Umbridge's goal calling in Dementors

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 127177


Eustace_Scrubb wrote:
> Eustace_Scrubb again:
> There are no _human_ witnesses, true.  But the Dementors presumably
> saw it, as you point out, and I'm sure they know a Patronus when they
> see one.  Ministry officials apparently are able to communicate with
> the Dementors, though we've not seen that interaction in the texts. 
> Then again, they may not have noticed or understood that the Patronus
> was cast by the same person they were attacking, since two Harrys were
> present at that time.  Hmmmm...
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Eustace_Scrubb

There are several canon points against the Dementors being witnesses.
First and foremost is the fact that they're *blind* and they cannot
tell one human from another - remember Crouch Jr. escaping from
Azkaban by using polyjuice "for the benefit of the other prisoners".
The Azkaban guards could only tell that a sick person and a healthy
one were moving around. Apart from the problems for a proper witness
in the scene (Harry was on the other side of a (the?) lake, at night),
Dementors also are blind and can't tell a human from another and they
were being attacked by a Patronus to boot. And that is not even going
into the problem of working out that the person attacking you might be
the same that's faded out at your feet, only two hours older and
having come back in time.

All in all, I stand by my claim that - unless there were hidden
observers in the scene we know nothing about (and I'd discard that,
since the place was packed with Dementors) - no-one saw Harry perform
his Patronus at the time. Which of course leaves only the other two I
mentioned. In particular, the one during the third task might have
clued people into Harry's abilities, but then again, we aren't too
sure of how much the people could see of the task. Given that Krum
wasn't taken to Azkaban for performing a Cruciatus on Cedric, it could
be that no-one saw Harry use the Patronus either.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf