Magic Rats vs. Magi Rats

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 53627

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Caius Marcius"
<coriolan_cmc at h...> wrote:
> This passage from Chapter 4 of PoA prompts some meditation:
> 
> 
> [Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the magical pet store picking up
Hermione's new pet and Scabber's rat tonic.]
> 
> 
> We have ... magical rats with ... ultra-rodent powers ... vs.  
> Scabbers who betrays ...(no)... trace of magic. ...edited... Since 
> Peter was a wizard..., why didn't Peter display magic powers in his
> rodent incarnation? 
> 
> Two theories:
> 
> (1) Peter was so terrified that he would be found ..., that he 
> refrained from showing ... his magical abilities. This ... 
> explained short-term, but not long-term: ... magical rats live...
> longer than ordinary rats, ... Scabbers extended life span should 
> have called some attention to itself....
> 
> (2) Part of the trade-off when a human wizard relinquishes human
> form is that he also relinquishes his magical powers ...edited...
> Not till he resumed human form, and had his wand again, could he 
> exercise his full magic powers.
> 
> 
>    - CMC

bboy_mn:

Well, we don't exactly know that the pet shop rats have 'ultra-rodent
powers'. The rats in the cage were playing skip rope with their tails,
and were very curious to look at Scabbers, and right on cue when the
shop witch recommended the 'seek black rats' to Ron, they began
skipping again. That could be the extent of their magical power. Their
'magic' might simply be their heightened awareness and exaggerated
animation. Just as Harry and Hedwig understand each other beyond the
normal awareness you would expect from an owl and human. 

Your Theory 1:
Well, I am sure he was afraid to reveal himself in anyway, but he may
have also just been a fat lazy human who acted like the fat lazy rat
he was. As far as how long he lived, it doesn't look like Ron has any
idea what the normal lifespan is for a rat, and no one else seems to
know this either. I certianly had no idea.

Scabbers probably just showed up at the Weasleys knowing that Arthur
worked for the Ministry and had a lot of kids. All he would have had
to do was hang around, act somewhat tame, look clean, and do his best
to look cute, and the kids would start playing with him and feeding
him. My guess is that by the time Molly found out about him, the kids
had already made him a pet, and as the rat seemed tame and harmless,
and knowing they really couldn't afford to buy a pet, she just
accepted him. 

Infiltrating the household of Malfoys or any other wizard of substance
would have been very unlikely. Doubtful that they would have tolerated
a stray rat running around their house, and certainly wouldn't let
their kids play with a common filthy garden rat. Some people can't
understand why Scabbers/Peter would pick the Weasleys, but I think he
made the perfect choice. All indicators pointed to a high likelihood
of being taken in.

Your theory 2:
An animagus in animal form can't perform any significant magic because
  most wizards need a wand to perform magic. While it is possible for
wizard to manifest magic without a wand, this method seems very
limited. So unless your animal form is a monkey, you couldn't really
hold your wand properly to perform any magic.

It also seems that when a wizard transforms his clothes and whatever
pocessions he is carrying tranform with him, that would also make his
wand inaccessable.

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn