[HPforGrownups] animagi/life cycle

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 4298

Neil Ward wrote:

> I wrote:
>
> >"I'm not so sure that Dumbledore would be an unregistered
> >Animagus, and that raises an inconsistency: why didn't Hermione see his name
> >listed as one of the registered Animagi?  It's a nice idea though."
>

You know, it's starting to strike me that unregistered Animagi are awfully
common.  Harry, Ron and Hermione alone know of four of them.  (James, Sirius,
Peter and Rita).  I'm beginning to wonder if there might not be a lot of people
out there who think, "It's none of the Ministry's damn business whether or not
I'm an Animagus; I'm jolly well not going to register."

Perhaps it strikes me that way because I've been reading about gun control
politics in conjunction with the American Presidential race.  A lot of Americans
seem to me to froth at the mouth at the very idea of being asked to register
their ownership of a gun with the government.  I have a hunch that if you told an
American wizard "you have to register with the Ministry if you're an Animagus,"
those same hackles would rise.  Are British wizards the same, or are they a lot
more docile about registering with the government than we prickly Yanks are?

And no, no, no, I'm not trying to start an argument about gun control (please,
PLEASE, don't, people).  I'm just suggesting that perhaps people who know they
are Animagi might resist registering their presence with the Ministry a lot more
that the Ministry would like to believe.  And so there might be a lot more
Animagi running around out there than we know.

Peg