Ridiculing the moon

[nobodysrib]

No: HPFGUIDX 53800

Clio wrote:
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "clio44a" <clio44a at y...> wrote:
> While I disagree with the 
> idea of said thread (Snape=cockroach animagus) it made me think 
about 
> that particular scene. And something struck me as odd.
> 
> Why on earth does Professor Lupin's boggart (the moon) turn into a 
> cockroach after the Riddikulus spell??
<snip> 
> What's funny about a cockroach? Lupin himself, when lecturing his 
> students how to face the boggart, says it should be forced into 
> something comical.
<snip>
> Maybe it is only necessary to conjure a funny picture in your mind. 

I think that the largest part of defeating the boggart is laughing in 
the face of fear.  For the beginners, it may be too difficult to 
focus on an abstract and unrelated comic image, and so imagining the 
object of fear in a comical situation aids the process.  (Similar to 
picturing the audience in their underwear when giving a speech - 
which, btw, doesn't work at all...)

Clio:
> But, ... a cockroach?
> Why would Lupin find a cockroach amusing?

While the Snape=cockroach discussion has been interesting (I 
generally would think his animagus form word be more "regal" and 
sly), I had not been leaning towards believing it... until, 
ironically, now; I imagine that seeing Snape turn himself into a 
cockroach would indeed be a comical sight, one that I know wouldn't 
leave my memory any time soon.  (And might an Evil!Lupin enjoy giving 
his brighter students <cough, Hermione, cough> a hint as to Snape's 
rather embarassing secret?)

- Nobody's Rib, who is terrified her animigi form would be a mouse