Proof That I'm a Nerd

I was initially just looking for a good tagline for my "What Kind of Harry Potter Fan Are You?" quiz that I'm making on Facebook, but then I started chatting with =kalany in #FanArtdA and of course, intelligent discussion ensued:

21:32:33 <MissingHorcrux> "Are you a fan just for the lulz, or do you spend sleepless nights..."
21:32:38 <MissingHorcrux> What is the nerdiest way to end that sentence...
21:32:51 <kalany> what kind of nerdy?
21:32:55 <MissingHorcrux> HP nerdy
21:33:47 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: Writing an academic paper about whether finite would work on an animagus
21:34:47 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: YES. AHAHAHA. EXCELLENT.
21:35:58 <kalany> The question is whether the magic is actually a spell, or whether it is inherent in the animagus. Certain things, such as the apparent ability to perform the transformation wandless (e.g. Sirius Black whilst in Azkaban) would suggest that it is not a spell, per se, and thus would not be subject to cancellation by finite.
21:37:05 <MissingHorcrux> True, but any sort of incantation, even those held by inanimate objects such as bludgers, can be stopped by finite, therefore even magic inherent of the object (whether casted or not) should be potentially stoppable by finite.
21:38:34 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: Ah, but presumably the bludgers were enchanted by a person at some point in time, and hence can be canceled as per that enchantment.
21:39:54 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: But the argument I suppose lies within the question of whether or not self-transfiguration is inherently magical, and whether or not finite applies to all forms of magic.
21:39:55 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: If, for example, finite incantatem worked on inherent qualities, then Harry should have been screwed: all Voldemort needed to do was get a Death Eater to finite his wand.
21:40:30 <MissingHorcrux> The wand though isn't magical per se, it's a channeler of the person's inner magical abilities (as is proved with wandless magic) and does not within itself contain any sort of magic.
21:40:52 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: Since this seems clearly absurd, the question is whether the animagus transformation is closer to a spell or to an inherent quality of the person.
21:41:17 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: Ah, but recall that Harry's wand and Voldemort's are a pair.
21:41:30 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: Hence why the cancellation effect works at all.
21:41:31 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: But along the same vein, humans cannot transfigure themselves because they are not magical. Ergo, transfiguration is magic and should fall under the same category of spells, albeit a separate sub-category.
21:42:24 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: So the wand cancellation is indeed a quality of the wand, not the wizard.
21:42:32 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: But the wands are simply able to recognize each others' cores. They're not aware of anything else more than that. Though... the Death Stick...
21:42:49 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: And self-awareness doesn't automatically imply magical qualities, no?
21:42:55 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: I would argue that the animagus transformation is closer to Polyjuice. Do we know if Polyjuice is finiteable?
21:43:32 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: We would assume, since the potion is simply a spell in liquid form.
21:45:43 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: I think we've just proven that we're both terribly nerdy Potter fans.
21:45:54 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: Well, self-transfomation exists sans spells, for example Krum's half-shark self-transformation. Potions simply contain within themselves a timer that runs out when the potion is... I dunno, fully digested?
21:46:00 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: WE ARE. IT'S FABULOUS.
21:46:07 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: I'm so posting this debate as a journal.
21:46:22 <MissingHorcrux> Nay, a deviation. So it may be fav'd.
21:46:36 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: I'm not convinced that potions and spells are the same.
21:47:06 <EternalJedi> spells = magical, potions = herbal/chemical
21:47:13 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: But it's been a while since I read the canon rather than my notes for my version of the metaphysics, which only runs through OotP. Could be something in 6+7 that I'm not remembering
21:48:19 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: Well, she never really went into that. I'm always wondering how much influenct Chemistry has on Potions, and whether or not you could make a magic/science hybrid.
21:48:51 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: My version of the metaphysics owes a hell of a lot to string theory and watching NOVA programmes on biochem
21:49:11 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: And is thus just a little special. And so it's hard for me to remember at this point the exact points of canon.
21:49:19 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: I remember us talking about this before actually... You spouted a lot of stuff about metaphysics I didn't understand.
21:49:40 <kalany> MissingHorcrux: Yeah. It's good times.
21:49:43 <MissingHorcrux> kalany: