[HPforGrownups] Harry banishes a boggart, then is asked to conjure a Patronus?

[Echa Schneider]

No: HPFGUIDX 74299


On Wednesday, July 30, 2003, at 12:59 PM, Liz Perpetua wrote:

>
> In the OWL chapter of OoP, Harry banishes a boggart and then is asked 
> by an
> OWL examiner (Professor Tofty?) to conjure a Patronus for an extra 
> bonus
> point, which he does without difficulty.  But, if Harry had just 
> banished a
> boggart, and assuming that he is still most afraid of a dementor, 
> wouldn't
> the boggart have manifested as a dementor, and thus, wouldn't Harry 
> have
> just demonstrated the Patronus charm?  Or, would he have used 
> "Riddikkulus"
> (sp.) despite whatever the boggart became?  JKR doesn't state in canon 
> what
> Harry's boggart turns into, so what do you think he is most afraid of 
> now?
> Any thoughts?

The Riddikulus charm is the proper way to banish a Boggart, no matter 
what it turns into. When Harry runs into a Dementor in the maze in GoF, 
he conjures a patronus which causes the Boggart to stumble, but no 
disappear. It is then that he realizes that it is a Boggart, not a 
Dementor, and banishes it easily with Riddikulus. Conjuring a Patronus 
would not have been proper performance on the O.W.L. exam, since it 
wouldn't get rid of the Boggart.

Echa