Of Rats and Ron

[anakinbester <anakinbester@hotmail.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48541


Ok, all of these thoughts cam to me after a tried to bathe my own 
rat, Peter (he fell into charcoal, bad me for leaving it where he 
could get to it)

Anyway, I was introduced to just how very painful it can be to 
attempt to hold onto a rat that wants desperately to get away. And 
this was a rat who was not frightened to the point of biting. 
(thankfully, I've bee bitten once only, hurt like heck!) 

Being an obsessed fan, I immediately thought of Ron in the shrieking 
shack trying to hold onto Scabbers. 

Suddenly that scene does not seem overly realistic to me. It seems to 
me that if Peter had really wanted to get away, he could have. I 
honestly don't know how Ron could hold onto a biting, struggling rat 
for the whole shrieking shack thing. 

So two thoughts then presented themselves to me. 

A: Peter wasn't not 100% sure he _wanted_ to be dropped tot he floor 
in front of Sirius. That makes since in a way, because now Sirius 
could kill him without hurting Ron. However, Scabbers can also out 
run Crookshanks apparently. I would think he could out run Sirius, 
especially given that Sirius would first need to transform, which 
give Peter a good head start to lodge himself under something heavy 
and small. Also, that would have cause Sirius to act less then 
rational, which might have prompted the others to try and attack him, 
if it happened after Lupin gave them there wands back. 

Of course that's all assuming Peter's got a good deal of intellect 
left to reason all this out. If he's going purely on rat instinct, 
he's trying to get away and not considering floor=Sirius bait. 

B: Peter didn't want to hurt Ron as badly as he could have. That I 
find a bit more reasonable, because I think Peter could have hurt Ron 
enough to get Ron to let go, but he'd really have had to injure the 
boy. 
Then I must wonder, how did Peter feel about Ron. Because of the seen 
with Goyle, I'd always assumed he was a bit protective of the boy. I 
know many people attribute that to either just, hatred of Goyle, 
protection of the Candy, or idiot rat behavior. 

Well let me say this, that was not pet rat behavior at all. That was 
abnormal, especially considering the rest of Scabber's behavior. 

To me, I always thought he was protecting on from what he perceived 
to be a threat. I have no doubt he recognized the name Goyle. Now 
whether he realized it was the son, or mistook him for the father I 
don't know. But I'd always seen that as Peter protecting Ron. 
*Shrugs* 

Anyway, so maybe he did not want to hurt Ron as badly as he needed to 
in order to make the boy let him go. 

It is possible =P
We know from GoF he still seems to have a conscience, he just manages 
to ignore it ^^;;; 

Another thing though that has bugged me.
Why does everyone, especially Ron, pick Scabbers up by his tail!
That's something I knew before I even owned a rat! you do _not_ pick 
them up by their tails. EVER! Except in the direst of emergencies. 

I can't imagine that JKR did not know this, though maybe she didn't. 
If she did know that, though, it's an interesting point on Ron's 
character that he does abuse Scabbers like this. (I'm sure it's not 
meant to be mean, I'm not saying this) 

Ron, as much as I love him, does seem to not take overly good care of 
what belongs to him, nor does he seem to appreciate what he has. 

I'm thinking specifically of Pig here. He was thrilled to get the 
bird at the end of PoA. But by GoF, all he does is complain about 
Pig, similar to how he complained about Scabbers. 

And Scabbers was jus being a male rat. All they do is sleep during 
the day! (I have two that's what fuzzy butts are doing as I type. 
Dozing and occasionally looking at me in hopes I'll give them 
chocolate or Reese's Pieces ^^) 

Umm so yes, these were just my random jumbled thoughts on Ron and 
Scabbers.

Thank you for listening!

-Ani