Patroni (speculation) WAS: (Re: CHAPDISC: Ch. 19: The Silver Doe)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 182946

Magpie wrote:
> > <snip>
> > The Patronus doesn't reflect the person, but something that makes
the person happy. We know Umbridge likes cats given all the kittens on
plates in her office, so it just reflects her love of cats. 

Carol responds:
And JKR's dislike of them (she made an exception for Crookshanks).

http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=10

(That's another reason why it's odd that JKR gave McGonagall a cat
Patronus). I agree, however, that given Umbridge's love of cats,
especially "foul" kittens that wear bows around their necks, it's no
surprise that her Patronus is a cat. (I'm surprised that she can cast
one at all, but I suppose that even wicked witches who masquerade as
kindly middle-aged women can have happy memories.)

Jayne:
I don't think she's very rat-like herself. Rats are incredibly smart
and badass in ways Umbridge doesn't seem to be. Peter obviously shares
the survival instincts of rats.

Carol:
I like rats, too--preferably lab rats (preferably white--the spotted
ones tend to be a bit meaner, in my experience). not sewer-roaming
street rights, of course, but even those are smart and can become pets
for poor children. (Poorer than little Percy Weasley, I mean!)

Magpie:
 I would guess if she had an animagus form it would be a toad since
that's the animal she's always said to resemble. (No offense to
toads--wonder if she'd be a poisonous one?)

Jayne:
> Actually I have to agree with you m about Umbridge and her patronus.
Your idea of it being a toad is better than my rat. <snip>

Carol responds:
I agree that Umbridge's Animagus form would be a toad. (I'm sure I've
said exactly that fairly recently.) The mere fact that she looks like
a toad (often with a large fly unwisely perched on its head) and that
toads (not Trevor, of course) are often poisonous suggests that that's
the form she would take. (Toads are often poisonous to dogs, and she
posed a risk to Sirius.) And they're ugly as well (no offense to poor
Trevor intended).

To get back to McGonagall, I agree with Potioncat and anyone else who
thinks that her Patronus (as opposed to her Animagus form, which was
probably established way back in SS/PS based simply on the widespresd
association, especially in the minds of children, between witches and
cats) should be an owl--the usual form of messenger in the WW but much
faster--because of the association between owls and the goddess
Minerva. Then, again, Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and owls
themselves are associated with wisdom ("wise old owl"), and
McGonagall's behavior in DH struck me as anything but wise. Anyway, I
suppose that McGonagall, like Umbridge, just likes cats, the standard
animal companion or familiar for witches. (I don't see any catlike
traits that would make a cat a suitable *Animagus* form for her--maybe
in her youth, she was graceful, independent, and curious?)

Carol, wondering whether Umbridge is any relation to the froglike
little man in the portrait in the Muggle Prime Minister's office and
whether JKR was confusing Patronuses with Animagi when she assigned
McGonagall that Patronus