OOP: Petunia and Azkaban

zanelupin zanelupin at yahoo.com
Mon Jun 30 13:38:34 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 65986

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I am KathyK:
I reread parts of PoA and GoF and scoured the archives to see what in 
the distant past had been written on the subject of the Dementors.  
After beginning to craft a post based on Petunia, the Dementors, 
and "that awful boy," I decided to look again through what people had 
recently been saying about the subject.  And a good thing, too as 
this was here and I can just throw my random thoghts right in:  
 
 
 
 
> Tish wrote:
> 
> > Petunia says that she heard Lily talking to James about the 
> > Dementors being the guards of Azkaban, but how can that be?  
Didn't 
> > DD say at the end of GOF that the Dementors are natural allies of 
> > Voldemort??  Wouldn't that mean that they were NOT the guards of 
> > Azkaban when Voldemort was in power?  If they have rejoined thier 
> > side now that Voldemort is back, wouldn't that indicate that they 
> > were on his side before the downfall?  Now, if my assumptions are 
> > correct, there is NO WAY the Dementors were guards when James and 
> > Lily were in school.  Even if they were the guards before the 
reign 
> > of Voldemort and went over to his side after he was stong
(negating 
> > the "natural ally" comment), I can't see the MOM putting them in 
> > charge of Azkaban knowing how easliy they flip sides.
 
> Laurasia wrote:
> Firstly- Petunia never actually states that it was James and Lily. 
> Harry jumps to that conclusion and Petunia is far too distressed to 
> confirm it. In fact, by the way she says 'that horrible boy' it 
could 
> mean any number of people- Severus Snape, for instance. In fact, 
> simply because her statement was so amibguous I'd wager that it 
> *wasn't* James at all. It's classic misdirection to have Harry jump 
> to a conclusion so we're positioned to believe it.

It is I, KathyK:
I also had this thought that Petunia was not referring to James.  
Actually I thought perhaps that she wasn't even referring to her 
sister, but just threw something out there so that no one would ask 
her any more questions.  If the Dementors were placed at Azkaban 
after the first war, then Petunia has been in contact with the WW 
after Harry arrives on their doorstep and she doesn't wish anyone to 
know about it.  If the boy was indeed James, it just doesn't make 
sense for the Dementors to have guarded the wizard prison throughout 
Voldemort's reign when they could have so much more.

Laurasia: 
> Anyway, Dumbledore says that the Dementors are the natural allies 
of 
> Voldemort. But he also says to Fudge to remove Azkaban form their 
> control or Voldemort will persuade them like he did before. My 
> understanding if this is to mean that the Dementors were in control 
> of Azkaban, Voldemort persuaded them to join him, Voldemort was 
> vanquished, The Dementors returned to Azkaban. I think that people 
> think that so long as they have plenty of prisoners to keep, 
they'll 
> remain 'happy' and loyal to the Ministry. You also have to keep in 
> mind that no-one was really expecting Voldemort to return, so if 
he's 
> never coming back, what difference does it make to have his 
> supporters put to good use? 
> 

It is KathyK again:
I don't believe that the dementors necessarily were on Voldemort's 
side during the first war.  First, Dumbledore never says that 
Voldemort will persuade the Dementors as he did before.  He is 
actually referring to the giants when he says this.  Secondly, there 
is no canon at all about where the Dementors stood during Lord 
Thingy's first reign.  So they could have guarded Azkaban, helped out 
Voldemort and his allies, or they could have been off enjoying ice 
cream sundaes somewhere with lots of happy lauging children to play 
with.
If the Dementors did support Voldemort, it makes absolutely no sense 
to put them in charge of Azkaban for a couple reasons.  One, many of 
Voldemort's supporters are there.  Just keeping his allies and 
followers in such close quarters does not seem smart, whether or not 
the MoM believed he would return.  Death Eaters could still wreak 
havoc without their leader.  Just look at the Longbottom's torture or 
even the plenty disturbing scene of the DE's at the QWC in GoF 
playing with the muggle family.  Additionally, the MoM believed 
Sirius Black to be the bigget DE of all time and he escaped the 
Dementors.  Shouldn't that have raised questions as to what side they 
were on if no one had ever escaped before?  
Also, If the MoM knew the Dementors supported Voldemort, wouldn't 
they feel these creatures should be punished (if such a thing is 
possible) or at the very least, that they couldn't be trusted?  
Especially, as is theorized above, if they guarded Azkaban before 
Voldemort came to power the first time and left to join him returning 
only after he was vanquished.  This does not inspire feelings of 
comfort and safety.  The guards will stick around as long as nothing 
better comes up.  But if it does, watch out, they'll turn the 
prisoners loose and be on their merry way, waving goodbye, "see you 
when it's over," or "how about a goodbye kiss?"--lack of sleep is 
gaining on me.
If the Dementors weren't supporting Voldemort the first time he was 
all powerful, were they guarding the prison or were they, pardon the 
silly phrase, doing their own thing?  These are the only ways that I 
can see the Dementors being allowed at Azkaban in the first place. If 
they were already there and remained there throughout the first war, 
the MoM had no reason to remove them, and didn't think they had 
reason to worry.  The same goes if the Dementor entered the picture 
after baby Harry defeated Voldemort.  
I believe that the Dementors either were not around or they supported 
Voldemort during the first war.  It doesn't seem in the Dementor's 
nature to just sit around on an island when they could join Voldemort 
and have so much more.  Unless of course, Voldemort didn't know about 
them until later on, or else couldn't get to them for some reason to 
offer an alliance.  Hmmm...Okay, I've reduced myself to random 
babbling.

Laurasia:
> Fudge also says that most people sleep at night knowing that such 
> criminals who are in Azkaban are restrained in such a effective 
> manner. I think the MoM putting Azkaban under the Dementors control 
> is simply because they consider the people sentenced to Azkaban to 
be 
> a more real threat than those guarding them.
>

I, KathyK:
But the combination of the two is what should really have worried 
them.  Not just now, but when the decision was made to put them in 
charge of the prison.  Dumbledore responds to Fudge's argument 
against removing the Dementors that the rest sleep less soundly 
because of this combination. 

Thank you for your time.
Have an action-packed, fun-filled day,

KathyK





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