[HPforGrownups] Werewolves and Animagi

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 17250

Samaporn Teeravechyan wrote:

> I suddenly recalled that, in PoA, Sirius tackles Lupin's werewolf form
> and they were locked "jaw to jaw". As a result of that encounter,
> Sirius comes away with "gashes on his muzzle". Does a werewolf bite
> have no effect on a
> human then, if that human has transfigured into an animal form? The
> transfiguration process doesn't seem to be complete, as would be the
> case in Lupin's werewolf transformation, as animagi retain their human
> mental
> capacities.

Sorry, Samaporn, I meant to respond earlier. Lupin tells the troika,
"They [the marauders] couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept
me company as animals....A werewolf is only a danger to people." (p.
354, PoA, US).

This can mean a werewolf will only attack people, not other animals, but
I don't think this is right because Hagrid says toward the end that he
might have been worried that Buckbeak had met Lupin on the grounds last
night, but Lupin said he hadn't eaten anything (Hagrid still thinks
Buckbeak slipped his rope at this point). This sounds to me like a
werewolf, like any other creature, will attack other animals to eat. So
I think a more likely interpretation of Lupin's comment is that the
"danger to people" is the magical vector that causes lycanthropy, and it
is only contagious to humans. An animal can't catch it, it's not a
disease they get. This must be right, because Sirius-the-dog *does* get
bitten and so far as we know he is *not* a werewolf thereafter.

--Amanda


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