Umbridges Motives

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 89374

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dave" <dk_manchester at h...> 
wrote:

Dave:
> After reading Order Of The Phoenix, (at least twice), I cannot 
> understand why, a senior ministry employee, like Umbride, would 
> resort to sending the Dementors to 'Kiss' Harry. I know the reason 
> she gives, in chapters 32 and 33, (paraphrasing) that she wanted to 
> help her boss, the Minister of Magic, but would there not be 
> reprecusions for such action.  The equivilent of the death penalty 
> for being awkward and inconvienient sent on a teenage boy, Harry 
> Potter, without a trial etc. 
> Is there something else I'm missing?

Geoff:
The more I think over this, the more I am convinced that Umbridge 
thinks on the hoof. Her reactions (including the Decrees) are often 
hurried and badly thought out and my reaction to Dave's remarks 
was "What the heck did the woman think she was trying to do?"

What would have happened if the Dementors had succeeded and Harry had 
received the Kiss? In the Real World, we would have had the local 
paper reporting that a youth (or even youths?) had been discovered 
comatose; the condition had doctors baffled. Quite what Vernon and 
Petunia's reaction would be is open to speculation.

Knowing that the house was under observation, members of the Order 
would have latched onto the tragedy pretty quickly. Would they have 
recognised it as the result of a Dementor's Kiss? 

So, it would not go unnoticed in the Wizarding World. Even if the 
Prophet was running headlines "Harry Potter Missing" and finding ways 
of making snide comments about his apparent problems, things would 
leak into the open. Fortunately, it didn't happen but it would have 
opened an interesting can of worms for our dearly beloved DJU.