Transfiguration, pets, LOLLIPOPS, animal communication, acronyms

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 37806

Sandi:
> This makes me wonder if Lily had an animagus form.  Hermione is so bright and 
research-oriented, it would not surprise me if in the next volume or two, 
she cracks the transfiguration spell....<

I'm pretty sure that if the Marauders managed the Transfiguration spell in fifth year, Hermione should have no trouble.  However, I'd also say she'd need a pretty urgent reason for doing so, given the strong position she's taken against illegal Animagi such as Rita Skeeter.  Hmm... what sort of animal do you think Hermione would become?

Marina:
> No, I'm sticking with my new theory -- Snape has a bat familiar.  It 
is not unknown for pet owners to share physical and personality 
characteristics with their pets, and I'll bet it's even more common 
with wizards and familiars.  And c'mon, a bat would be *perfect* for 
Severus.<

Now this familiar concept is interesting.  Reminiscent of one of the tenets of my TOADKEEPER theory... from what we've seen so far, it seems reasonably common for the pet to choose the wizard, rather than the other way around.  This would seem to fit in with the familiar theory.  Hermione intended to buy an owl, but a timely performance and a dash of pathos from the pet shop owner about him being unwanted swayed her directly onto Crookshanks.  Pigwidgeon mysteriously turned up and was adopted by Ron.  "Scabbers" clearly managed to inviegle himself into the Weasley family somehow, and quite possibly had a maimed claw in his transferral from Percy to Ron, the brother who was going to be in Harry Potter's year.

(musing for the deeply paranoid conspiracy theorists... could Scabbers somehow have played a dark paw in encouraging the Harry/Ron friendship, for spying purposes?  Was he only *pretending* to be asleep in Ron's pocket in the train, whereas really he was quietly casting an Amicus spell??  Was biting Goyle a carefully calculated move to assist in the Harry/Ron bonding process???)

The wise and sapient Archgarchus:
> One of the more widely discussed/debated topics in my old group was 
the Snape/Lily question. Many, many debates. I am curious about "which
way the wind blows" in this group.
>
>I personally am a big champion of the Snape/Lily theory, but I would 
love to hear from and debate with others.<

Captain Tabouli strides proudly down the gangway onto the dock, flanked by trumpet wielding minstrels playing a triumphant fanfare.  Archgarchus! she cries expansively, holding out a small round object and a slip of paper in a proud, captainly hand.  Somewhat overwhelmed by this reception, Archgarchus timidly picks them up and studies them carefully.  The slip of paper appears to be a ticket for a deluxe cabin on the Good Ship LOLLIPOPS, on which is scribbled a little note saying "refer to November 6th 2001 post entitled "Severus Snape: The grudge and the very long LOLLIPOPS biography".

Archgarchus blinks, and then turns baffled eyes to the badge, on which there is a picture of Snape clutching the Mirror of Erised, with tears in his eyes.  In the mirror is an image of Lily Potter, nee Evans, gazing back at Snape, her green eyes brimming with adoration.  Around the edge of the badge is printed the legend "Love Of Lily Left Ire Polluting Our Poor Severus."

Catlady:
>I find it quite difficult to believe that Severus fell that much in 
love with Lily when they were 11 or even 12 years old. I even doubt 
that James and Lily even were an item yet when they were 11 or 12 
years old. Yes, I remember clearly that I fell in love a *lot* when I 
was 11 and 12. Usually with pop musicians or TV actors or boys two or 
three years above me. It hasn't left any permanent effects except the 
slightest touch of nostalgia.
>
>I think Severus's ground for envy and resentment of James and Sirius 
(and I often suspect that it was Sirius who was the main enemy, and 
James's main fault was being Sirius's friend) was that he was 
accustomed to getting top marks in all his subjects at primary 
school, and now these, these, these *jocks* were getting better marks 
than him without ever showing any sign of hard work.<

Having rewarded Archgarchus' wisdom and insight with a suitably prestigious cabin on the Good Ship LOLLIPOPS, the Captain turns a baleful eye onto the Catlady, who appears to have the impression that Snape would have had to fall in love with Lily at 11.  She shakes her head firmly, and sits the Catlady down for a stern word.

In an interview with JKR, I'm pretty sure she said that there are no wizard primary schools, and that purebloods are home-schooled.  Of course, we don't know whether Severus was a pureblood, but I'd say the chances are if he turned up at 11 knowing more curses than half the seventh years, he has to have grown up knowing he was a wizard and therefore must be at least half blood.  If he was homeschooled, I seriously doubt that he'd turn up at Hogwarts expecting to get top marks: if this was his first experience of school, presumably he wouldn't know what to expect.  If he did go to some form of primary school, it sounds to me like his first priority was not to excel at his schoolwork and beat his classmates, but to get revenge on whoever has mistreated him enough to warrant learning that many curses.

Sure, I agree that James and Sirius' ability must have galled him.  However, I'd say what galled him most was not really their ability, it was the confidence, good looks, popularity and devil-may-care youthful high spirits which they had and bitter, vengeful, greasy 11yo Severus did not.  Don't "losers" usually detest the popular crowd?

