[HPforGrownups] Re: Mandatory mandrakes (Was: Albus Dumbledore: the myth and the man)

[Silverthorne]

No: HPFGUIDX 97476


Carol:
Which leads me to wonder, are there magical owls and regular owls, or
are all owls magical? Could the owls in the Forbidden Forest be
trained by a wizard to be post owls, or are they the animal equivalent
of Muggles, who can't understand human speech, much less find a
recipient without an address?

And what about cats? Are Mrs. Norris and Mr. Tibbles magical cats
(with or without a bit of Kneazle in them like Crookshanks) or just
ordinary housecats who have an uncanny bond with their Squib owners
(and, in Filch's case, a physical resemblance as well)?

<SNIP>...but I still think that with rats, at least, some are magical
and some aren't. I'm less sure about owls and cats. And for that
matter, toads, the third animal on the approved pet list for first-years.

Anyone have any ideas on this?


**Silverthorne tentatively raises a hand**

I'm of two minds on this, really. In most animals cases, as you pointed out
Carol, there are obviously magical and non-magical versions. (A quick side
note on 'normal' rats---they are highly intelligent as a rule--it;s part of
the reason they are often used in psychological experiments. Also a note
from someone who made it to second semester in pyschology--our teacher
brought in a real life rat brain to illustrate that very point, and
another--their minds work on very similar lines to a humans--and in fact,
their brains look almost exactly like a tiny human brain...no joke...cortex
and all....)

Now, back to cats, owls and toads...

I tend to think of them according to function rather then capacity, if that
makes sense. Cats seem to be sort of extra ears and eyes for their human
partners in the WW...basically, they're furry little spies. McGonagall even
seems to serve this function in the first chapter of PS/SS--watching over
Privet Drive all day and reporting to DD when he shows. I also tend to
ascribe to the idea that *most* if not *all* cats are somewhat magical--it's
an innate part of their nature (unless, of course, you talking about a cat
like our oh-so-inbred rescue tortie-point siamese, who is mentally
handicapped twice--once from the siamese inbreeding, and once by the
'natural' bent of torties to be slightly off their rocker, at least by my
experiences with the 6 I've shared my life with over the years...^^;). I
would say any cat, save those that are way too inbred due to human
interference, are 95% likely to be 'magical'--and a good many of the magical
ones likely have Kneazle in the bloodline somewhere...

Owls....I would guess *many* owls are magical-especially if you take into
account that just about every culture on the planet has magical legends
based on them--either having to do with death, omens and prophecy, or wisdom
and the will of the gods, depending on who you ask. The problem is that owls
are wild...so you would have to catch them and 'tame' them to do what you
asked...so I would give them about 95% chance...but only about a 50/50
chance that any one particular owl would deign to be caught and tamed and
trained...which means most of the ones in the WW might be the result of
intentional breeding on the part of those witches and wizards who have a
knack for raising them for such purposes (which is probably where the shops
in Diagon Alley get their stock from). No doubt those suited for Owl post
and Familiar duties have a higher intellegence than their wild counterparts
too--an intentional addition through the breeding programs to ensure that
folks are getting the smartest owls around...

Frogs/Toads....erm....other then very vague medeval Church assertions that
they are the companions of witches and the instrument of the Devil...they
don;t really have an active role as a familiar...what legends (Sans Native
American/Shaman paths) have to actaully *Say* about toads is very
little--except as cures in some way for things like warts, physical
ailments, and so on, depending on what you do to the toad. Other then the
totemic version, Toad/Frog doesn't seem to have much intelligence....(Unless
you beleive the Inquisitirs claims that they're really demons in disguise),
so I would be more likely to consider them a ready-made potions ingredient
than an intelligent, co-operative, active participant in a witch or wizards
life....and since JKR hasn;t given Trevor much of a memorable personality
other then getting 'lost' all the time (common even with your garden variety
amphibian if you don't keep a close watch on it), I'm not inclined to change
my assessment...

Just a few thoughts....

Silverthorne