Grims/Name of Padfoot

[Amy Z]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Rita Winston" <catlady at w...> wrote:

> I don't 
> recall Grims being in FB, altho' there is a reference to the 
Ministry 
> keeping a pack of white dogs on purpose to chase off some 
> magico-beastly pest.

A Grim isn't really a beast, or at least that's what Harry 
thinks--he's relieved when Crookshanks could see it, because it seemed 
to mean that it was an actual animal and not an omen.  I don't know if 
he did a little Grim research or what, but it makes sense--the Grim is 
something one sees if one is going to die, so it can't be visible to 
everyone nearby.

A big WOW, COOL to the Padfoot connection.  JKR knows her mythical 
beasts too well for this to be a coincidence--she didn't make him 
look exactly like the classic Padfoot (unless the estimable Briggs's 
information is incomplete), but that's typical of her habit of 
pulling small bits and pieces out of folklore and giving them her own 
slant.  And I like it as "wanderer" too.  (Moral:  watch what you 
nickname your friends, or they might end up homeless exiles on the run 
for their lives.)

Amy Z