Being an animagus?

[sbursztynski]

No: HPFGUIDX 94941

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "amycrn4230" 
<amycrn4230 at y...> wrote:
> This is my first post, so hello all...
> 
> 
> Here is my question...In the chat with JKR recently she says that a 
> person who studies to be an animagus cannot choose what they are to 
> become, and in the PoA, I got the impression that the boys picked 
> their animals in order to be big enough to "control" the werewolf
> (Remus)???...and my 2nd question is this...how did a stag fit in that 
> tiny passageway to the shrieking shack? (p. 337 American Ed. "They 
> moved as fast as they could, bent almost double...")
> 
> Thanks for letting me lurk...these discussions are most enlightening!
> 
> AmyC

Well, it's JKR's universe, she should know, but I can't recall her sharing the 
information with us in the novels themselves. In such a huge lot of text, it's 
easy to have inconsistencies - and, yes, to forget such things as the size of 
the tunnel - and when you're a multi-million bestseller, the editor probably 
goes light on your work. The boys' animals certainly seem to suit their 
personalities - James the one who charges right in, Sirius the dog - 
aggressive, but loyal, Peter the rat - he was,after all, the smallest of them. 
And think how useful being a beetle is to Rita Skeeter - how on earth could a 
tabloid dirt-digger listen in on conversations if she was, say, an elephant 
animagus? :-) Given that it would have been a lot of work to become an 
animagus and then have to hide the fact, you'd want to be able to choose, 
wouldn't you?

Sue B