Prophecies - Lupin visiting Black, seeing Scabbers

[rja.carnegie at excite.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 18985

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> >Here is something I have wondered about. As long as Lupin spent at 
> >Hogwarts he never saw Scabbers. He was asleep most of the train ride 
> >but he was so close. He was friends with Harry and Ron, but never saw 
> >Scabbers. Has anyone noticed this?
> 
> I also wondered whether Lupin knows Ron has a rat, and I think he 
> probably does because he so quickly grasps what must be happening when 
> he sees Peter's name on the map.  If he didn't know HR or H had a pet 
> rat, he'd think Peter was stowing away or something.

I understood that Animagi can transform into one particular animal -
and Peter isn't the most able Animagus - so Lupin presumably knows that Peter can only do rat.  And if the map can tell who people are, anywhere in Hogwarts, it can probably tell _what_ they are, too, with coaxing - and Lupin was one of the people who made the thing.

(How on earth does the map know the names of all the students, and probably staff, who joined the school after the Marauders left?  Perhaps it's linked to the school database.  If there's a magical version of the "finger" command - )

On the other hand, Sirius Black recognised Scabbers as not just _any_ rat, from a (wizard) photograph.  Lupin presumably would have recognised him, too.  So Scabbers took good care not to be seen.

That Ron has a rat and Hermione now has a cat is such a bone of contention that they may well have mentioned it in class, but Lupin probably wouldn't think anything of it -

Only, (probable FAQ) the school rules laid down in PS (Harry's list of robes, books, etc.) say that you're allowed (optionally) an owl, a cat, or a toad, so is having a rat against the rules?  Or are you allowed only one of the animals on the list, plus as many rats, bats, or badgers as you can carry and feed?  It's not a mystery, so much as an inconsistency, and not necessarily an insuperable one.  For that matter, another boy on the train has something with long hairy legs in a box (well, we "see" one hairy leg, anyway).  Knowing cats and boxes, it could simply be a cat.

As far as Ron knows, he has a second-hand rat because his parents can't afford a new animal of the proper sort.  This probably isn't uncommon - rats certainly aren't uncommon outside of being pets - and if Lupin's heard about Scabbers, he probably just feels a bit sorry for Ron for not having a better familiar.

Robert Carnegie

"I read them all when I was seven and I hated them" - unnamed American office worker on the Harry Potter books (www.dilbert.com, List of Stupid Things Overheard)