Sirius Animagus; Broomstick

[c_voth312]

No: HPFGUIDX 40322

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "LD" <lee.farley at n...> wrote:
> Alexander wrote:
> Let's be honest, what's the point of telling the Ministry that 
Sirius is
> an Animagus? They already want to suck out his soul with a Dementor,
> what more could they possibly do? And would they believe Snape even 
if
> he *was* petty enough to tell them? No, I think Dumbledore took 
Snape
> aside and ordered him not to tell Not only would it have gotten 
Sirius
> into more trouble, but Remus also. Dumbledore must have had plans 
for
> Lupin and Black later on :)

Also, if I remember correctly, Snape knows that Sirius is an Animagus 
but doesn't know *what* his other form is.  Without that information, 
trying to rat him out would be a moot point--how could he (or anyone 
else) find Sirius if he decided to take his other form?  He wouldn't 
even know what species to look for, let alone any specific markings 
or characteristics.

You'd think he'd probably put two and two together when Dumbledore 
let that huge black dog hang around Harry's sickbed, though...

> 
> Great point, and one that's fairly easily resolved (for me at 
least).
> Let's look at Ferrari for a second. Ferrari make very fast sports 
cars,
> most of which could easily reach 200mph if given the chance. The 
fact
> that the car can do 200mph is completely irrelevant though, because 
the
> most you can do (on British roads at least) is 70mph. So just as 
with
> the Firebolt, why is the excess speed there? 
> 
> Bragging rights.
> 

I think you've hit the nail here.  Think about car commercials for a 
second.  You never see people driving them to the store, fighting 
morning traffic to get to work, or anything of the like, do you?  
They're always tearing down mountain roads at upwards of 60mph, 
navigating treacherous terrian, kicking up mud and dust everywhere 
they go.  People as a whole are more impressed by what things can do 
then by what we use them for on a regular basis.

> 
> Sure, the ability to stop and start almost instantaneously would be
> good, but would the rider even be able to stay on the broom?
> Accelerating to 200mpg in 2 seconds might *sound* impressive, but 
you
> can bet that the rider would be tumbling towards the ground faster 
than
> you can say "excessive power" <grin>

I think where broomsticks are concerned as a whole, we have to assume 
there are spells in place that work around all those pesky physics 
problems (mostly dealing with how the rider manages to hang on to the 
blessed thing to begin with).  Suspention of disbelief is a wonderful 
thing.

~Christi