Unknown Animagi

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 42141


Richelle: 

> LD again: 
> 
> > Or perhaps we should consider the feline form of Mrs. Norris? There's 
> > something very fishy going on with that cat, not least of all the way it 
> > has such an unusual bond with Filch. Thinking about it, what kind of a 
> > name is "Mrs Norris" for a cat anyway? Surely if it was normal it would 
> > be dead by now? It seems as though Mrs Norris has been there for years.. 
> > How long do cats live ordinarily anyway? 
> 
> Cats can live upwards of twenty years, but they don't usually get around as 
> easy as Mrs. Norris does.  Hmm, suppose that Filch had a childhood 
> sweetheart and she turned out to be a witch while he turned out to be a 
> squid?  Perhaps it would be beneath a true witch to fall in love with a 
> squid.  So she took on a cat form?  Or maybe she's just a weird cat. :) 
> 
> 

Is it time to remind people of one of my favourite theories (not *mine*, you 
understand, just one I like)? 
Tabouli's FLIRTIAC (Filch's Lover Is Regretting Turning Into A Cat, post 
#26726) theory and subsequent posts explore the reasons for Filch's closeness 
to his cat. I think the last version had her being transformed by her enraged 
husband, and then there were all the embellishments of  Kitty-Gro potion, 
Snape's involvement, etc. etc. 

But didn't JKR say that there were no more hidden animagi to be sprung on us? 

"amelofbrockley":
>umm. Could it be that Mrs Norris is a dramatic device? Ms Rowling 
>does seem to be good at putting in things just because they read 
>well, and anyway, the strange power of ordinary cats is a classic 
>fantasy trope cf. Greebo in the Discworld books. But then again, H.P. 
>Lovecraft did posit that cats were in fact a benign and hyper-
>powerful race from the stars who protected mankind from various mis-
>formed nasties, because they happened to like us. SO, I reckon Mrs 
>Norris could be the undercover hero of the cycle (what is it with 
>authors and their cats?)

What I find interesting about this (and particularly about the fact that 
Hermione, with whom JKR identifies, has a cat) is that apparently (according 
to an interview which I remember Porphyria citing) JKR herself dislikes the 
creatures. I would give  the ref, but I've just changed email addresses and 
I'm not very good at this stuff and frankly am sick of constantly switching 
back and forth between screen names and sending myself e-mails, which seems 
to be the only way I can transfer information from my old filing cabinet.


Eloise 
Enjoying the idea of Filch as a *squid*, although suspecting that if he 
*were*, a liaison with a cat might be rather unusual, not to say dangerous.
 
And also with an appeal to anyone else who uses AOL and who knows an easy way 
of transferring information from my other filing cabinet to this one to let 
me know! (Off-list, of course.)


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