DH: The silver doe as Lily's patronus?

[pattiemgsybb]

No: HPFGUIDX 172824

> Debbie Grosskopf:
> Isn't the Patronus supposed to be a unique creation for 
> everyone? How can Snape and Lily have had the same Patronus? 
> Isn't is supposed to be so unique that it is a secure form of 
> messenger?

I wondered the same thing -- and then I was thinking, well, how many
different species of animals are there? Enough to give every human
being a unique patronus?  Even if if you factor in every breed of dog
or cat! Re. uniqueness, is it "okay" for Snape to take Lily's because
she's died? (Assuming his was different before her death, which seems
to be implied.)


 
> Bart:
> 1) Where was it ever established that James' Patronus was a stag? 

I wondered why this point wasn't being raised! I don't believe it ever
has been explicitly established. We know James's animagus was a stag,
obviously, and we know McGonagall has a patronus which matches her
animagus form, so there's some support for the idea. But if one's
patronus changes, does the animagus form change?  And then if James's
was a stag, that would mean Harry simply inherited James's
patronus...yet every one is supposed to be unique....


> 2) I suspect that Lily's patronus WAS a doe, in that she was in love
with an animagus stag. 

But what was Lily's patronus before she fell in love? Of, if Lily
always had a doe patronus -- did James then change his own to become a
stag? (Or did each just happen to have a patronus of "matching"
species -- who knows, maybe that hints at why they were so
compatible.) If all these patronuses are changing left and right
(Tonks, Snape, possibly Lily or James), it does seem as though
reliable confidential communication could be impaired. 

> 3) As I've stated before, the moment that I saw the doe Patronus,
the very first thing I thought of was "Snape!" I was dead certain that
was Snape's Patronus, yet as near as I can tell, there was nothing in
the canon to explain this. Can anybody here think of where I might
have gotten the idea?

I don't recall any previous suggestion of that, but my memory isn't
the greatest. 

> 4) Be that as it may, it is clear that Snape associated the doe with
Lily. 

Yes, I agree, it seems certain. 


~ Kit