Draco's intent, Dementors and Boggarts

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 101449

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jason" <shrtbusryder2002 at y...> 
wrote:

Jason:
> Rebuttal: The Boggart Dementor was fake also yet it had the same 
> effects as a real one on Harry as he attempted to learn the 
Patronus 
> charm. So why would children dressed in robes effect the same way? 
> Providing Harry believed them to be dementors.

Geoff:
As has been commented on, Boggarts will mimic the effect of a 
dementor and, possibly, since the pupils had been warned that the 
Boggart would take the form of their worst fear, they would 
anticipate the way in which it would appear.

Now, in the two situations where Harry apparently meets Dementors at 
Quidditch, the effect on him each time is totally different. Let's 
consider the canon view of Harry v Real Dementor and Harry v Malfoy 
Dementor:

'"Come on!" he growled at his Nimbus, as the rain whipped his face.
"Faster!"
But something odd was happening. An eerie silence was falling across 
the stadium. The wind, though as strong as ever, was forgetting to 
roar. It was as though someone had turned off the sound, as though 
Harry had gone suddenly deaf - what was going on?
And then a horribly familiar wave of cold swept over him, inside him, 
just as he became aware of something moving on the pitch below....
Before he'd had time to think, Harry had taken his eyes off the 
Snitch and looked down.
At least a hundred Dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at him, 
were standing below. It was as though freezing water was rising in 
his chest, cutting at his insides.'

(POA "Grim Defeat" pp.133-34 UK edition)

'He accelerated; so, many feet below, did Cho. He was winning, 
gaining on the Snitch with every second - then -
"Oh!" screamed Cho, pointing. 
Distracted, Harry looked down.
Three Dementors, three tall, black, hooded Dementors, were looking up 
at him.
He didn't stop to think. Plunging a hand down the neck of his robes, 
he whipped out his wand and roared "Expecto Patronus!"

(POA "Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw" p.195 UK edition)

In the first incident, Harry has a repetition of the symptoms he 
first experienced on the Hogwarts Express - the cold, the screaming, 
the overwhelming loss of control of his actions.

In the second, there are no such symptoms. Harry does not stop to 
analyse why but just goes over to the offensive. There is no cold, no 
loss of control. Since it is obvious to him that there is no effect, 
supposing he had not been airborne and grabbing his wand, he might 
have coolly deduced that there was something odd about 
these "Dementors". 

Perhaps Malfoy et al had not experienced the same intensity of effect 
that Harry had sensed on the two previous occasions and assumed that 
just being there would be good enough to put him off his game, rather 
like jumping out of a cupboard wrapped in a white sheet and 
shouting "Boo".

As I remarked in message 101267, Draco wants to look big and wants to 
belittle Harry and undermine his standing. I would not agree that he 
is trying to kill Harry; I don't believe his thinking extends that 
far. His planning is probably "How can I make Potter look stupid and 
wimpish?" Again, that's only my reading of events; other people have 
different readings which can probably be argued just as cogently.