Hermione, Winter's Tale and plot clues

[Judy M. Ellis]

No: HPFGUIDX 44620

"hickengruendler" wrote:
>Although we heard the word animagus not until 
> Prisoner of Azkaban, we already saw in the very first chapter of 
> Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone a witch, who can transform 
> herself into an animal (McGonnagal as cat). So we knew that the 
> phenomen exists, although we didn't know, how many wizards/ 
witches 
> are capable to do so. However, I must admit, I didn't thought 
about 
> Sirius as the Black dog, till the moment, he revealed himself. 
That 
> was because I didn't know that Sirius was the name of the dog 
star. 
> However, Lupin being a werewolf is really very blatant, in my 
> opinion, and from the first moment I read the name I was sure he 
is 
> either a werewolfe or a wizard who can turn into a wolf.


Well spotted!  I completely forgot about McGonagall. I do stand 
corrected. But wasn't that bit wonderfully clever of JKR?  

As an adult who reads a great deal-- as you also must-- I 
immediately guessed Remus (From the Roman myth of Romulus and Remus 
who as infants were suckled by a wolf)-- Lupin (derived from a root 
meaning of course, wolf) was a werewolf too. But in our analyses of 
these books, which we all find so fascinating, we must keep in mind 
that they were originally intended for children and as I said in my 
post, only one of my 12-year-old students spotted that at once--and 
these are bright children.  For a child, the clue was just that, a 
clue, and not at all that obvious.
--Judy