Another LV Blunder - was Fudge is a DE

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 79085

Jim Ferer (me):"There was never a need to stage the Azkaban breakouts.
 With the Dementors on his side, Voldemort should have continued to
operate Azkaban as his base.  So, if a DE is captured and brought to 
Azkaban, the Dementors are waiting to lead him away.  If that moron
Fudge shows up for an inspection tour, he finds the Lestranges in
their cells – and nobody is the wiser."

Dave:" I think this depends on whether the DEs need to get away from
Azkaban to recover, and the related question of the extent of the
Dementors' allegience to Voldemort.. If Voldemort wants an active,
healthy, force, it probably means in practice that a breakout is
necessary."

That's a fair point, and if I'm wrong that the breakout was a blunder,
that's the reason.  I have to think that Voldemort could have found a
way out of that problem even if the Dementors were not wholly on his
side yet. (I bet they were cooperating at least somewhat).  They could
have had victims – Polyjuiced Muggles, perhaps, or people on Fudge's
"list" – in the cells. If there's an apparition barrier at Hogwarts,
there surely is one at Azkaban.  It would have been worth a lot of
effort to take over the island, because the advantages of Azkaban as a
hidden-in-plain-sight base would be enormous.

Voldemort's big problem is that Harry and Dumbledore have a strong,
secure base, Hogwarts, while Voldemort has none.  He probably has safe
houses, such as the Riddle House (probably blown now after the
graveyard scene), but no real headquarters. As long as the good guys
have Hogwarts, which I'm sure is recognized now as the center of the
war against Voldemort, Voldemort is at a serious disadvantage.

The whole MoM affair was a disaster for Voldemort.  It's a long way
from over, but the DE's have to notice how their boss keeps losing out
to the kid and the codger.

Jim Ferer