Animagi

[erinellii]

No: HPFGUIDX 55886

 "Katy Cartee" wrote:
> ...did James, Remus and Sirius find nothing suspicious about Peter 
turning into a rat, since it does in fact seem that they do not 
control which animal they turn into? I mean, if i were in a group of 
friends, me and 2 others turned into "noble" animals such as lions, 
tigers and bears...and then one friend turned into a rat (an animal 
known for killing babies)...i believe i'd rethink my opinion of that 
friend! That would certainly speak loads about their true inner 
character to me. Why did they not keep a closer eye on him after that?


I can think of several good reasons. 

 Maybe they thought of his rat as being more akin to a mouse, for one 
thing.  I mean, he was a small, timid, mousey-type boy, right?  So it 
would make more sense to them in that light.  

For another, wizarding children seem to keep rats as pets fairly 
frequently, so although we as muggles tend to view rats in a totally 
negative light, possibly in the WW, the image of a rat has some good 
connotations as well-- perhaps even of loyalty, who knows?
  
Plus, Peter wasn't the only non-noble animal in the group.  Remus was 
a werewolf, a dangerous dark creature.  They had already overcome the 
predjudice most of the WW shows to werewolves.  Were they then going 
to turn around and accuse another friend of being evil because of an 
animal form he couldn't control?  It would seem pretty hypocritical 
to do so at that point, I think.
  
And then too, they were actually GLAD that Peter was a rat.  He 
served a useful function.  He was the only one small enough to run 
under the Whomping Willow and press the knot that gave them access to 
the passageway.  Without that, how could they have gotten Remus back 
into the Shreiking shack each morning?  They only other way would 
have been to turn human and prod it with a stick, not an option when 
a dangerous werewolf programmed to attack humans was standing right 
beside you.  Possibly they could have taken Remus somewhere else 
while one of them transformed, but remember, he was more in his right 
mind when with them, and I think the werewolf would have refused to 
leave, knowing that there was about to be a human there and wanting 
to rip him to shreds.
  
And lastly, we only know that a person's animagus form has to do with 
their personality because JKR told us so in an interview.  I can't 
think of anything in canon that tells us the WW knows this as well.  
Can anyone else?

Erin