[HPforGrownups] Re: why Sirius transforms into a dog ( OOP spoilers)

[Wendy St John]

No: HPFGUIDX 64598

Margaret Dean wrote:

"Dogs in general may not be wizard animals, but black dogs are not
only (folklorically) often witches' familiars, but Faerie
animals.  "Padfoot," in fact, is the name of a kind of faerie
that takes the shape of a large black dog."

To which I'll add (Wendy here):

There's also the connection with the Grim - a death omen which appears in
the shape of a dog (mentioned repeatedly in PoA), and also, IIRC, a real
folkloric reference (real as in real world folklore, as opposed to made up
by JKR. I'm not saying I believe there's really such a thing as the Grim,
but I'm also not saying there isn't ;-) ).

This is something I noticed in regards to the location of Sirius' House -
*Grim*mauld Place. My first thought, was that it was a play on the fact his
animagus form looks like the Grim (I only thought this after learning it
was Sirius' house - didn't catch onto it beforehand). Also, in my head
while reading, I prounounced the word "Grim-oh" (an approximation of how I
would say it assuming a French origin, fully acknowledging my dodgy grasp
of the language). Later (yes, I'm a bit slow at times) I realised that if
you prounounce Grimmauld in without any hint of a French accent, you get
"Grim Old" Square (which it most definitely was). Cute, JKR, very cute! <g>
NOW I'm also thinking that the reference to the Grim in the street name is
yet another of JKR's clues that Sirius was the one to kick it in this book.

Cheers!


Wendy St John
hebrideanblack at earthlink.net