[HPforGrownups] Re: Giving the map to Lupin (Was: Lupin's vampire essay)

[liz]

No: HPFGUIDX 89899

on 29/1/04 4:07 pm, severelysigune at severelysigune at yahoo.co.uk wrote:

> Sigune reflects:
> There is one thing that troubles me, though. Isn't the scene
> in "Snape's Worst memory" supposed to take place during James
> Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts? Now, the nicknames derive from the
> boys' Animagus forms, don't they? And they only figured out how to
> transfigure themselves into animals after their /sixth/ year, because
> in their sixth year Sirius played his prank on Snape and that means
> Remus still had to go to the Shrieking Shack at that time. In PoA he
> explains that this wasn't necessary anymore as soon as his friends
> became Animagi, as they were able to control him in animal form.
> 
> So: there is no problem with 'Moony', because Lupin was a werewolf
> ever since he entered Howarts; but how can we explain the use
> of 'Prongs', 'Padfoot' and 'Wormtail' if the stag, the dog and the
> rat forms are yet to be assumed?
> 
> Or am I getting it all wrong? (That is also a possibility of
> course :) ).

Liz here:
By the time the pensieve scene takes place they are already able to
transform. When Peter says he couldn't remember all the signs of a werewolf
James says "How thick are you Wormtail? You run around with a werewolf once
a month!", and later Sirius wishes it was full moon, obviously so he can
have some fun as a dog. Also in POA Lupin says that they discovered he was
werewolf in second year and set out to learn the animagus spell, which took
three years. So I think it's fairly clear that they managed it in their
fifth year.

As to why they were not already with Lupin on the night of the prank there
are several possibilities for that. A logical one is timing. In winter in
the UK the sun goes down as early as 4pm. The moon would come up soon after.
It seems logical that the others would probably not go to join Lupin until
after lessons and dinner ended when they would not be noticed. So Snape
could have gone down before they did etc etc.

I can think of many other possibilities but they are mere speculation, so I
will not bore you with them.

Liz