Human's Emotions vs. Dogs

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 105555

Asian_lovr2 (Steve) wrote:
<snip>
This is how I picture a wizard in animagus form.

The human mind and the instinctive animal mind are like a rider and a
horse. <snip> The rider or human mind is long for the ride unless
circumstances dictate otherwise. This 'along for the ride' allows the
human mind to stay in the background undetected by external forces
when the situation demands it. <snip>
 
Now when human danger is near, or the animal needs to act with
calculated stealth, the human mind and instinctive mind work together.
At other times, it more important for the human mind to be in control.
For example, in areas of language, understanding what bad wizards are
saying, although, reading the demeanor and body language would be
important too, and in the latter case, the instinct and intellect
would again work together. Another example of when the human must
dominate is when they/it/he needs to form and carry out a complex plan
of action.
 
In the example in the book of Sirius getting past the dementors in dog
form, I think Sirius let his human mind fall to the background. The
instinctive Dog part of him knew the objective, and was able to act on
that basic information to get himself out of the prison. across a
large expanse of water, and back on to the main land.
 
<snip> Again, pure speculation, no canon support, but it seems like a
reasonable analogy. I have to believe that an animagus form serves
more purpose the just a disguise. If this is true, then the animagus
has the additional power to draw on the resources that are unique to
the animal in which it transform. There are times when being able to
smell a Death Eater from a mile away could be a definite advantage.

Carol responds:
We can also consider Peter/Scabbers, who generally behaves as a rat in
the first two books, once seeming to enjoy the smell of Christmas
dinner but otherwise mostly sleeping. In PoA he seems (on a first
reading) merely to fear Crookshanks as any rat would fear any cat. On
a second reading we realize that he started behaving oddly and looking
"off color" in Egypt, before Crookshanks came into the story. Clearly
Scabbers, even in rat form, has heard news of Sirius' escape and knows
quite well that his human self is in danger of exposure or even death.
The fear of Crookshanks may be fear of being eaten, but it's possible
that Peter/Scabbers senses that Crookshanks is part Kneazel.
Crookshanks (admittedly not an animagus) understands human speech and
is able to communicate somehow with Sirius/Padfoot. Can he do the same
with Scabbers?

And another thought. Admittedly possession is not the same as
transformation, but we have an example of a human mind (Voldemort's as
perceived by Harry) inside the body of a snake (Nagini?). The senses
and sensations are those of the snake, as is the desire to strike. The
desire to hold back because there's important work to do is
Voldemort's. The person inside the snake doesn't perceive them as
belonging to different parts of the mind, the human and animal levels;
he feels that he *is* the snake, but the primitive animal desire
conflicts with the human one. When the man (Mr. Weasley) wakes up and
becomes a threat, the desires merge and Voldemort/Nagini strikes with
the only available weapon, the snake's fangs.

I imagine that the transformation into an animal would produce a
similar state of mind. In Sirius' case, being seems to produce fewer
worries and no inhibitions. He can frolic around and chase his tail to
entertain Harry (and even as a man, he now eats like a dog, at least
in GoF). OTOH, when he puts his paws on Harry's shoulders on Platform
 9 3/4 in OoP, Mrs. Weasley warns him to act more like a dog. Also, he
stands on his hind legs to open a door in GoF. So clearly he knows
he's really a man and presumably he knows, as Padfoot, that his
mission is to find Lupin and "the old crowd" (I won't get into the
problems that presents given that all except Lupin think he's a murderer).

In general, I think JKR's depiction of the animagi is probably not
entirely consistent, but Steve's explanation works for me: The human
consciousness is present but suppressed unless it's needed. Hard to
understand how even Peter Pettigrew could have lived twelve years as a
rat if that's not the case.

Carol