What Happened to The Dementors?

[allthecoolnamesgone]

No: HPFGUIDX 179440

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Lesley McKenna 
<wrappedinharry at ...> wrote:
>
> I was just wondering hwether anybody had any theories about the 
Dementors.
>    
>   I am sure they did not just disappear after the fall of LV and as 
they were breeding all the way through HBP, there must be thousands 
of the horrors out there now.
>  

The ability of any creature to breed successfully is reliant on an 
adequate food supply. So I surmise that pre-Voldemorts return the 
Dememtors of Azkaban were effectively living in a reservation. They 
stayed there in return for an adequate food supply. I would assume 
that any who 'went rogue' and left were hunted down so they stayed 
and accepted Ministry restrictions in return for their subsistence 
level food supply. In PoA when they were sent to guard Hogwarts and 
therefore seperated from their usual food sourse wasn't it stated at 
one point that they were getting angry. More like very hungry, hence 
their gathering so quickly to 'dine' on Sirius and Harry. Once 
Voldemort came back to power he released them from the requirement to 
guard Azkaban and allowed them a freer rein, provided no doubt that 
they served him directly when required. Dumbledore warned Fudge that 
the Dementors would serve Voldemort if he returned to power and he 
was right.

One analogy in the real world is the Smallpox virus. It has been 
eradicated in the wild but stocks are still kept by Russia and USA/UK 
in case the 'other' side release it as a weapon leaving 'us' without 
the means to create a vaccine. The Dementors were kept as a defence 
against the confined Death Eaters in Azkaban even though they 
remained a deadly threat in themselves. 

With Voldemort gone for good the Dementors would be an ongoing 
problem but provided the Ministry saw sense and gave up using them as 
guards the Auror could then hunt them down and destroy them.
  
allthecoolnamesgone