[HPforGrownups] Pettigrew the rat (was: Moody/Crouch/Imperio)

[Margaret Dean]

No: HPFGUIDX 14251

rmatovic at ssk.com wrote:
> 
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> >. In PoA, Sirius mentions that not only did his
> > knowledge of his innocence help him against the dementors, but that when
> > he was in dog form, his emotions were less human, harder for the
> > dementors to perceive. So I got the impression that it's a little more
> > complicated being an animagus than simply having an animal form--your
> > mind works a bit differently.
> >
> > Thus, I would have thought spending a length of time in animal form
> > would affect your thinking---but here's Pettigrew, twelve years as a rat
> > under his belt, effortlessly picking up where he left off as a human.
> 
> Although, one could argue that Pettigrew has a lot of rat like
> qualities to begin with.  And the post-twelve-years-as-a-rat Pettigrew
> does have a certain ratlike quality -- instinct for self-preservation,
> quick focus on getting out of Dodge when things get hot, servile,
> cowering ...

'Course, this circles us back to the matter of whether one's
animagus form is a reflection of one's personality in the first
place -- that you don't choose it, it chooses you!  IOW if
Pettigrew weren't such a ratlike fellow, his animagus form
wouldn't =be= a rat.

Speaking of which, JKR can't dislike cats =that= much if
Professor McGonagall transforms into one!  :)


--Margaret Dean
  <margdean at erols.com>