dared bring it into 
the castle (since Dumbledore had said "never again" after the disaster 
at the end of PoA). However, when Fudge hears about the rumours, he 
throws all sensibilities to the winds and pulls rank to take his pet 
dementor with him just in case.

By the way, this situation has been pointed out as a sign of FIE (Fudge 
Is Evil), since it almost seems as a planned execution of an ally that 
has spoken too much. I myself don't think that is the case: if The 
Ministry of Magic was in Voldemort's pocket, Voldemort would've already 
won the war, almost, but instead he's scrambling around trying to get 
his DEs back under his thumb. I prefer to see the kiss incident as an 
indication of Fudge's incompetence, and the inherent danger and 
discontrol of the dementors.

> Can Dementors apparate?  Can they, if they can apparate, apparate
> onto the Hogwarts grounds?  We know that _wizards and witches_ can't
> do this, at least according to _Hogwarts: A History,_ but we've seen 
> (in CoS) that house-elves apparently can do something of the sort.
>
> Eric

We have indeed seen house elves display amazing powers, but I can't 
bring myself to believe that Dementors can apparate - they would then 
be unstoppable, with no way to control them or bargain whatsoever. 
Canon wise, there is little one way or the other, so you're free to 
propose your own theory, but I find it very unlikely that Dementors 
posses any such magical power, or they would've made use of it by now. 

Giselle Sicle wrote:
> I wasn't aware that Azkaban is an island. Where in canon does it say > that? 

Black mentions he had to swim to the coast in his dog form after 
escaping Azkaban. The combination of needing to swim and going to a 
coast indicates that Azkaban is indeed in a island. Besides, it was 
confirmed by JKR in an interview that it was in an island in the North 
sea. Unfortunately, this last remark isn't considered full canon - the 
clues in the books indicate that the island is most likely found in the 
channel islands, not in the North Sea, so it is open to discussion.

> IMO I don't think they can 
> apparate but perhaps Fudge can apparate into Azkaban and poof a 
> dementor out with him. It is only a theory, and no the prisoners can 
> not do the same because of the effect the dementors have on them, I 
> think.

Several things go against this theory: one, that it is very unlikely 
that apparition can be performed with passengers, especially one of the 
sort of a dementor who could make you loose the energy to reach your 
destination (does increasing manyfold the chnace to splinch).

Furthermore, if Azkaban is indeed in a channel island, Fudge probably 
isn't powerful enough to apparate all the way from there to near 
Hogwarts (even Dumbledore takes the broom to go from Hogwarts to 
London).

Third, it is very likely that Azkaban is as protected from apparition 
as is Hogwarts, since it's the logical place to put such restriction. 
For one thing, new prisoners aren't yet affected by dementors to the 
point were they cannot attempt apparition to escape (at least, I'd see 
the simple possibility an unnecesary security risk existing 
anti-apparition charms), and second, the dementors haven't been 
guardians of Azkaban forever - it was one of the changes Fudge himself 
made when he got into the office, IIRC - so before that, there had to 
be a way to prevent prisoners from escaping that didn't depend on the 
effects of dementors on nearby people.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf