Favorite HP Moments

I included a great deal of my favorite moments in previous posts like “Donyoudaretalkaboudmymudderlikedat”, “Don't forget the pincers. Click, click, click, click, click...”, “SIR”, and so on, but there are a few of my absolute favorite scenes that have been overlooked since I started blogging here that I felt deserved to be covered.

I recently re-read the entire series, Harry, A History, and Tales of Beedle the Bard and plan to re-read the last few chapters of DH to prepare for the final movie. During that re-read a lot of awesome scenes popped out to me again. Some I loved originally and forgot about (due to this weird memory thing I have where I can read a book or watch a movie ten times and not remember a lot of key plot points. I like to think of it as a mental defense against spoilers or to preserve the newness of something rather than my mind going) while some were scenes I didn't fully appreciate until a few re-reads in while analyzing the importance of each and every word uttered in the series.

One my favorite scenes that I was reminded of was the entirety of the events preceding the final battle from where McGonagall tells Harry he was gallant to when she reminds him he's supposed to be looking for something (plus the bit with her leading the charge of the desks down the hall). It was so utterly McGonagall that I loved every moment. For some reason, the reference to the “Snape shaped hole” cracks me up every time. Needless to say, Brae makes fun of me for this a lot.

I also love the entire cave scene in HBP. That, and many parts of the scene in the Department of Mysteries, show us more about the depths of magic and experimentation than we ever discover in most of the other books. I find theorizing about these things fascinating, and I do hope that JKR expands on the limits of magic more in the future (though, as I told Brae last night, I feel Pottermore is going to include a lot of stuff we didn't know we wanted to know and less of what we know we want to know).

Originally I did love the charge of the house elves during the final battle, but it didn't seem as great this time. For some reason, I remembered Kreacher shouting about his master Harry, not Regulus. It seemed more touching in my memory than in the book, though I still love the idea of house elves stabbing Death Eaters in the legs with knives. That was awesome!

Apparently I have more appreciation for the small scenes than the larger, and, perhaps, more important ones. I cannot say I didn't love the scene after Harry's “death” with Neville and the sword, all of the scene in the Shrieking Shack in PoA, the scene with Lockhart in St. Mungo's, and so on, but for some reason more of the smaller scenes stand out in my memory more.

My Animagus

As we saw, Professor McGonagall's patronus and her animagus are the same form, a cat with spectacle markings around the eyes. At first, before I really thought about that, I thought it was a bit odd that my patronus and animagus were the same animal, but then I realized just how important cats have been to me.

When I brought up the topic of patronuses to Brae, he said he thought the patronus form was a bit more subconscious than the animagus form, which was more conscious and, therefore, literal. Most people's animagus form is the animal that they see in themselves, perhaps their favorite animal. So, we'll start there since that is the main topic of this post.

I am very catlike. I crave human contact and am, therefore, a very physical person. I hug just about everyone I meet, love cuddling with my significant other (when I have one), enjoy having my hair combed/played with, etc. On the flip side, I can also be very withdrawn, wanting nothing but solitude when the mood suits me. If someone intrudes on this “me time”, I can become very cranky. Anyone who has been around cats at all knows this exactly how they can be. One minute you're playing and petting them and they're the cutest things in the world, content with your attention; in about a second, it can all change and the claws come out when they want to be left alone.

I've always adored cats, finding them beautiful and lovable. Unfortunately, I've only owned one cat in my memory (we had one when I was about one as well). We got her when I was in fifth grade, and I fell immediately in love. She wasn't big on other people, preferring me and my father, but I understood her. I have fond memories of Chelsea from the moment I saw her in the pound and the workers told me she didn't take well to people, only to be shocked when she gave me a kiss while I held her to the moment my mom broke it to me that she was giving her to my sister to keep at her house. She died a few months after my sister took her in. I was going to spend the weekend at her house, and I got off the bus to be greeted with that news. I was devastated.

The rest of this post will sound completely weird to anyone not familiar with the Younger, Middle, and Higher Selves (a psychological concept used a lot in magical practice) and familiars or spirit guides. So, be prepared.

I still work with Chelsea. She comes to join me in ritual to this day whenever I call her. It's just like old times when she used to patrol the perimeter of my circle whenever I cast one in the basement (where she spent most of her time). I find her presence an enormous relief and gift. It strengthens me and my workings.

So, it's no real surprise that my animagus form is a cat, especially if we subscribe to Brae's theory that the animagus is more of a conscious choice.

But what of the patronus, which is unconscious. Why are they the same in my case?

Cats represent a lot from a psychological and magical standpoint from mystery, knowledge, intuition, independence, and resourcefulness. I find all these things to be fairly prominent in myself, so the cat continues to fit me in these ways, but there's more.

The Younger Self can appear to someone in many ways. These may include (but are not limited to) simply a younger version of one's self or an animal. Mine has always been a cat. Always. Given that I didn't really expect it to appear to me in this way, I found it to be a further sign from my unconscious that I am linked with the feline.

So, perhaps it is boring to some that my patronus and animagus form are the same, but it does speak volumes about me as a person and is fascinating to me, at least. But then again, I find myself to be a very interesting individual, and you might too if you've kept reading all this time. Lol!