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In the Harry Potter books, an Animagus is a wizard or witch capable of turning into a particular animal and back at will.

Becoming an Animagus is extremely difficult, and the transformation can go horribly wrong. Animagi can assume only one animal form, and that form is not chosen by them. Rather, it reflects a witch or wizard's inner nature.^[1] The series features several Animagi, most famously Professor McGonagall who spends much of the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as a cat, and Sirius Black who is originally seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is his black dog form.

While in animal form, Animagi retain all sensory perception and cognition; however, their mental capabilities and feelings are lessened when transformed, becoming more like the animal ^[2]. Thus, an animagus when transformed becomes the animal whose form is taken, but with the added advantage of retaining some human qualities. All Animagi are required to register themselves with the Ministry of Magic. Another wizard or witch can use his/her wand to force an Animagus to transform back to human form, producing a flash of blue-white light in the process ^[HP3]

Contents 1 Known Animagi 1.1 Registered Animagi 1.2 Unregistered Animagi 1.3 Historical Animagi 2 References 3 See also

In the third book, which takes place during 1993 and 1994, it is mentioned that only seven Animagi have so far registered during the entire 20th century. The only known one is Minerva McGonagall, who transforms into a cat.

As revealed in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, three of the four Marauders are unregistered Animagi. When the other Marauders discovered Remus Lupin was a werewolf, they resolved to become Animagi as a means to support him. James Potter took the form of a stag, Sirius Black a dog and Peter Pettigrew a rat. All three were/are unregistered with the Ministry of Magic, having managed to secretly master the Animagus transformation during their fifth year at Hogwarts.

It took James Potter and Sirius Black (said to be the cleverest students in their school at the time) nearly three years to work out how to do it; it is unclear how long the process would take a fully-trained wizard or witch to accomplish. Peter Pettigrew was only able to learn how to transform with strenuous help from James and Sirius.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Ron Weasley's pet rat, Scabbers is revealed to actually be Peter Pettigrew, who had been living in disguise for thirteen years as a Weasley family pet. Thus far, he is the only Animagus in the series to stay in animal form for a prolonged period of time, although Sirius Black often transformed into a dog during his imprisonment at Azkaban as a way to avoid the emotionally draining effects Dementors have on humans.

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hermione Granger discovers that Rita Skeeter, an unethical tabloid journalist, uses the unregistered Animagus form of a beetle to eavesdrop on students and staff after Dumbledore bans her from Hogwarts. Hermione forces Rita to stop writing for one year by threatening to expose her unregistered Animagus status, and in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix she blackmails Skeeter into writing a favourable article about Harry and Voldemort's return.

In both the Harry Potter computer games by Electronic Arts and the Harry Potter trading card game, there is mention of certain historical Animagi who presumably lived before any kind of registration process. These people are Falco Aesalon (an Ancient Greek who could turn into a falcon, and is the first recorded example of an Animagus) and the witches Morgana Le Fay and Cliodne who lived in medieval times and were both bird Animagi.

1. ^ "You can't choose. You become the animal that suits you best." [1]
2. ^ "...they could tell my feelings were less - less human, less complex, when I was a dog..."

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