PoA Ch 10 Post DH look

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 181506

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hp_fan_2008" <falkeli at ...> wrote:
>
> Bex:
> > And the biggest concern of all: How would they [the dementors] know
> if they had found Sirius Black, and not some other person? <snip> Did
> they have a "emotional footprint" they were looking for? 
> 
> HP fan 2008:
> It seems to me that the basic thought pattern is the key. Harry was
> focusing on Sirius's innocence when the dementor almost kissed him -
> exactly the thought that Sirius was focused on at Azkaban. In
> addition, when Umbridge sent the dementors to Harry in book 5, I
> believe that she wanted them to kiss Harry - but she was completely
> wrong about what Harry would be thinking of. Dudley's thought pattern
> was probably closer to what Umbridge told the dementors to look for.
>

Bex again:
But how would they know? How does Fudge (or an Azkaban supervisor or
some such) "tell" the dementors, "Look for this person." Unless
someone had performed legilimency on Sirius and /knew/ what he was
thinking, there'd be no way to tell the dementors to look for a person
who was focused on Sirius Black's innocence. Remember, no one knew
Sirius was innocent, until all was revealed in the Shrieking shack.
And no one in the Shack had the opportunity to alert the dementors to
this new focus.

Further on that line, what would they tell the dementors to seek out
when instructing them to perform the Kiss on a specific person? Again,
 unless the victim was legilimensed, there'd be no way to tell them to
perform the kiss on "that person", instead of say, a witness.

And to counter your argument, what exactly would Umbridge have told
the dementors to look for? Dudley was making fun of Harry over talking
in his sleep: "Don't kill Cedric! Come and help me, Dad!": etc. And
Harry was feeling a strong hatred for Dudley. How would Umbridge have
known what to send the dementors after?


And, above all, how do you communicate with the dementors? Granted,
Lupin did speak to them once, on the train to Hogwarts in POA - but
how would you be sure they understood? How would they talk back? (And
remember, the dementor didn't move when Lupin spoke to it - he had to
produce a wispy Patronus to make it leave.)

I just don't like those creatures. Hats off to JKR for making a
monster that chilling and frightening. <shudder>

~Bex