Where Percy got Scabbers

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 83822

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jennifer" <mookie1552 at a...> wrote:
> Jennifer:
> ...edited...
>
> Where Scabbers came from is a great question, and I have 
> pondered it in the past.  All of your explainations have been very 
> good, but still I feel has not filled the void in my mind.  
>
> If Scabbers was found on the Weasley farm, how did he get there in 
> the first place?  The Weasley farm is in a remote part of England, 
> not too easy for a rat with one missing finger to get to, ....

bboy_mn:

How did Peter/Scabbers/Wormtail manage to get all the way out into the
country where the Weasley's lived; you ask? 

Well, he managed to make it all the way to the Albanian forest which
is on the Adriatic Sea between Italy and Greece. Certainly, if he can
make it that far, a few hundred mile across the English country side
would not be that hard. One could equally ask, how did Norwegian Rats
become one of the biggest infestations of rats in the USA? They have
their ways.

Suggestion; in the dead of night, Peter transforms back to his
human-self and apparates to safe locations near where he has to be.
Alternative, he stows away aboard trucks and trains headed in his
direction. Not an unsolvable problem when you consider Scabbers
managed to cross the English Channel and the continent of Europe.



> Jennifer:
>
>The Weasley's ..., I feel that nothing was going on of importance 
> for Scabbers to get information about.  Arthur works for the Muggle 
> Artifact department, not rich with the intelligence that Wormtail 
> would want to know.

bboy_mn:

Voldemort and his DE's are pro-pureblood wizard and anti-everything
else. V & the DE captured, tortured, and murdered muggles during his
peak years, I would say that that would keep Arthur Weasley very busy.
While his specific job relates to bewitched muggle artifacts, he DOES
work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (OoP US Ed HB pg
130), and his job is to protect muggles from attacks by malevolent
wizards. 

Also, Arthur seems very well connected at the Ministry, and he seems
very well liked. In addition, working in Law Enforcement, he would
certainly be well informed about what was happening in the wizard world.


> Jennifer:
>
> If Scabbers wanted to get important MoM information, why wouldn't he 
> just hide out in the MoM, surely as a rat he would go undetected in 
> such a large place and be able to eavesdrop wherever he wanted.  But 
> I understand that he needed food and shelter.  

bboy_mn:

Compare the life as a rat in the MoM and the life of a rat living with
the Weasleys; not much of a comparison. At the Ministry, Peter would
never be able to show himself, his movements would be limited by
whatever the assumed stone walls would allow. When he needed food, I
suspect the garbage in the MoM lunchroom would be very limited, and
getting food outside the MoM would be dangerous. Outside the MoM in
the muggle world there is an active effort to control rats, plus dogs,
cat, other critters, and competition from other rats. 

Now at the Weasley's Scabbers slept in a warm bed, lived in a warm
house, had fresh cooked food given to him, had the relative freedom
and safety of the farm, no hiding, no cowering inside dark wall, etc.... 

Peter doesn't strike me as a martyr, he doesn't strick me as someone
to choose the 'hard' life for the good of the cause over the easy life
for the good of himself.

> Jennifer:
> 
> ...edited...
>
> I think Scabbers wound up with the Weasleys the same way as Hedwig 
> with Harry and Crookshanks with Hermione.  They bought him.  
> 
> --I dunno just a thought...Jen

bboy_mn:

The rats we see in Diagon Alley in the animal menagerie shop are clean
well-bred enchanted rats. When they can get rats like that, why would
they pickup a common garden rat from the streets of London and try and
sell it? And even if they were out catching rats in the streets,
Peter/Scabbers has human intelligence, he is certainly smart enough
not to get caught under those conditions.

No, I'm sticking with my original thought. Peter knew of the Weasleys
and their circumstances fit his needs nicely. However, I won't go so
far as to say that the Weasley's were his first choice. It's possible
he tried other wizard families before coming to the Weasleys. Note the
Weasleys living on a farm would have given him a significant advantage
in that he could live in the wild while he studied the family and
looked for his best avenue of getting take in. The lone Percy would
have filled the requirements nicely. 

There are certainly some dangers to a rat living in the wild, but
again, since Scabbers has human intelligence, he would have been at a
great advantage over the common field rats in the area.


Still just a thought.

bboy_mn