Sirius' Death & animagus transformations

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 119651


Jen wrote: 
<snip> why does it take such complexity for a wizard to learn how to
transform into an animal, but an animal brain can make the required
calculations to turn back into a human? Is it some issue of cellular
matter, where your original form is easier to transform back into? 
> 
> It seems like in animal form the wizard is still choosing whether to 
> transform back to human or not. Sirius and Remus had to force Peter 
> to transform and Sirius could sense when he should stay an animal at 
> Azkaban.

Carol responds:
I answered a similar question way back when but don't have time to
locate the post and, to be honest, don't remember exactly what I said.

However, on the simplest level, I think that the animagus, though he
has an animal's senses and reactions, also retains his own identity.
James, Sirius, and Peter remembered who they were as they ran around
in the moonlight with werewolf Lupin (who may have acquired some sense
of *his* identity by being with them, though his fight with Padfoot in
PoA seems to undermine this idea). MacGonagall certainly knows exactly
who she is as she waits on the wall for Dumbledore (though the comic
detail of the cat reading the map seems a bit far-fetched and is
clearly intended for a juvenile audience). Later, she transforms into
a cat and back again in her classroom, clearly not losing her identity
or sense of purpose, though she might have been distracted slightly
had Scabbers been in the room. (Would she have recognized him as a
fellow animagus, I wonder?) And Scabbers himself clearly plans his
escape by faking his own death just as Peter did earlier and hides in
Hagrid's hut, knowing that he won't show up on the Marauder's Map.
(Whether he also knows that Crookshanks is part kneazel and suspects
him of being an animagus or only fears that Crookshanks intends to eat
him, I'm not sure, but his actions suggest fear that Sirius is about
to catch him and expose him. The loss of weight and hair after he
hears that Sirius has escaped from Azkaban suggests a similar conclusion.

So, as I see it, an animagus has animal instincts and abilities, can
think like an animal as needed (Sirius can eat rats and escape from
some of his human depresssion in dog form), but he or she retains a
knowledge of his or her human identity and the ability to change back
at need. No doubt that step is the hardest part of becoming an
animagus and the reason why it's both rare and regulated. If some
wizards can't apparate without being splinched, it stands to reason
that others could be trapped in animal form with no way to transfigure
themselves back into humans. If no one who can do the spell to
retransfigure them knows who they really are, they could be stuck in
animal form forever. (And of course, animagi can use their abilities
for evil purposes, which is another reason the ability is regulated.
That, too, would require a knowledge of their human identity.)

Carol