Harry's Jaunt to Hogsmeade AND the uses of Dementors

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 57424

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Eric Oppen" <oppen at m...> 
wrote:
> Frankly, I can't see why Hogwarts students need parental/guardian 
> permission to go to Hogsmeade.  We're talking (as nearly as I can 
> tell) about a fairly typical Scottish village that happens to be 
> all-magical-folk, NOT Patpong Road, the Amsterdam red-light 
> district, or the Reeperbahn.  (Not that Hogwarts students would be 
> interested in such goings-on...they're sweet, pure, chaste, 
> virginal, demure, and disgusted by such things.  At least, that's 
> the Party line and I'm sticking to it.)

Parental permission is required in the UK for any organised 
children's activities where parents or guardians are not present. 
Unsupervised visits to a nearby village would *certainly* require 
permission from parents/guardian.

I notice that there are generally teachers around in the pub (PoA 
and GoF). The students probably aren't quite as 'unsupervised' as 
they think. [grin]


> For that matter, it was quite a jump for the MoM to _assume_ 
> instantly that Sirius Black was after Harry Potter 
> specifically.  "He's at Hogwarts?"  That could refer to _anybody_ 
> who is currently "at Hogwarts" in any capacity.  <Snip>

I think this is probably background knowledge we don't really have. 
Harry is important enough to be 'protected' at the Dursley's. Harry 
is important enough to have Hagrid sent especially, to ensure his 
enrollment at Hogwarts. Harry is important enough to get away with 
stuff that would get lesser pupils expelled. Harry is important 
enough that Fudge knows his name, chats with him on one-to-one 
terms, and ignores the latest use of unlicenced magic.

I doubt this huge importance is purely due to his *historical* 
importance as the Boy Who Lived. I suspect that while Harry doesn't 
know it, the immediate assumption is that there is only one person 
at Hogwarts important enough to cause a Death Eater to make a 
desperate jail break. 

But, of course, you're right, Eric. [grin] The MoM were jumping to a 
wrong conclusion. Sirius Black wasn't after Harry at all. 
<Snip>


> Putting Dementors around Hogwarts, after the Dementors had slipped 
> up already and let SB get loose somehow, is yet another 
> example...I'd have used Aurors, who can tell the difference       
> between a student and an escaped convict, and aren't too likely
> to try to suck anybody's soul out of them.

Ah, aurors.

Well they have one inconvenient quality. Unlike Dementors who can be 
relied on to 'shoot first, ask questions later', aurors (like Moody) 
might actually bring in Sirius Black alive.

They might even make inconvenient requests that he be questioned, 
because he has this odd story about not being the Secret Keeper... 
something about a rat ... [see 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/39662 ]

I argued in that post that Dumbledore doesn't want Sirius to prove 
his innocence, because it's too dangerous to Harry. It's also 
possible that there are DE's in the Ministry [there are definitely 
DE's in the Ministry ] who CERTAINLY don't want Sirius to prove his 
innocence. That a Sirius Black handed over to Ministry 'justice' has 
absolutely no chance at all. 

Not even if Dumbledore, Pettigrew, Harry, Lupin, and an entire choir 
of angels were to give evidence for him.

So the difference between the good guys and the bad guys is that the 
good guys at least want Sirius alive, hopefully until the day when a 
fair court *will* accept evidence about his innocence. The bad guys 
want him dead, as the 'obvious' betrayer of the Potters. And no 
inconvenient questions about who actually did betray the Potters.

And Fudge authorised the use of Dementors, huh?

Just like he did with another inconvenient witness, maybe?

If Fudge had got his way, neither Black or Crouch Jr. would have 
been available to give evidence.

Handy things, Dementors.

Pip!Squeak