Sirius/Tonks

[Doriane]

No: HPFGUIDX 93839

Kathy King wrote:

> One of the most confusing statements in Oop, for me, was when 
> Bellatrix says that she was busy fighting the Animagus Black. (pg. 
> 812)

Del :
I was very confused by that statement too when I read it.

Kathy :
> Well, Black's animagus form was a big black dog and we know 
> she was not fighting a big black dog. So what did she mean by 
> animagus? This started me thinking and looking. What if Bella new 
> she was not fighting the true Sirius Black but some animagus *form 
> of Black?

Del :
I've read the responses people gave to your post, and unless I 
missed some, nobody asked the first and obvious question : how would 
she know that ?
And the consequent questions : would anyone else know it too then ? 
Would DD know it ? Would DD be lying to Harry when he pretends to 
believe Sirius is dead ? If anyone else knows about Sirius actually 
being alive, why don't they say so ? Etc...

Kathy :
> These questions made me think of Sirius's second cousin Tonks who 
> is capable of changing her appearance at will, a metamorphmagus. 
> (pg. 52)

Del :
As many people have stated, an Animagus is not the same as a 
Metamorphagus.

I gave it some thought, and came up with quite a few reasons for 
Bellatrix to say "the Animagus Black".

1. She was being redundant. It does happen. Or maybe Pippin (I 
think, sorry otherwise) is right, and it's all part of a specific 
speech pattern.

2. She was putting the emphasis on Sirius being an Animagus. Why ?

    2.1. Maybe Animagi are supposed to be stronger wizards than 
most. So basically, she would mean to say that she was the only one 
who was brave enough to fight Sirius.

    2.2. Maybe LV had a special interest in Sirius because he was an 
Animagus. He'd learned only relatively recently about Sirius being 
an Animagus, maybe he didn't like it, and had given specific orders 
about him ?

3. She was putting the emphasis on Sirius being "the Black who is an 
Animagus". Would that mean there was *another* Black at the MoM that 
night ? After all, she's a Black herself, she would know better than 
anyone else.
Of course, she might just have considered Tonks as a Black.

4. It could also be the other way around and Bellatrix could have 
meant "the Animagus who's called Black", which would mean that she 
knew/thought that there was another Animagus there. As far as we 
know, nobody else is an Animagus, but we know so little ! Who knows 
if among the Aurors, there isn't an Animagus ?
And then again, she might actually mean Tonks again, and 
use "Animagus" in a broad sense covering all shape-shifters.

Just a few thoughts.

Del