Animagus
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Image:PS-Animagus.jpg In the Harry Potter books, an Animagus is a wizard or witch capable of turning into an particular animal and back at will.
Becoming an Animagus is difficult and the transformation can go horribly wrong. Animagi can assume only one form. Furthermore, the choice of animal is not up to the user, but instead reflects something of one's inner nature. The same is true of the form of one's Patronus, and it is commonly assumed that a wizard's Animagus form and Patronus will be the same. However, this entirely speculative as no Animagi have yet conjured Patronuses in the books. 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.
For historical information, see magus.
It took Peter Pettigrew, James Potter, and Sirius Black (James and Sirius are said to be the cleverest students in their school at the time) the best part of three years (between their second and fifth school years) to work out how to do it; it is not clear how long the process would take a fully-trained wizard or witch to accomplish.
Whilst in animal form, the witch or wizard retains all sensory perception and cognition. Simply put, they have the abilities of the animal they have transformed into, while retaining the mentality of a human. All Animagi are required to register themselves with the Ministry of Magic, as transforming into an animal can be extremely dangerous; also, registering their specific markings allows the Ministry to track crimes committed in animal form, or wizards/witches who might use an animal form to escape justice. The process does not appear to be very effective, likely due to the difficulty of enforcing it.
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 (Prisoner of Azkaban).
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Registered Animagi
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. Professor Lupin is a werewolf and not an Animagi.
Unregistered Animagi
As revealed in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, James Potter was a stag-animagus, Sirius Black was a dog-animagus, and Peter Pettigrew a rat-animagus; all three of them were/are unregistered, having managed to master the animagus transformation during their fifth year at Hogwarts.
Ron's pet rat, was really Peter Pettigrew in disguise, for twelve years. He is the only animagus so far in the series to stay in animal form for such a long period of time.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it is revealed that Rita Skeeter, a pesky tabloid journalist, obtains all of her secrets in the form of a beetle.
Aside from Minerva McGonagall, it is unknown who the other six registered Animagi of the 20th Century are.
Historical Animagi
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.
See also
Metamorphmagusfr:Animagus it:Glossario di Harry Potter#Animagus pl:Animag fi:Luettelo Harry Potter -käsitteistä sv:Animagus tr:Animagus