Crookshanks reprised: Observations and Etymology

[Indigo]

No: HPFGUIDX 16675

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., foxmoth at q... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Indigo" <indigo at i...> wrote:
> 
> > We know Ron fed Scabbers from his plate. Nobody thinks twice of a 
rat 
> > with human food tastes until you look back and discover he was a 
human 
> > in rat shape.
> snip about Crookie's diet
>   (To me this is important. I don't see Pettigrew sticking so 
> > close to his role as Scabbers that he'd eat rat pellets or 
whatever).
> 
> 
> 	I'm afraid this isn't such a great clue...rats hang around 
people 
> because they eat what people eat.

Except Scabbers nee Pettigrew got himself into the Weasley family 
because he wanted a wizarding family.

 And when scientists want to know 
if 
> something is safe for human consumption they feed it to (drumroll 
here) 
> rats. 

And scientists are Muggles,  which makes this particular observation 
unfit with regard to Scabbers.

I haven't made a trial of this <g>, but I imagine a human 
could 
> survive on rat pellets for a good long while. Pet food makers also 
tend 
> to make their products tasty to humans, since humans obsessed with 
> their pets like to sample the stuff.

I concede this is possible, dear Pippin -- but we must remember the 
Weasleys are very close to destitute.  Witness Ron's robes, and 
the fact that Scabbers himself is a hand-me-down.  

The Weasleys probably fed him from their own plates rather than 
getting expensive rat food from a muggle pet store or even expensive 
rat food from a wizarding pet store.



Indigo