The Ultimate Guide to Harry Potter Fanfiction

Animagi and Patronuses

This chapter is dedicated to Catland48, who asked me to write a chapter on this maybe two weeks ago? I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, this is a very exciting topic so I'd love to share my thoughts with you!

First, lets cover the massive cliches that I suggest you stay far away from: phoenixes and stags (or does). This has been overdone so much on both the Patronus and animagus side of things I would never give either form to any of my characters and I would advise you not to, either.

Is your OC the so important and special that you feel there should be an exception for her?

Think again.

Your character is not any more special than the countless other special characters in fanfics if you give her either of these animals as her Patronus or animagus. Do you know what would make her special? One that matches her personality!

There is a very amazing blog I've found on tumblr for just such an occasion, and even if you aren't planning on giving your characters a Patronus or animagus form ever, I would still check it out. It's wildly interesting and it's actually what helped me decide for Astra (and all of her friends, because I tend to get carried away with things). Patron-a-bum is the name of the blog (though if you just google "tumblr Patronus analysis" it'll be the first thing that pops up), and it is possibly the best resource you can find on this. It's not canon, really, but it's so amazing that I bet even JKR would love it.

All right, now that that's out of the way, let's move on. Next up: Mastering either of these things takes time, and lots of it. Your character should take at least a few months to get a corporeal Patronus (and the amount of time will increase the younger she is). It took James, Peter, and Sirius two years to become Animagi. Your character will not get it overnight, I'm afraid.

Also, unless there's a very good reason, I wouldn't make my character learn this at all. She wants to become an illegal Animagi? There better be an amazing reason. The Patronus charm doesn't need as solid a reason, but still, your character shouldn't just try it on a whim. And unless you've already shown her to be very good with charms (for example, my MC Astra is known for being adept with all sorts of spells), your character is going to struggle. A lot. That doesn't mean she'll never get it, but don't make it easy. Just make sure there's a good reason for having your characters master these.

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Well, those are my thoughts on Patronuses and Animagi! I know this is a pretty broad cover here, of course. What are your thoughts? Do you have any questions or topics you'd like me to cover? Let me know in the comments!