Lupin's Patronus

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 122719


> 
> Geoff:
> > It would appear that even Lupin doesn't seem to produce a 
>  recognisable Patronus or Hermione would have given a clearer 
>  description of it - and his silver vapour, or whatever, did drive 
> the Dementor away.
> > 
> > JLV:
> > Hermione doesn't describe this as silver vapour at all, but a 
> > silvery "thing". Surely if it was mist/vapur she wouldn't have 
> > called it a thing? And to say that "Hermione would have given a 
> > clearer description of it" if it was corporeal rather than mist is 
> > rather unjustified. <
> 
> Pippin:
> Especially since Hermione doesn't give a clear description of 
> Dumbledore's patronus either. Here's what she says about 
> Dumbledore driving the dementors away from the Quidditch 
> match:
> 
> "Dumbledore was really angry," Hermione said in a quaking 
> voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field 
> as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before 
> you hit the ground. Then he whirled his wand at the dementors. 
> Shot silver stuff at them. They left the stadium right away...."
> 
> --PoA ch 9
> 
> 
> JKR has confirmed that Dumbledore's patronus is a phoenix. 
> <big snip>


Neri agrees with Pippin (!) and adds:

The issue of who can see the form of a corporeal patronus is muddied
in the books. It seems to be one of those things that JKR didn't think
all the way through. However, it IS canon that people have trouble
identifying a corporeal patronus because it is so shining that the
light is "blinding" and obscures the shape. We know for sure that DD
identified Harry's patronus in the Quidditch game against Ravenclaw as
a stag:   


******************************
PoA, Ch. 22:
"Last night Sirius told me all about how they became Animagi," said
Dumbledore, smiling. "An extraordinary achievement — not least,
keeping it quiet from me. And then I remembered the most unusual form
your Patronus took, when it charged Mr. Malfoy down at your Quidditch
match against Ravenclaw.
******************************


We are not told in words that Lupin was able to identify it too, but
he almost certainly was because he's described as "shaken" after
seeing it:


*********************************
PoA, Ch. 13
 "That was quite some Patronus," said a voice in Harry's ear.
Harry turned around to see Professor Lupin, who looked both shaken and
pleased.
******************************


I can see why Lupin would be pleased, maybe even surprised, but why
"shaken"? The only reason I see is that he identified his old friend
Prongs (and of course, couldn't say it without letting the secret out).

And yet, all the hundreds of students in the Quidditch field also saw
Harry's patronus, and apparently they did not recognize that it was a
stag. Perhaps they didn't even recognize it as some animal. If they
had, someone (certainly Ron or Hermione) would have told Harry, but
they didn't. The reason seems to be that the patronus is so shining
that it is "blinding". Even Harry himself can't make the form of the
patronus that saved his life: 


*********************************
PoA, Ch. 20
And then, through the fog that was drowning him, he thought he saw a
silvery light growing brighter and brighter
 He felt himself fall
forward onto the grass
. Facedown, too weak to move, sick and shaking,
Harry opened his eyes. The Dementor must have released him. The
blinding light was illuminating the grass around him
 The screaming
had stopped, the cold was ebbing away

Something was driving the Dementors back
 It was circling around him
and Black and Hermione
. They were leaving
.
The air was warm again
.
With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a
few inches and saw an animal amid the light, galloping away across the
lake
 Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it was
 It
was as bright as a unicorn

*********************************


Even when TT!Harry finally produces it, he has trouble identifying his
own patronus:


******************************
PoA, Ch 21:
"EXPECTO PATRONUM! " he yelled.
And out of the end of his wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist,
but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal. He screwed up his eyes,
trying to see what it was. It looked like a horse. 
******************************


Only when the patronus comes back to TT!Harry after getting rid of the
dementors, he is finally able to identify it:
 

******************************
The Patronus turned. It was cantering back toward Harry across the
still surface of the water. It wasn't a horse. It wasn't a unicorn,
either. It was a stag. It was shining brightly as the moon above 

******************************


So it seems that you need to be a powerful wizard not only to produce
a corporeal patronus, but also to make its shape through the blinding
light. Or perhaps it takes the ability to produce a corporeal patronus
to make you able to see through the light of any patronus, yours or
somebody else's. And probably a very powerful corporeal patronus is
also more shining, making it even more difficult to identify its
shape. DD and Lupin can identify Harry's patronus in the Quidditch
field, but the students can't. This explains why Hermione and the rest
of the students didn't recognize DD's patronus as a phoenix or even as
a bird, and why Hermione couldn't make the shape of Lupin's patronus
in the train. But it seems Lupin was able to identify Harry's patronus
in the Quidditch field, and according to the logic above this implies
that Lupin's patronus is also corporeal. 

Neri