Boggart/ Patronus Musings - Quote Lupin

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 105394

Asian_lovr2 (steve) wrote:
<snip> I think it would be very difficult to guess anyone's Patronus
even with deep insight into that person. 
> 
> As far as a 'cloud' being Lupin's Patronus, so far all Patronus form
> have been animal. That doesn't preclude it being true, but certainly
> stacks the odds against it. 
> 
> As a side note; I don't think that a person's animagus for and their
> Patronus are necessarily the same. That doesn't mean they are never
> the same, I just think it is the rarer case.

Carol:
as you said in a part of the post that I snipped, a person's patronus
is his or her protector. A person's animagus form, OTOH, is that
person's essential self in a symbolic form. I won't even try to
determine the "essential" qualities of a great, bearlike dog, but the
symbolism of stags and rats is pretty clearcut. I suppose it would be
possible for James and Sirius to have their own animagus forms as
patronuses (-i?)if they consider themselves alpha males who don't need
protectors, but imagine Peter's Patronus being a rat. Or Rita
Skeeter's being a beetle. It just wouldn't work. And McGonagall's
probably isn't a cat, either, unless the cat is part kneazel. (A
Crookshanks-like Patronus, anybody? It doesn't work for me.)

As for Lupin, who of course isn't an animagus and certainly wouldn't
have a werewolf Patronus, I think we don't see his Patronus because he
can't quite cast one, DADA instructor or not. All we see on both his
attempts is a bright light from his wand. Not particularly good with
potions or he wouldn't rely on Snape, not as good as his friends at
Transfiguration or he wouldn't have to study for the O.W.L., so in his
year as DADA instructor he teaches about Dark creatures. (I can see
why his interests might lie in that direction, poor man, and I suppose
the subject is more appropriate for third years than defensive spells,
but I'm guessing he taught the same thing in all his classes
regardless of level.) Despite his involvement in making the map and
his knowledge of the theoretical aspects of casting a Patronus, I
don't think Lupin is a particularly powerful wizard. Pretty good with
boggarts, though, and a nice guy if you ignore his many sins of
omission--things he should have done but didn't (but I've already
listed them in a previous post).

Carol