Secondary thought on Patronuses

[juli17ptf]

No: HPFGUIDX 145499

Thinking about Snape's patronus having some connection to Dumbledore, 
I started to wonder if two wizards can use the same patronus form at 
the same time? I.e., could another wizard also have a Jack Russell 
terrier patronus like Ron? If not, then what if a wizard can in a 
sense "will" his patronus to another wizard once he's gone? Maybe 
Harry's patronus is the same as his father's because once James died 
and no longer had a use for that patronus form (thus it 
became "available"), he in essence passed it down to Harry. 

If a wizard can pass on a patronus, or another wizard can take 
possession of a patronus no longer being used (and perhaps assuming 
the new wizard is an acceptable possessor to the previous possessor 
of the patronus), then could Snape use Dumbledore's patronus in book 
Seven? If he did, I don't think Order members would automatically 
assume Dumbledore was still alive. But they would certainly assume 
that Dumbledore had passed his patronus on to a trustworthy friend 
and ally (as he would certainly not pass it to a man who had coldly 
betrayed and murdered him). In which case the Order (or Harry) would 
accept and trust any messages from the patronus that was previously 
Dumbledore's.

Which would make Snape's new patronus a phoenix. 

It may not be a workable concept, but the thought did occur to me, so 
I thought I'd share it :-)

Julie