Animagi & Personality

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14437

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner" 
<bohners at p...> wrote:
> It's been noted that JKR's comments about animagi appear to 
indicate that a
> wizard doesn't pick the animal they become -- they become an animal 
which is
> in some way expressive of their personality.  That being the case, 
what do
> the forms of the various animagi we know tell us about them?
> 
> snip

> I also wonder if the fact that Skeeter and Pettigrew are scavengers 
and
> McGonagall and Black are carnivores, whereas James was a herbivore, 
tells us
> something about their "killer instinct" or lack thereof.  Or am I 
taking
> this too far?
> --
> Rebecca J. Bohner
> rebeccaj at p...


Hmmm.  Interesting way to look at this.  Peter doesn't seem to have a 
killer instinct.  He'd much rather wait around for someone else to 
get the job done and then sneak in to get his scraps. And  I can 
easily see Sirius doing damage to anyone who harms or threatens to 
harm someone he cares about. 

I have a little trouble with McGonagall's potential killer instinct.  
She wasn't at all happy in GoF when Moody turned Draco into 
the "amazing bouncing ferret."  A cat would see that as perfectly 
normal behavior - you occasionally play with your prey, whether it's 
a toy or a live mouse, before you do it in. I suppose in her position 
at Hogwarts, McGonagall can't seem to approve of this sort of 
behavior, but, you never know - maybe she had a right good giggle 
about it once she got back to her room...

Marianne