Fudge: Evil or what? The evil of cowardice

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 107202


Jim (me): "I wouuld love to see how Fudge - or Umbridge, for that
matter -  communicates with the Dementors."

HunterGreen:"Me too. I wonder if they talk, or if there's some other
way he communicates with them. And do they know he's in authority?"

This is interesting.  They don't seem to talk, but they do intrude
into minds, they have a sense of it; and, if Fudge, learning that
Barty Jr. is alive, is alarmed at the embarassment and inconvenience
to the Ministry of such a scandal, then the Dementor might have just
acted on that.  That doesn't necessarily mean Fudge *wanted* Crouch
Jr. dead; the Dementor, who wants all the souls he can get, might have
seen Crouch as allowable game and gone for it.  

You could apply the same logic to the attack on Harry in PoA.  The
Dementors might have gotten the idea Harry was fair meat, too,
particularly if they're in touch with Voldemort.

The attack in OoP was different. A human intended for it to happen.
The difference between Fudge and Umbridge is that Umbridge did it
intentionally - she might have gone to Azkaban while conveniently
forming the requisite images in her mind.

What if Dementors have little left-brain sense, little cognition as we
understand it, only their perverse appetites for misery?  If that was
true, the communication wouldn't be very precise.

My bottom line is I doubt Fudge meant Harry to be destroyed by the
Dementors. Expelled, neutralized, discredited, absolutely.  Harry's an
embarassment, a problem, an obstacle to keeping the lid on.

All this is pure speculation; there isn't a shred of proof for it. 
But it doesn't contradict anything we know, and maybe there could be
some kind of confirmation or rebuttal in HBP or Book 7.

I doubt the Dementors give a damn for Fudge's authority.  Their
"service" at Azkaban is an alliance of convenience only; Fudge gives
them souls to torment, and they do his will exactly as long as it
serves them.  Better deal from Voldemort? They're outta here.

Jim Ferer

"Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?"  Henry II, of Thomas
á Becket.  Four knights, eager to please their king, murdered Becket
at Mass.