CHAPDISC: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Ch. 19: The Silver Doe

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 182787


> 
> zanooda:
> 
> If anyone with enough talent could learn how to turn into an animal, 
> there should have been more Animagi, right? It seems like a very 
> useful (and cool :-)) ability. OK, maybe many people wouldn't want
to  risk trying it, fearing that something would go wrong, but highly 
> talented people, like DD, for example, certainly would want to learn 
> how to transform.

Pippin:

It could be like  pro sports or grand opera --  anybody with enough
talent can do it, but it could take years and years of specialized
training and a  risk of permanent injury to assess whether you have
enough talent or not.  And if you don't,  then all that training would
be a waste. Peter was only able to learn it with a great deal of
help--we don't know how many people try to become animagi and fail, or
hurt themselves or other people, but present day Lupin is appalled at
the risk they ran.


I can see why Dumbledore wouldn't bother with it, especially since
accordin to Jo there's no guarantee you'd become a useful animal.
Suppose you turn into a goldfish or a slug? 

I think that it must be rare for the patronus and the animagus form to
be the same, because otherwise people could use their patronus to
predict what their animagus form would be. 

Pippin