Speaking of Wormtail and his silver hand ...

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 59176

Janet Anderson wrote:
> I wonder what will happen the next time he tries to transform. Will 
> he have a silver rat's paw? Or will the appendage interfere with his 
> transformation?  It will certainly make him easier to notice (and 
> possibly to find, especially by Voldemort should the occasion arise).

That's actually a fair point I haven't seen raised before (which 
doesn't mean it hasn't, though, so sorry if this has been discused to 
death). My guess - and it is indeed a guess because we have little 
cannon to base ourselves on - is that as a rat he'll have a silver paw.

Now, this raises interesting issues in animagic in general. What we 
have indeed discused previously is those marks that the animals seem to 
have - McGonagall's cat form has marks of her glasses areound the eyes, 
and so does Rita's beetle form. Now, we know that the ministry makes an 
issue of jotting down the detailed description of the animal, which I 
always took to mean that the animal had a unique apearence that could 
be jotted down. I had, however, not considered the fact that we know 
(from Peter's missing finger) that the animal forms reflect the persons 
form.

My previous theory stated that both McGonagall and Rita were wearing 
the same sort of glasses they are wearing nowwhen they performed their 
first animagi change, and they were stuck with them, but I've changed 
ideas know. If they took off the glasses (and other jewelry; 
interestingly, the clothes don't seem to be reflected), they'd get a 
slightly different animal, just as Peter got a different animal 
(missing one finger) after he bit his finger off. Why then make such an 
issue of recording the animal descriptions? Well, for one thing, the 
animal doesn't change that much - faint marks around the eyes is about 
all we know, and missing bits and pieces of both bodies. Possibly 
similar markings in appropiate places can be extrapolated from canon 
(rings, earings, necklaces, etc).

Now, lets go back to the part explaining the legal procedure. Hermione 
says that all the details of the animal form are carefully recorded - 
this obviously is a little useless if such characteristics will change 
depending on what the caster happens to be wearing - or does it? As I 
mentioned, most of the changes seem very small. McGonagall remains a 
tabby cat, with or without glasses, I think we can asume. And maybe 
what the ministry records is precisly that fact - the characteristics 
that remian constant, and maybe asks the new animagi to transform with 
a variety of objects (lipstick, earings, bracelets, etc) to record what 
changes those objects cause in the animal, thus documenting the change 
with the zeal that Hermione suggests.

> Of course, the substance the hand is made of may not be silver; it 
> may be orichalcum or some magical metal (but probably not mithril, 
> because the Estate of J. R. R. Tolkien might raise a stink).
> 
> Janet Anderson

I myself do not think that the stuff is silver. That doesn't mean that 
it doesn't have silver properties (including the, so far, uncanonical 
deathly effect on werewolves). But the fact is that it came out of a 
wand, and thus I am more inclined to think that it is simply magical 
energy made solid (more or less) but still in raw form. 

My canon for this? Well, we are told that at the start of the spell, 
the stuff is liquid. Applying liquid silver to a human body isn't a 
pleasent experience (melting point: 980°C), but receiving the hand was, 
for Peter - he stops crying. Of course, a point might be made that the 
"molten silver" actually solifies into a hand, but we're still in a 
problem - silver isn't a articulated, and yet the hand is funtional. 
All this can be, of course, explained by magic, but then, I go all the 
way and assume it's magic all of it, not a combination between magic 
and metal.

Further canon I can present: we have seen the silvery stuff before - 
specifically Dumbledore conjures a silver bird out of his wand to send 
a message to Hagrid in GoF, after he arrives at the spot were Crouch 
Sr. found Harry and Krum. There is nothing to indicate that that bird 
was made out of silver or that indeed silver was involved in some way; 
rather, it hints that magical energy is white, bright and sparkly, as 
molten silver.

In conclussion, I think that, unless canon says otherwise (which would 
require two things, werewolves to be hurt by silver in JKR's world and 
a Peter-Lupin confrontation, allthough if the first is true, the second 
might be a given), I think I'll continue to assume that the hand is 
made out of magical energy. This may or may not be relevant. Time will 
tell.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf