Fawkes/Phoenixes/Dumbledore/ Gryffindor

[judyserenity]

No: HPFGUIDX 42290

Redandgoldlion wrote:
>... I think Dumbledore 
> is an animagus. I don't think he's
> just any old animagus either; I think 
> he is Fawkes. 


Oooo, very creative theory!  I don't think
that's been suggested here before.  

I like this theory, but I don't think 
it can be true.  I agree that having 
Fawkes and Dumbledore in the same room
at once is no problem, due to the existence
of time turners.  But, I see two other problems. 

First, in CoS, Dumbledore says he's been telling Fawkes to get moving
and burn already.  It wouldn't make sense for Dumbledore to say this
to himself, and I don't think he'd lie to Harry about it. 

Second, Fawkes has extremely powerful magic that humans appear to lack
in the Potterverse, including the ability to resurrect.  If Dumbledore
were Fawkes, that would imply that tranfiguration gives one the
magical powers of the animal one becomes.  We haven't seen anything
like that before.  This *could* be because the other animagi transform
into non-magical creatures, but my guess is, animagi retain the
magical properties of their original human selves, not of the animals
that they become.  Otherwise, I don't see how animagi could tranform
back.  I also have the theory that the reason Ron's spell failed when
he tried to turn Scabbers yellow (in PS/SS) was that Scabbers wasn't a
real rat; in terms of how magic affected him, he was still human.   

I'd sort of like this theory to be true, but I think it's more likely
that Fawkes is a real pheonix who once belonged to Godric Gryffindor.
This would explain the association of Fawkes' colors with the
Gryffindor house colors.  I'm trying to remember if the basilisk had
any silver color -- I seem to recall he was green.  Maybe both
Gryffindor and Slytherin picked their house colors based on the colors
of their magic "pets."  There would also be a nice parallel if both
Slytherin's and Gryffindor's animals were still alive at the time
Harry started school, which would be the case if Fawkes once belonged
to Gryffindor.  Also, if Fawkes belonged to Gryffindor, that would
mean that Gryffindor's animal helped defeat Slytherin's animal (the
basilisk) which would be nice foreshadowing of an eventual victory by
the Gryffindor side. 

-- Judy