Animagi (was: WHY a vampire? was No fire in the office

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 88084

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "vmonte" <vmonte at y...> wrote:

> Maybe Snape is not a Vampire but an animagus. His animal form could 
> take the shape of a bat. 
> 
> I've always been curious about Animagi. How exactly did all of
> James Potter's friends learned how to transform into animals? 

Not all James's friends (I imagine half the students would call
themselves his friends), just James, Sirius, and Peter. Canon says
James and Sirius were extremely clever students and they helped Peter.

> Do you have a choice of animal or does the spell or potion choose
> it for you? 

JKR has confirmed in interviews that the Animagus doesn't get to
choose his/her animal form, but instead the animal form is a
reflection of his/her personality.

http://www.geocities.com/aberforths_goat/October_2
000_Live_Chat_America_Online.htm
Q: Does the animal one turns into as an Animagi reflect your
personality?
JKR: Very well deduced, Narri! I personally would like to think that 
I would transform into an otter, which is my favorite animal. Imagine
how horrible it would be if I turned out to be a cockroach! 

http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript2.htm
Q: If you were Animagus, what kind of animal would you be?
A: I'd like to be an otter -- that's my favourite animal. It would be
depressing if I turned out to be a slug or something.

I want to know, what happens if a person who has become an Animagus
goes over the whole training again, from scratch, will heesh get
another animal form? Can a person who is a werewolf become an
Animagus? with an animal form other than wolf? Can a werewolf who is 
an Animagus with an animal form other than wolf avoid turning into a
wolf monster at Full Moon by turning into hiser animal before the
moment?

I also would like to know the relationship between Animagus form and
Patronus form. JKR said that she would like to be an Otter if she
were an Animagus, and she gave her avatar character (Hermione) an
Otter for Patronus. Harry's Patronus is a stag, and some people on
list think that he would be a stag Animagus as well. Alas, JKR isn't
going to tell us:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/arti
cles/1999/1099-pressclubtransc.html
SB: We're going to take a few more questions, and um, the next one is
will Harry ever turn into a shape-changer like his father?

JKR: Animagus. No, Harry's not in training to be an animagus, and if
you've read book three, you won't know -- um, that's a wizard that's
very, very difficult to do. They learn to turn themselves into
animals. No, Harry is not, Harry is going to be concentrated
elsewhere, he's not going to have time to do that. He's got quite a
full agenda coming up, poor boy.

> Could Snape have learned how to do this around the same time as 
> James? Or better yet, could the Potter gang have stolen the 
> information from Snape?

I suspect that it's more of a skill than of an information that can be
stolen. Like how to walk a tightrope.