Just because I didn't include ten paragraphs of condescending explanation for why this theory surpasses all others doesn't mean his spirit isn't being reflected in the post.

 

Did they ever establish the limits of how far a Metamorphmagus can go in transforming themselves? Personally, I've always wondered if they can change their form "down there."

 

Tonks was assuming animal parts in OotP, so I would say it's safe to presume a sex change is no big deal.

 

Would that make metamorphs able to turn into any animal? If so, what would stop them from turning into other bigger things, or inanimate objects like a table. I always thought of it as more of a transfiguration trick that you pass off as something grander.

 

They may be able to make external genitalia, but I doubt they could make it fully functional, but they could probably fake an erection by causing it to grow and fill with cartilage. It would be passable.

 

Considering that Horace Slughorn turned himself into a chair, I don't find it improbable that Tonks could turn into pretty much anything she wanted to.

 

Then why she never showed her ability to turn into animals? Something like a beetle could be used for spying or dragon for fighting...

 

We never actually saw her working. The only time we see her are the times when she was at Grimmauld Place, picking Harry up or fighting. None of those times are particularly suited to turning into beetles and the likes. Also, I'd take being able to use a wand over being able to breathe fire. Wizards can do the fire thing. Also the fiendfyre thing. Also everything else.

 

Hmm... you probably right.

Oh, and I have my own question...

We all know about Patronus Charm that conjures a magical guardian, a projection of all your most positive feelings. But is it possible to cast Dark Patronus Charm if someone will use their worst memories?

 

There is no reason to think there would be. What would it even do?

 

I don't know, maybe attack enemies or something... It would be born, after all, from the darkness in wizard's heart.

 

I like the idea that Fiendfyre is the opposite of the Patronus Charm. It's semi-sentient in the same way that the Patronus is and is a Dark Art capable of destroying things that are resistant to being destroyed (kind like how the Patronus can ward off things that are immune to regular magic). The only dissonance is with the emotional requirement, but I can't remember if we're ever actually told how to cast the spell so maybe it does need it.

 

The Patronus Charm explicitly works on happy memories. Anything else causes the spell to fail. Nothing more. I thought that was obvious.

 

We know that it is possible to turn people into animals (Draco the Ferret).

What would happen if you turned a Werewolf into an animal several moments before he turned into his wolf form? Would the transformation be prevented or would the transfiguration fail?

 

The transfiguation would probably fail. If it was that simple to prevent a werewolf transformation, then werewolves wouldn't be a problem. Someone just transfigures them to some animal and turns them back at dawn.

 

She managed to give herself a pig snout.
Making a vaguely pig snout shaped nose out of a human one isn't much of a stretch (some people are born well on their way there).

In the movie she also did something like a duck bill, but it just looked like she had sort of stretched her face forward and changed the skin tone to a more yellow shade, rather than manifesting a keratinized outer beak, much less the bone to go beneath it. It wasn't so much her changing her body parts into animal parts, just an imitation of them. Kind of like how she could easily give herself pointy ears, but that wouldn't make her a Vulcan. I'm voting a firm 'no' on turning into an animal.

She could probably make herself look like a werewolf out of the Teen Wolf movies, with a bit of effort, but not one out of say... Underworld or Harry Potter.

I'd even have to hear some 'word of god' on the subject before I'd buy that she can even make changes to her skeletal structure, like making herself taller. While I wouldn't stop reading a story because it expanded Tonks's abilities to some extent, I don't think it's a given that she can do those things.

I'd certainly balk at her doing things like she does in the climax of White Knight, Grey Queen.

I can see my way to hand-waving the radical shifts in mass and form that come with the animagus transformation, but part of that is that there are only two forms involved; you're either the person or the animal. The notion that Tonks could radically change mass, bone structure, height, and so on, all on the fly... I have a hard time with that. I can only shrug and say, "magic," as an excuse about so much.

As far as Slughorn... he was also staying still in an attempt to hide. I'd wager most of the transfiguration to his body was superficial, and the rest involved using his clothing to create most of the shape (it's not like he literally turned himself into stuffing and springs). There's a big difference between a superficial change like that, and changing your skeletal shape and orientation, the position of ligaments and tendons, the orientation of your internal organs, and so on, to imitate an animal.

Basically, I feel like a metamorphmagus's abilities are rather limited, in the grand scheme of things, but I wouldn't drop a story that expanded upon them, within reason.

As for switching genders... most of the human sexual anatomy is analogous to the other gender. They're all pretty much the same parts, merely assuming different shapes. I think Tonks could make herself look male and even be able to 'get it up,' but that would be as far as the changes go. She couldn't literally change her gonads from female to male, nor consciously affect her hormonal processes. She wouldn't be able to get someone pregnant.

That kind of thing is the realm of the super!metamorphmagus seen in some fics.

People who are comfortable just shrugging and saying, "magic," can feel free to imagine her as human taffy, I suppose.

 

Can Dementors be killed? Not just driven off with the Patronus, but actually destroyed. Why exactly are they considered impervious to most spells? Could they resist Fiendfyre?

 

If I were to hazard a guess, I would say no, because dementors are "foulest creatures to ever walk on the face of Earth," or however Lupin said it. If that is true, then Fiendfyre would probably just refuse to do anything to them (since it is half-conscious and just as foul fire).

We know for a fact that Dementors have bodies (at least head and hands, probably with torso too, since something has to connect them), but they apparently don't have legs, since they float above the ground. Now I see two possibilities here.

1) Dementors are half-spectres, and are capable of "phasing out", and therefore making their bodies untouchable, and invulnerable.

2) They float with help of their magic.

If second option is true, maybe they possess some kind of magic immunity like dragons do, or maybe they have regeneration ability that would be variable according to amount of happiness or souls they recently obtained.

I personally believe that Dementors need souls and happiness from humans, because with their help, they can stay in this world longer. That said, If Dementor would be without their "food" for extended periods of time, they would probably just fade out of existence. I think that it was mentioned somewhere in sixth book that during the war, there are more Dementors in this world than normal.

 

I imagine Dementors as follows: take a skeleton, remove legs, pelvis and the mandible. You're left with the spine, ribcage, arms and the skull minus mandible. Now line those bones with some slimy skin and drape tattered robes over the whole thing. So basically they're floating partial-skeletons covered in rotting goo.

My headcanon stipulates that dementors are kind of similar to inferi in the way that they can be repelled by fire, a source of light and warmth, since it gets dark(er) and cold(er) when dementors appear. They are highly resistant to magic and while you could trash them, maybe even tear them apart, they would sort of... re-assemble, I guess. They spawn when general misery increases and cease to exist when down on their nourishment of choice. I imagine at Azkaban, older ones disappear and new ones take their place. Maybe they come from another dimension. (from Beyond-The-Veil?)

 

I'd go with the idea that Tonks can pretty much perfectly impersonate anyone she wants, and do some limited freeform stuff like those noses. Giving herself superhuman strength or squirming through impossibly narrow spaces? No.