For instance, could a giant like Grawp get infected by lycanthropy and turn into a giant werewolf under the full moon?

Or what about a House Elf? Would you be able to order a Wereelf to stop attacking if they changed and tried to attack others?

I can't remember where I saw this, but I wanted to share the idea.

 

That's an interesting one. I think it would depend on what you hold to be the canon cause of the curse. Maybe it was designed to only affect humans, maybe it just outright kills other magical beings, maybe everything besides witches and wizards are just naturally immune.

Maybe it was a fae curse after some foolish wizard gave a fae a cold.

 

Since humans are the primary victims, we may also be able to assume that any magical creature that's genetically close enough to humans (enough to make kids) could also be infected.

This would include: giants, goblins, veelas, and yes even house elves. We haven't seen a centaur make kids with a human, so we can probably assume that they're genetically different enough to be safe from the curse.

I could be wrong, of course. But unfortunately, we just don't have much information on the origins of the curse. Personally, I hold that lycanthropy is like a magical parasite.

 

I think I'd argue against that, actually - genetics feels off as a vector for such a curse, not magical enough. A fun question somewhat related to that would be if Voldemort, post resurrection, could be infected.

 

Hmm, maybe it affects them in different ways then, if it's not based on genes. Like, maybe a centaur infected will permanently have their half human half changed to a wolf.

And a weregoblin will attack people wearing shiny metals.

He... probably could? After all, his blood protection only protects him from Harry disintegrating him. And his horcruxes only prevent him from dying. They don't prevent him getting sick.

It would be pretty funny to see how Voldemort goes forward from there. Do his followers still respect him? Does he get more respect from Greyback?

 

Don't werewolves bite only humans? Even animagi are safe. I think everyone with a non-human form is safe (this includes half-giants like Hagrid, part-Veela and even post-resurrection Voldemort)

 

Fleur can use polyjuice while Hagrid can't. I don't think part-Veela would be safe from werewolves.

On that subject, would it be possible for Voldemort to use polyjuice or for people to polyjuice into him?

 

Adding to the discussion, would Tonks shape shifted into an animal save her from werewolves? If so, how much would she have to shapeshift? (Is this what made Lupin/Tonks work out in canon because Lupin no longer felt he could accidentally transmit lycanthropy to his wife?)

 

This is actually good catch. Originally, I think they only bite humans, yeah, but in some convulted scenario other species could get bitten, and giants are naturally resistant to the magic so the result might be something third, and I'm kinda veering towards that. According to Snape (about dark magic), curses are able to change and mutate, and having in mind that Bill got some characteristics by getting scratched alone, so I'd guess Hagrid/Grawp might get nothing to some mild changes while Fleur and Dobby, who I don't think are especially resistant to magic, would get more prominent ones, although not necessarily transforming.

Even if it was designed with humans in mind, I think the curse being curse with always somehow attack the receiver.

Onto Voldemort, it's really interesting, because it brings the question what the curse actually do to you. Is it merely physical or does it exist on some deeper plane? To bring it to extreme: let's say Lupin splits his soul, destroys his body, makes a new Voldemortesque one, is he still a werewolf? I'm leaning towards - yes, he is, and I think it would be the opposite with Voldemort in question. Maybe some side effects.

 

So if a human transfigured into an animal can't be infected, could an animal that was transfigured into a human?

What if someone transfigured a chicken into a human every full moon and fed it to a werewolf to give it something to chew on? Would you get a bunch of werechickens? chickenwolfs?