Animagi (was: Three topics of interest - for comments

[amanitamuscaria1]

No: HPFGUIDX 67707

"Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)" <catlady at w...> wrote:
> Is a person's Patronus always an animal? Is it always the same 
animal 
> as their Animagus form?
*snip*

ME- I'm somewhat puzzled by this myself, as Harry's patronus is 
described as 'charging down' the dementors - I somehow can't see an 
otter charging down anything - maybe nipping round the ankles, but 
not a full-frontal attack. A swan would be fine, can be pretty 
vicious. I'm wondering if perhaps Harry hasn't served his fellow DA's 
very well, and by not giving them a believable enemy, the patronuses 
conjured won't be effective if it comes to the crunch?

*snip* 
> I'm wondering about the connection of JKR's Animagus and Hermione's 
> Patronus. I would be surprised if Hermione's Animagus was an otter, 
> because the Animagus form reflects the personality, and Hermione 
has 
> the intelligence and cunning but lacks the playfulness of otters 
(JKR 
> shows no lack of playfulness, with the puns and humor in these 
books).
*snip*
ME- hear, hear - but I suspect you're right, and JKR is writing in a 
bit of wish-fulfillment here. Maybe, though, it's like someone else 
posted on, I believe, this site - there are many ways to get a 
result - charms do similar things to potions, potions have similar 
effects to Transformation, etc., you have to choose which method you 
feel most comfortable with. Hence wands, I suppose, which are 'very 
good for charms work', etc. I don't see Hermione getting herself in 
the same situation as Harry, where she'd need to face down Dementors. 

*snip*
> JKR has confirmed in interviews that the Animagus doesn't get to 
> choose his/her animal form, but instead the animal form is a 
> reflection of his/her personality.
> 
ME- Can we see something relating a bit to witches' familiars? 
Obviously, not exactly, as they seem to have been more of your animal 
in Hogwarts terms - I was just thinking, what would happen if, for 
instance, Hagrid were to become an Animagus, and he were a cat? Where 
he's said he's allergic to cats.. sorry - this wasn't serious..
*snip*
>  I imagine that Sirius's Dark relatives' Animagus forms would have 
> been, like, venomous serpents and venomous spiders...
> 
> One thing I want to know, is it at all likely or even possible that 
a 
> person's Animagus form would turn out to be a water creature, such 
as 
> a fish, or, worse yet, a jellyfish or a sea anemone, who would die 
> almost instantly upon their first successful transformation unless 
> they were in a tub of water at the time? Correct water (sea water 
or 
> fresh water) at that. 
*snip*
ME - There's an interesting take on this in Pullman's Dark Materials 
series, where people's daemons become seabirds so they're condemned 
to be seafarers - I guess that's a take on the selkie stories of the 
Scottish isles...
*snip*
>Can a person who is a werewolf become 
> an Animagus? with an animal form other than wolf? Can a werewolf 
who 
> is an Animagus with an animal form other than wolf avoid turning 
into 
> a wolf monster at Full Moon by turning into hiser animal before the 
> moment?
*snip*
ME- I would suspect that the Marauders might have tried these 
techniques, as the wolfsbane draught hadn't been invented then. As 
they worked out by themselves how to turn into animagi, I can't see 
why Lupin wouldn't have tried it, too. Maybe one's only got so much 
transformation potential in one. Or maybe his skill just didn't lie 
that way...
Wow - you've put a lot of thought into this - it's a fascinating 
area, and one I'd hope JKR might explore in a sub-book like 'Magical 
Creatures' and 'Quidditch'. I enjoyed reading your post a lot.
Cheers. AmanitaMuscaria