Harry's Jaunt to Hogsmeade

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 57425

Marianne wrote

> > Just why wasn't there a contingent of Aurors at Hogswarts?  Who 
was 
> > around to control the Dementors if they got out of hand, other 
than 
> > the professors?  What kind of Ministry simply dumps a bunch of 
soul-
> > suckers around a school, apparently with no one charged with 
> > controlling them?  

And Valky replied:
 
> I have posted a reply to this particular question up thread. 
> Basically how many Aurors do we actually know of in existence, by 
the 
> end of book four? Why, so few mentioned alive and so many mentioned 
> as victims of the DE during the darker times and soon after. I 
would 
> say the MOM simply had a lot less faith in Aurors to handle Lord 
> Voldemorts followers. However that their numbers may be larger than 
I 
> have assumed. 

I suppose there could have been an increase in the Auror contingent 
during Voldemort War 1.  But, I don't think that we can assume they 
all disappeared or died or retired afterwards.  My guess is that the 
reason we don't hear about how many are around now is that it hasn't 
been pertinent to the story. And, since the Dark Arts still exist, 
I'd think there would have to be some Auror force around.  Maybe it's 
a smaller force because the Ministry doesn't see the same level of 
threat that existed during the War, but I think they've got to have 
some Aurors.

> On the other hand the Dementors had kept the infamous Black quite 
> contained for upwards of a decade. Dementors, therefore, stand out 
as 
> the more competent protection against Death eaters than Aurors. 

I definitely don't agree with that.  Why have Aurors at all, if the 
DEs can be better dealt with by Dementors? They may be better 
jailers, simply because of the mental and emotional torment they 
inflict, thus draining wizards of their magical abilities and making 
it hard for them to fight back, but they seem too single-minded to be 
an effective fighting force against the DEs. A good Patronus can 
chase them off.  

Fudge 
> of course fears more for his own life than for Harry's. So 
> endangering the students of Hogwarts is an elementary risk as far 
as 
> he is concerned to protect the wizard world from the "treacherous" 
> Sirius Black. Easy equation. 

Yes, Fudge is a pill, isn't he? Using the Dementors was probably 
announced with great fanfare.  Fudge could have used that to 
say, "See? I am not afraid to use whatever weapon I have to hunt down 
Sirius Black."  And that also conveniently serves to put in people's 
minds that "Wow - if the MoM is bringing Dementors over from Azkaban, 
then it must mean that Black guy is a very powerful dark wizard. No 
wonder he figured out a way to escape. The Ministry did a good job 
keeping him locked up for as long as they did!"

Marianne who can't decide if Fudge is Evil or just criminally 
political