Krum the shark (Was Animagi)

[grey_wolf_c]

No: HPFGUIDX 37657

Marina wrote:
> It can definitely be done without a wand, since Sirius did it in
> Azkaban.  And it does seem as if the Marauders retained at least some
> human intelligence in animagus form.  Not all, though -- one of the
> reasons transformation helped Sirius stay sane in Azkaban was that a
> dog's thoughts are simpler than a man's, and therefore apparently
> less likely to get munched by Dementors.

Just some canon back-up: it's not actually the dog's thoughts that keep 
him sane, it's Sirius knowledge of being inocent. Transforming into a 
dog allows him to scape, because his feelings are less human (which 
still makes your point valid: animagi do, in fact, loose some humanity 
in the change). That "animality" is quite common in fantasy: several of 
the spells to transform you into an animal come with strings attached: 
you retain your human mind, but your feelings are the animal's feelings 
and desires (you've got the "heart" of the animal and the brains of the 
human, so to speak).

> It does seem, on reflection, that Krum's partial transformation had
> to be intentional.  As a full shark, even with human intelligence, he
> would've had a great deal of difficulty getting Hermione to the
> surface without arms to hold her with.
> 
> Marina

Maybe. Then again, maybe he was just lucky. Faced with the same option, 
I wouldn't go for a half-transformation, since (by what we know), it 
could go terribly wrong. For example, maybe you transform your torso: 
you loose your hands and arms, retain your legs and head, and you 
cannot breathe under the water, since you haven't got gills to filter 
it (which traditionally are in the neck).

You might be implying that Victor deliberatly changed the incantation 
so that it would only affect his head. In that case, he wouldn't have 
lost points for sloppy spelling (which, I think he did, although maybe 
it was just 10 points for being late), and Bagman wouldn't have said 
"incomplete" but "parcial". However, this is very fine linguistics 
(added to the fact that, as always, I'm translating a tranlation, which 
means two potential places for lost information. If someone would 
please post the original:Gof, ch. 26, near the end), so you could be 
right.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf