Animagi and Alkatraz Alzcaban

[Melody]

No: HPFGUIDX 45887

Hey, Audra.  :)  Let's try this attempt to make us both happy.


I wrote:
<<In animal animagus form, the wizard has the advantages of the
physical animal form and the advantage of a human mind.  I am not sure
of the mechanics of how the human mind shrinks to fit the animal body,
but it obviously does.>>

Audra points out:
>>If this is true, then Sirius's explanation of how he escaped Azkaban
is either a lie or an inconsistency in the story.  I'm trying to cover
for him.<<

Hey, I'm all for covering Sirius.  Preferable next to a warm fire...

Now to whether Sirius was lying in the shack.  I doubt it.  At that
time in the shrieking shack, what did he have to gain by lying?  And
besides if he did, the extremely educated Lupin would call his bluff.
 Lupin was there to see his friends create the potion and also saw
their reactions and state as animagi, so I think he would know what
the actions and mannerisms of a animagus wizard would be.

As to it being inconsistent, well...that is hard to say exactly.  We
are, after all, trying to guess the "rules" that JKR has laid out for
the inner workings of animagi.  So, since I do not want to say she is
being inconsistent, let me try and figure out a way Sirius can be all
man in mind and all animal in body still all the while fooling the
dementors.


Audra explained:
>>If only Sirius's outer appearance changed to a dog, but his mind
remained the same, that certainly wouldn't fool the blind Dementors.
And my explanation about the human consciousness still present within
the animal brain covers Sirius's explanation as well as McGonagall and
Skeeter processing language.<<

True, true.  It does cover for them all.  I just get caught on the
mechanics of how a human mind can be concealed and yet also used
behind an animal mind.  In my imagination's version, when a wizard
changes from human to animal, every part of the body changes except
the brain which just shrinks in size.  It never undergoes a
transformation.

The reason why Sirius transforms into a dog in his cell seems to be
the part that is causing the seemed inconsistency.  Maybe we are
interpreting the quote and his reasoning wrong.  Let me find it in the
book...just a second...hold on...Ok it reads.

"'I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was
innocent.  That wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck
it out of me... but it kept me sane and knowing who I am...helped me
keep my powers...so when it all became...too much...I could transform
in my cell...become a dog.  Dementors can't see, you know...' He
swallowed.  'They feel their way toward people by feeding off their
emotions....They could tell that my feelings were less -- less human,
less complex when I was a dog...but they thought, of course, that I
was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn't trouble
them.  But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them
away from me without a wand...'"  PoA, Ch 19

Gracious that is a lot to type.

Oh, one more part of canon that can apply...

"but it [seeing Peter in the newspaper] gave me strength, it cleared
my mind.  So one night when they opened my door to bring food, I
slipped past them as a dog...It's so much harder for them to sense
animal emotions that they were confused..." PoA, Ch 19

Now we can take that passage two ways.

The popular: Black's simpler animal emotions are what allowed him to
escape from Alcatraz Azkaban without detection.  They could not sense
him, so they did not pursue him.

Or possibly: Black was able to convince the dementors he was not of
sound mind, so they assumed he was no threat.  By that deception, he
was able to sneak out.  Since the dementors cannot see, they did not
know a prisoner left.  They thought he was dead or just weak in his
cell, so they did not suspect an escapee.

I am prone to believe the later.  If it was just an emotion shield,
then the dementors could still feel a body slip out the prison front
door.  They can still sense the animal emotions.  But since they
thought he was weak and insane, they could not understand how a weak,
insane prisoner could get out.  They were confused by that thought not
the emotions.

But you say that the dementors could tell the emotions were simpler.
Somehow the human emotions Black was feeling were simpler to them.
Therefore, they actually were simpler.

I disagree.  Just because the dementors perceive them to be simpler
does not mean they are.  Black still felt all his emotions as a dog.
They are not simpler.  Just perceived as being so.  How and why the
dementors are fooled is not relying on the physical fact of human
emotions being buried, but rather, on the reality that their
perception can be fooled.

Is this any clearer?  I know I am harping a bit on this a bit.  Have I
found a middle ground at all Audra?

Melody
Who want to tell Filker Nicole, "I loved your Ironic/Eccentric Filk.
Loved it.  :)  Completely ingenious.  Four stars."