Boggarts & the Passage to Honeydukes

[n_longbottom01]

No: HPFGUIDX 143150

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
>
> Christine wrote:
> >
> > So if we all agree that a boggart can do magic to some extent, 
this
> is my question: as the boggart is an animal in its purest form, and 
> therefore in its purest form has limited intelligence, how will it 
be
> able to perform any sort of magic requiring human knowledge, even if
> it takes on the shape of a human?  So it can turn into a being with
> the *power* to perform magic, but will it have the
> intelligence/knowledge necessary to do so?
> > 
> > Christine
> 
> 
> Carol responds:
<snip>
> If I'm right and a Boggart is a spirit rather than an animal, it
> wouldn't need any form of intelligence, just the magical ability to
> discern a specific fear and imitate the appearance and behavior of 
the
> thing or person that the witch or wizard fears, including a specific
> set of spoken words ("I'm sorry to inform you, Miss Granger, that 
you
> have failed all your classes.") It's all, as someone else said, a
> specific form of Legilimency. No thought or effort required. It does
> what all Boggarts do simply by virtue of being a Boggart. It can't 
be
> trained to do anything else, as an animal could. It has no self, no
> real being, no essence. The apparent power of Harry's Boggart came,
> IMO, from Harry himself, from his fear of Dementors rather than from
> the Boggart itself.
> 
> Carol, hoping that this interpretation makes some degree of sense 
but
> by no means committed to it
>

n_longbottom01:

It seems like the Boggart's power (taking the form of your worst 
fear) is just a defense mechanisim.  All they want to do is hang out 
in a dark cabinet somewhere.  When they are disturbed, they take the 
shape of your worst fear to scare you off, so that they can go back 
to hanging out in the dark cabinet without being bothered.

The Boggarts don't seem to be all that intelegent... they get 
confused when confronted with a group of people, because they can't 
figure out what scary thing to turn into.  If Harry's worst fear wear 
Voldemort, and the Boggart took that form, the threat of the Boggart-
Voldemort doing complex magic wouldn't come from the Boggart.  The 
Boggart doesn't think, "Ah ha!  I'm the most powerful dark wizard in 
the world, what bad thing should I do next."  Instead, the treat 
comes from Harry's fear, because the Boggart is only acting out 
Harry's fear.  If Harry is afraid that Voldemort is going to start 
casting AK, then maybe the Boggart would cast AK.  The question is, 
would the AK have any effect?

I have two different theories about this.

1).  The Boggart can't do any magic beyond reading your mind to find 
out your worst fear and taking that form.  The reason that Harry 
feels the effect of a real Dementor when he is attacked by a Boggart-
Dementor is because Bogarts and Dementors are related creatures (or 
beings/spirits).  The Dementors detect and make you relive your worst 
memories because they feed on fear and suffering.  The Bogarts don't 
necessarily feed on fear, but their defense mechanisim works in a 
very similar way to the way a Dementors power works.  The Boggart 
seems to be able to "do magic" when it is in Dementor form only 
because the Dementor's powers are similar to its own.

2).  The Boggart can do magic, and the strength of that magic is 
powered by the fear that it is able to generate.  The boggart-moon 
doesn't cause Lupin any discomfort at all because Lupin isn't afraid 
of the boggart.  If Lupin was scared out of his wits, the boggart-
moon would have done its magic, and Lupin would have become a 
werewolf.  If Harry's worst fear were Voldemort, the whole DADA class 
would have freaked out when they saw him, and maybe the bogart would 
have had the power to cast some powerful spells. 

n_longbottom01