The uses of beast fable, was Hagrid the animal abuser

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 166196

houyhnhnm wrote:
> <snip>
> 
> Hedwig and Pigwidgeon behave like normal owls in many ways.  They
sleep during the day.  They go out hunting at night for mice and other
small animals.  They regurgitate pellets. <snip>  But they also feel
pride in carrying packages.  They show off.  They feel resentment when
they are not chosen.
> 
> It had never occurred to me to think of the owls in HP as magical
creatures.  Maybe they are;  I just never thought of it that way.  I
assumed that Eeylops Owl Emporium was a different establishment from
the magical creatures shop in which Hermione acquired Crookshanks.

Carol responds:
I think that Eeylops Owl Emporium sells magical owls trained, as
Hedwig was, to be post owls. I don't think that any old owl would
magically know how to send a package, not to mention how to find the
sender without an address, as Hedwig does with Sirius Black when he's
in Africa or whereever he's hiding before he returns to England in
GoF. Hedwig also magically knows that Harry is staying at the Leaky
Cauldron in PoA and arrives there before he does.

We know that the world of HP contains "ordinary garden rats" that live
only three years, in contrast to Animagus!Scabbers, who has managed to
 live twelve years (at least) without ever showing any magical
properties, and in contrast to the magical black rats that play
jumprope with their tales.

It seems clear to me that some animals, e.g. Hedwig and the other post
owls, including even Pigwidgeon, are magical, and others, such as
Lavender's bunny, Binky, are not. Mrs. Figg's part-Kneazle cats are
magical, as is Crookshanks (and Mrs. Norris, apparently), but it's not
clear whether all cats are magical. The same, IMO, applies to snakes.
It appears that Nagini's venom has magical properties and that she is
herself a magical creature (as the Basilisk certainly is, given its
ability to kill or Petrify with a look), but I don't think that the
python in SS/PS is magical. (Harry can talk to it only because of
*his* magical gift of Parseltongue.) Crups are magical; ordinary Jack
Russell terriers are not. Fluffy is presumably magical, given his
three heads and the effects of music on him, but Fang has no magical
properties that we know of. He's just a big, slobbery boarhound.
Trevor might have magical properties as a potion ingredient, but we've
never seen him demonstrate any magical abilities as a pet. Anabraxan
Flying Horses and Thestrals are magical, but the horses on a Muggle
farm most likely are not.

All this is to say that some animals, including post owls, have
magical abilities in JKR's world, and some are just ordinary animals.
I fear that it's the ordinary ones that get Vanished or turned into
pincushions.

Carol, now wondering whether Hagrid "flew" to the hut on the island in
SS/PS on a Thestral, which flew back to the Forbidden Forest after
dropping him off