Lupin says an age :was: Scabbers looking to get near Harry

[jastrangfeld]

No: HPFGUIDX 46634

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:


> do we really know how long Peter/Scabbers lived at the Weasley house?
> 
> Unless there was something I missed, we know for sure he was there 1
> years before Ron started school. Time periods stretching beyond that
> are speculation. 
That accounts
> for one year before Ron started school. How much farther into the past
> the Scabbers/Weasley relationship goes, we don't know. 
> 
> bboy_mn


Well, at least Ron doesn't refute it here:

POA p 363

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! 
He's been in my family for ages, right --"

"Twelve years, in fact," said Lupin. "Didn't you ever wonder why he
was living so long?"

"We -- we've been taking good care of him!" said Ron.


And if you go back to the beginning of the book, it only makes sense
then why he ignored what the lady in the shop said about how long rats
live.

p 59 

"An ordinary common or garden rat like this can't be expected to live
longer than three years or so," said the witch.  "Now, if you were
looking for something a bit more hard-wearing, you might like one of
these --"

She indicated the black rats, who promptly started skipping again. 
Ron muttered, "Show-offs."

On the other hand, Harry somewhere in there thinks about that remark
in the shop and thinks that maybe Ron's rat is a *regular* rat and
should be near death now.  

But I suppose none of these remarks is quite proof enough of either
theory.

Julie