Where Percy got Scabbers

[Shirley]

No: HPFGUIDX 83830

Jennifer:
<<snipped>>
 > 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:

<<snip>> 
> 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.
> 
<<snipped>>
> 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.

<<snippage>> 
> 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

now Shirley:
Reading this thread just made me remember something that struck me 
when I was re-reading the whole series a couple of months ago, with 
the new information from OoP fresh in my mind.  Something that ended 
up feeling like a wasted effort from the goal of finding something 
enlightening, as I once again found myself getting so involved in the 
stories that I failed to really keep track of new hints jumping out 
at me.  From the goal of enjoyable reading, though, it worked just 
fine!  But I digress.... sort of ;-)

Anyway, I don't have my books with me, but while reading CoS, I 
remember when Harry first sees Ron's room at The Burrow.  The 
description tells us that Scabbers is on the windowsill (or a shelf 
by the windowsill) in a patch of sunshine, and *right next to him is 
Ron's wand* (emphasis mine).  Now, at first I remember thinking this 
was a flint, because certainly Ron would have had his wand with him 
when they went to get Harry.  But, then I realized that the 
restriction on underage magic would mean that Ron using his wand on 
that trip would be counter-productive; so he might logically have 
left it behind.  So, having left it behind, could there be any 
significance to it being right beside Scabbers?  Could Peter have 
transfigured back to his human self and used the wand..... and might 
he have been able to that all during the time he was with the 
Weasleys; using first Percy's and then Ron's wands?

I don't have any particular reason in my mind that Peter would want 
to use the wand(s), but I just remember suddenly realizing that he 
might have access to them.....

Shirley, who actually meant for this post to be shorter than this....