that animagi choice question (was Avada Kedavra and the Swishing Sound)

[ftah3]

No: HPFGUIDX 31213

Raven Singer: 
> we 
> > can assume to a point that the characters who are animagi are 
like 
> > the animal they transform into. Certainly Peter Pettigrew makes a 
> > good rat, and Sirius a loyal, faithful dog, but hmm, yeah, it 
does 
> > sort of throw off the idea that they picked who they transformed 
> into 
> > so they made decent companions for the werewolf Lupin..!! Also 
> sorry 
> > if this has been discussed recently. 

Joshua Dyal, in reply:
> IIRC, Sirius (or Remus) says that it was lucky they were large 
> animals, and it was because of that that they were able to go all 
> around the grounds.  It does not say that they purposefully chose 
> large animals for any reason.
> 
> I think it was just supposed to be a symbol of how competent Sirius 
> and James were relative to Peter.  They got big, powerful, useful 
> animals, Peter got a rat.

Niether Lupin nor Sirius say, either way (i.e., they never say that 
they chose, nor 
that they were "lucky").  Actually, in PoA, all Lupin *does* say is 
that Peter, as the smallest (a rat), and could slip through the 
willow's branches and hit the knot; and that James and Sirius, as 
large animals, could control the Lupinwolf.  Nothing is said as to 
what ~ choice or luck ~ determined the forms at all.  (I quoted the 
relevent bits in a previous post; beg pardon that I don't have the 
time just now to go back and find and re-quote them.)

Mahoney