[HPforGrownups] Re: CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 13: Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw

[Shelley]

No: HPFGUIDX 189971


> Nikkalmati
>
> Ron did have a negative opinion of Crookshanks, but it is clear the Knesel has a strong interest in Scabbers.  Would he have killed him if possible?  Maybe Crookshanks would have forced Scabbers to revert to Peter?  I am not sure what Hermione could have done to keep Crookshanks away.  She can't lock him up all the time, but she does seem unsympathetic to Ron's concerns.
>
This is an interesting question- whether the Kneazle could have forced 
Peter out of his animageous form. I think if he killed Scabbers that 
Peter wouldn't have appeared as a dead rat, but rather as the dead 
person who he really was. If that was the case, the kids would have been 
100% safe, and the truth revealed. If Crookshanks had merely wounded 
Scabbers, then he (Peter) still posed danger to Hogwarts and all of the 
children there. So I agree the intention had been for the Cat to kill 
the Rat. But, for the sake of the story, that can't happen too soon or 
the plot is ruined. We aren't meant to know that Scabbers is really 
Peter, and so for the sake of the plot Crookshanks merely scares 
Scabbers into hiding.

Was Ron right, or Hermione right? They both missed the truth of the 
situation, as they were intended to do. It's a plot element to have the 
characters miss the obvious so that we as readers could have a mystery 
to solve. It's up to us as readers to catch the element that Crookshanks 
isn't just a cat, and Scabbers isn't just a rat, and the situation isn't 
a normal cat and mouse chase. Crookshanks intends to kill Scabbers, but 
the kids aren't smart enough, or have enough experience, to ask WHY.

I think Ron's experience was based in his poverty- he didn't have much, 
but he valued what he had. To him, Scabbers was the only pet he owned, 
and it's totally natural of him to be defensive of anything that would 
threaten that. Crookshanks had to go after Scabbers only once for Ron to 
start being deliberately protective of Scabbers, and that is the reason 
that Peter chose the Weasley family to hide with. He knew the attitude 
wouldn't be "oh well, we can always get another one".  He wasn't just a 
rat, he was a treasured member of the family.

Hermione's attitude does seem unsympathetic, but she chose her cat for 
his intelligence. I think they bonded for that reason, and the Cat's 
attitude toward people was purposely cold in the shop so that he 
wouldn't get bought by a wizard or witch who wasn't good or noble. I 
think Hermione trusted this animal but failed to realize what this cat 
was telling her, but that wasn't helped by Ron's (inderstandable) 
hostile attitude of protectiveness. She was caught in between a rock and 
a hard place, between keeping her friends or being wrong for having 
bought an intelligent cat. (In reality, the Crookshanks chose her.) 
There was no way for her to win. No one thinks of how she feels, of 
being accused of letting the cat kill the rat even though there was no 
evidence that ever happened. Ron thought she was wrong for even buying 
the cat, but again, he doesn't know the whole situation.

I also think Rowlings intended for us to focus on the kids fighting, at 
the normal scraps that even best friends have from time to time. This 
provides some realism to the story, and makes us sympathize and come to 
love these characters. We, by nature as readers, tend to pick sides of 
who we think is right or wrong in this fight, and who I sympathized with 
most is Harry, who is innocent in all regards but also caught in between 
a rock and a hard place. He just wants to be friends with both Ron and 
Hermione, and it isn't fair of either of them to ask him to take sides.

Shelley