Bellatrix truly believed she was doomed, that’s a strong belief against harrys position. Harry himself didn’t fully believe it either. I’d argue that the extent of bellatrixes disbelief was greater then the great halls, although it’s hard to say. That coupled with the fact that harry wasn’t a true believer leads to a consensus that they’re not leaving. Now we have 2 true believer on harrys side and a bunch of people who probably don’t have real strong opinions one way or the other.
Also, it’s entirely possible that magical ability decides how many “votes” you get in the consensus!dementors actions. Albus has reason to very very strongly believe that the dementor will do as he’s told. Whether that’s enough to overwhelm the rest of the voters, who believe that the dementor will not do what harry says, but fear them and would certainly be thrown off gourd by the first question, is hard to say.
My hope is that is answers “yes” to the first question, enough to raise enough doubt that the second question can also be a yes. Once the second question has been answered in the mysterious yes manner, hopefully it confuses the expectations of the crowd enough to allow the dementor to be ordered about. You start with a question that can be answered innocuously enough, but changes the expectations enough. Then you keep doing that. Like murder gandhi.
Because harry can carry through on his threats, and it seems the standard mental model for dementors has them being self-serving. A dementor should respond to threats, as far as I can tell.
When I was arguing this I was also taking into account that albus (and the great hall) had seen the dementor be afraid of harry, but it occurs to me that that was in the future.
Bellatrix truly believed she was doomed, that’s a strong belief against harrys position. Harry himself didn’t fully believe it either. I’d argue that the extent of bellatrixes disbelief was greater then the great halls, although it’s hard to say. That coupled with the fact that harry wasn’t a true believer leads to a consensus that they’re not leaving. Now we have 2 true believer on harrys side and a bunch of people who probably don’t have real strong opinions one way or the other.
Also, it’s entirely possible that magical ability decides how many “votes” you get in the consensus!dementors actions. Albus has reason to very very strongly believe that the dementor will do as he’s told. Whether that’s enough to overwhelm the rest of the voters, who believe that the dementor will not do what harry says, but fear them and would certainly be thrown off gourd by the first question, is hard to say.
My hope is that is answers “yes” to the first question, enough to raise enough doubt that the second question can also be a yes. Once the second question has been answered in the mysterious yes manner, hopefully it confuses the expectations of the crowd enough to allow the dementor to be ordered about. You start with a question that can be answered innocuously enough, but changes the expectations enough. Then you keep doing that. Like murder gandhi.
Why does Albus have such a belief? He witnessed Harry kill a dementor, yes, but not control one.
That’s not to say that he would disbelieve that Harry could do it, but I see no reason for him to have a reason to “very very strongly believe” it.
Because harry can carry through on his threats, and it seems the standard mental model for dementors has them being self-serving. A dementor should respond to threats, as far as I can tell.
When I was arguing this I was also taking into account that albus (and the great hall) had seen the dementor be afraid of harry, but it occurs to me that that was in the future.