Is Harry a Metamorphmagus?

[imamommy at sbcglobal.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 116594


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ginnysthe1" <ginnysthe1 at y...> 
wrote:
> Now Kim adds:
> 
snip
> On the other hand, animagus ability (which either requires a wand 
or 
> doesn't -- I confess to being confused about this: didn't Peter 
> Pettigrew need a wand to transform himself back into a rat in PoA?  
> But McGonagall doesn't need a wand to turn herself into a cat, does 
> she? So is it a spell for some and an innate ability for others?) 
 

imamommy:

Methinks we have a case of movie contamination.  The canonical 
reference is this:

      Pettigrew had dived for Lupin's dropped wand. Ron, unsteady  on 
his bandaged leg, fell.  There was a bang, a burst of light--and Ron 
lay motionless on the ground.  Another bang--Crookshanks flew into 
the air and back to the earth in a heap.
     "Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, pointing his own wand at 
Pettigrew; Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of 
sight.  "Stay where you are!" Harry shouted, running foreward.
     Too late.  Pettigrew had transformed.  Harry saw his bald tail 
whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm and heard a 
scurrying through the grass.
                           Prisoner of Azkaban, Scholastic, p.381


So no, an animagus does not require a wand to transform, but I 
remember in the film Pettigrew *does* point a wand at his own head 
before transforming.  I hope that helps.

imamommy