Severus is motivated by vengeance, so no doubt he applied himself to the only area in which he thought he might have the upper hand, namely classwork.  Yet they beat him even there!  Worse and worse, in third year or so, James is selected to be Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, thus obtaining still more kudos and admiration!!  This is too much to be bourne.  Severus festered, he brooded, he revised his curses and concocted dark plots for their downfall.  After all, it seems clear that Snape's preferred style of comeuppance is cursing people, isn't it?

However, mysteriously enough, Sirius makes no mention of Snape cursing them in high school.  Instead, he describes Snape as acting entirely within the rules and snooping around trying to get them expelled.  Perhaps Snape's scared of getting caught and punished, but I somehow suspect Snape would be pretty good at being cunning and underhand and evading punishment.  I think it's more likely there was something else in the equation.  Someone else.  Someone who believed in principles and treating people fairly and kindly.

What happens around third or fourth year in the Potterverse?  Yes, boys hit puberty.  They start noticing the pretty redhead in the combined Potions classes where Gryffindor and Slytherin work together.  And they notice with extreme anguish that she appears to hang around mostly with their long-time rivals, the cocky, swaggering, Quidditch-playing, Snape-defeating James, Remus and Sirius!!  How can this be?  Severus is sure she is smart enough to see through the swagger to the deeper, more substantial lad he is himself.  He just needs to approach her.  Unfortunately, whenever he tries, the Marauders' laughter is not far away.

Sirius describes Snape as "slimy", a comment which (presumably!) must be referring to his behaviour rather than his physical appearance.  Slimy means dishonestly flattering.  Why would Sirius, whom Snape loathed at school, witness him flattering anyone?  Unless, of course, Sirius is referring to Snape's attempts to woo Lily.  My, how they would have laughed.  That greasy loser thinking he had a chance with Lily!  Imagine Snape's humiliation.  And recognise that it's not surprising that around fifth year, when Snape's crush really took hold, his efforts to smear the Marauders and prove to Lily that they are unworthy of her become so feverish that Sirius is no longer amused.  In fact, Severus' determination infuriates him to the point where he impulsively goads him into checking out the tunnel where Remus has become a werewolf, not really thinking through the consequences...

Catlady:
> I doubt if werewolves are instinctively sexually attracted to natural wolves, i.e female 
werewolves don't go into heat and male werewolves are not affected by 
smelling a bitch in heat. On the other tentacle, if female werewolves 
don't go into heat, female Animagi are even less likely to, which 
disqualifies the below question:<

Given that the werewolf cycle is connected to the moon, you have to muse on connections to the estrous cycle.  Once upon a time, before artificial light, didn't women become fertile during the full moon and menstruate during new moon?  Perhaps female werewolves become werewolves during the time they are actually on heat, and if they weren't also psychotically violent, they might indeed be interested in being, er, impregnated...


Grey Wolf (quoting me):
>>> It does appear that medium to large mammals of magical background can, in some way, communicate in a common language, judging by Sirius' ability to communicate with Crookshanks.  Most curious.  What say ye?  Is there some domesticable carnivores' patois or sign language?  Can Crookshanks speak in some way?<<
>
> I'd say that Sirius and crookshanks communicated at a pretty basic 
level, although Crookshanks seems capable of understanding human 
language well enough, and Sirius transformed back into human at times 
(for example, just before going into the school), so he could give him 
instructions as a human<

Dunno.  Surely convincing Crookshanks to trust him and explaining that he needed to get into the Gryffindor Tower and grab Scabbers requires more than a basic level of communication.  And perhaps he did go human, but it doesn't sound like it from the text ("He knew I was no dog").  I have amusing visions of cat and dog working out a common sign language...


Weaver:
> ::sees Tabouli approaching and gulps:: I didn't mean it! It just happened! Apologies to the Masters of T.A.B.O.U.L.I... (Torturing Acronyms By Opening Up Linguistic Intricacies) ::grins wickedly:: Hey, this could get to be a habit (...) I'll just leave this topic now and
hide my head in the sand ... before Tabouli and Grey Wolf catch up with me for unauthorised T.A.B.O.U.L.I...<

Captain Tabouli gently lifts Weaver out of the sand and bestows a warm, reassuring smile upon her, feeling that initiation into the fine art of acronymery should be encouraged.  Perhaps she should have a chat to Grey Wolf about hiring more staff for TAGWATCH...


jc:
> TABOULI's Acronyms Bring Us Loving Insight.  It's recursive, see? 

Captain Tabouli beams, deeply touched by this gesture of support.  Tooly Elf, however, twitches uneasily.  Much as the Captain appreciates personalised acronyms, Tooly Elf knows full well that posts to the HPFGU main list are supposed to be about the HP books, and posts containing only TABOULI acronyms, well, aren't.  Not quite.  In a conspiratorial whisper, Tooly Elf reminds acronym generators that such touches should be garnishes on posts about canon, rather than the sole subject of a post, lest judgment fall from above...

Tabouli.


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