DD an animagus?

[Jim Ferer]

No: HPFGUIDX 90356

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Janet Anderson" 
<norek_archives2 at h...> wrote:

> For all we know, Dumbledore is a *registered* Animagus, right there 
for 
> anyone to see who wanted to look it up.  And Hermione, who can 
certainly 
> keep a secret, might not have mentioned it, either because she 
thinks it 
> might be an important piece of information to have up her sleeve, 
or because 
> Dumbledore or McGonagall asked her not to.

I like that explanation. It's the most plausible one to me. Hermione 
would absolutely keep a secret if asked.  I never warmed up to the 
idea that Hermione looked up all the animagi registered *this 
century,* and didn't find him because DD was registered the century 
before - it seemed like such a loophole, and you'd think any list of 
animagi would include the ones *still living.*  OTOH, there are 
hypotheses that could explain why DD didn't register or that his 
registration was a State secret:

** DD didn't register for the same reason Rita Skeeter didn't, 
although his motives were purer: he gathered intelligence this way on 
LV, and Grindenwald before him.

** He did register, but the Minister at the time (not Fudge) agreed 
to keep it secret.  Fudge may not even know, which at the time of OoP 
would have been a good thing.

There's no evidence for any of it, but it seems to make sense.

Jim Ferer