Is Harry a Metamorphmagus?

[Vivamus]

No: HPFGUIDX 116581


> Vivamus:
> > Tonks also told him that being a metamorphmagus was not only 
> > hard, it was based on an inborn ability -- as with parseltongue.

Christopher:
> Actually, if you take very careful notice of the words that Tonks uses
> in her explanation in the beginning of OotP, you'll see that she uses
> the word *appearance*. This is an extremely subtle difference, but it's
> also an extremely important one. To change one's appearance suggests
> that the stuff which constitutes one's essence remains, but it's just
> the reflected and refracted photons which change (that's of course
> assuming that magical appearance changes modify the physics of the
> universe -- I could and probably will at one point make a post about
> this basic aspect of magic). To change one's shape suggests that one
> actually does change the "stuff" -- the matter -- constituting one's
> self. 

Vivamus:
Interesting.  Does this mean, though, that Sirius was not really a dog, but
only *looked* like a dog?  That doesn't seem to fit things like his being
unaffected by werewolf bites, being able to drag Ron by the leg, etc.  We
have to conclude that animagi are truly changing substance, don't we?  (One
assumes that their "souls" are the same -- "consubstantiation instead of
transubstantiation," said the cat with a snicker -- but still affected by
the transformation.)

If metamorphmagus is the same basic paradigm as an animagus, wouldn't it
imply that the physical form does in fact change?

> I'm currently working on an essay for HP Lexicon which covers this
> topic. Thank you for mentioning Harry's hair growing issue.

Looking forward to reading it.  Thanks.

Vivamus, whose cat has an annoying tendency to jump on the keyboard with
inane comments. Unlike cockroaches, of course, cats can use the shift keys.