A newspaper in Hogwarts Legacy suggests some of the cats in the game could actually be humans who have used magic to transform into cats. Hogwarts Legacy features a variety of animals for players to interact with, including some notable magical beasts.

Hogwarts Legacy magical beasts can be rescued from poachers and taken to vivariums where players can brush them, feed them, and gather resources that can then be used to upgrade their gear. Hogwarts Legacy players can even breed magical creatures if they so desire. Besides magical creatures, Hogwarts Legacy also has normal animals walking around its open world, with plenty of cats to be found.

RELATED: Hogwarts Legacy Devs Create Magical Protection for Cats

However, there is some evidence to suggest that at least some of the cats in the game may actually be animagi in disguise. In Harry Potter lore, an animagus is a witch or wizard that can transform into an animal. Becoming an animagus is exceptionally difficult and the Ministry of Magic keeps a registry of everyone that masters the power, so there aren't very many in the Wizarding World. Even so, some individuals learn how to be an animagus in secret, which is exactly what happened in the world of Hogwarts Legacy. A newspaper players can read in Hogsmeade reveals that an unregistered animagus was arrested after pretending to be their neighbor's cat for a whopping 15 years.

This, of course, opens the door to the possibility that some of the cats in Hogwarts Legacy are animagi, though that possibility always existed with or without this particular newspaper clipping. Hogwarts Legacy encourages players to pet the cats in the game, so the thought that some of them may secretly be animagi is rather creepy. While the player character in Hogwarts Legacy can't become an animagus, there are other animagi in the game.

Hogwarts Legacy players have a complicated relationship with the cats in the game. Many players have complained about the cutscene that plays whenever they go to pet a cat in Hogwarts Legacy, while others have taken to casting spells on cats and sending them flying across the world map. The developers caught wind of the way that some Hogwarts Legacy players have treated the game's cats, and actually created a magical shield that reflects spells back at the player. This magic barrier hasn't been implemented in the actual game and most likely never will be, but perhaps it could be used in a potential Hogwarts Legacy sequel.

Hogwarts Legacy is out now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X with PS4 and Xbox One versions coming May 5 and a Switch port dropping July 25.

MORE: A Simple Change to Hogwarts Legacy Could Have Solved the 'Most Popular House' Question Once and For All