"The Animagus Black!"

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 79917

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "erinellii" <erinellii at y...> 
wrote:
>  "trishel2003"  wrote:
> > "Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus 
> Black!" sobbed Bellatrix.--P. 812
> > 
> > What a weird thing to call Sirius.<snip>
> > So, what's the deal? My personal theory is that the pureblood 
> > fanatics think of Animagi as half-breeds, and therefore lesser 
> > beings. That would also explain why Voldemort continually harps 
on 
> > poor Peter, calling him "Wormtail." He, Voldemort, is angry 
because 
> > his life depends on a lesser being.--RTJ
> 
> 
Erin wrote: 
> Do you think?  My take was that the WW saw the Animagi 
transformation 
> as powerful magic; only 11 people (that we know of) have 
accomplished 
> it this century.  So Bellatrix would be trying to remind Voldemort 
> that her attention was taken by dealing with this really powerful 
> wizard, and futhermore, that she'd managed to serve Voldemort well 
by 
> defeating him.
<snip> 
>  
> As for the Wormtail thing, well, Peter is a lesser being without 
his 
> being an Animagi coming into it at all.  If you ask me, Voldemort 
is 
> trying to terrify him by reminding him that he is a rat, and 
> Voldemort can posess and destroy rats any time he wants to.  Or 
> possibly Voldy is angry because Peter's disguise as a rat is 
useless 
> to them, since the good guys know what he looks like, so he calls 
him 
> Wormtail all the time to remind him of that. 


Annemehr:
I agree with Erin on Bellatrix calling Sirius "the Animagus Black" 
as the animagus transformation is certainly a magical *power* and 
has nothing to do with breeding -- they all know Sirius is a 
pureblood.

As for Wormtail, I think Voldemort calls him that out of cruelty 
(not that Peter hasn't earned it).  He calls Peter by the name given 
to him by the friends he *betrayed*.  Voldemort apparently reads 
people well, at least as far as negative feelings go.  He can 
probably sense some shame in Peter over his betrayal and enjoys 
twisting the knife a bit.  Time will tell if this is shortsighted of 
him; maltreatment and a life-debt to Harry is something that makes 
many of us think he will change sides before the end.

I suppose Peter as Wormtail should be quite easy to recognize with a 
silvery paw.  Still, a small animal animagus must be pretty useful, 
especially in the dark, even if his disguise is known.  He's still 
harder to spot than a full-sized DE and can squeeze into narrower 
places.

Annemehr