Scabbers had lived in the Weasley household for about twelve years by the time he was revealed to be Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form. This lifespan was unusual for rats as they had way shorter life expectancies. Furthermore, in hindsight, he had become the Weasley family pet when Lord Voldemort vanished after facing one-year-old Harry Potter.
Scabbers was Ron’s pet since Ron joined Hogwarts. When on the Hogwarts Express, Ron tried to turn Scabbers yellow, which is when Harry and Ron first met Hermione Granger. She revealed that Ron’s spell wouldn’t work on Scabbers, and she was eventually proved right.
Appearances in the Harry Potter Series
Scabbers first appeared in the Harry Potter book series when he was seen on the Hogwarts Express with Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Although the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter stated that students could only carry a pet, an owl, a cat, or a toad, Scabbers was allowed in Hogwarts for unknown reasons. When Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle bully Ron and Harry, Scabbers springs at them and bites Goyle’s hand. While Ron pretended not to care much about Scabbers, he secretly cared a lot for his pet rat. He would feel very agitated and look for him everywhere when he could not find him.
Scabbers remained Ron’s pet and were practically known to be harmless. He just ate and slept and minded his own business. He even accompanied the Weasley family on their trip to Egypt and was seen in the photograph published in The Daily Prophet. This photo is what tipped off Sirius Black about the whereabouts of Peter Pettigrew as he recognized him in his Animagus form.
During the events of the novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius Black breaks out of Azkaban prison and searches for Peter Pettigrew. However, in the eyes of the wizarding public, Sirius was believed to be the Death Eater, and he escaped Azkaban prison in search of Harry Potter. Around the same time, Hermione bought a pet cat named Crookshanks from the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley. Crookshanks immediately started chasing Scabbers around, which led to a rift between Ron and Hermione. It was later revealed the Crookshanks knew that Scabbers was untrustworthy as he was half-Kneazle, was highly intelligent, and could detect untrustworthy people.
Scabbers seemed to have developed some sickness ever since the trio’s third year had started, and Ron was worried about his health since he was Ron’s pet rat. When they went to get Scabbers some medicine, they came across Crookshanks in the shop, and Hermione got him as her pet. As time passed, Scabbers seemed to lose a lot of hair and had become very weak, withdrawn, and frightened.
Furthermore, Crookshanks chased him at every opportunity he got. Somewhere around the middle of the trio’s third year, Scabbers had disappeared entirely, and Ron made several attempts to find him but to no avail. Eventually, one day, Ron saw him scampering under Hagrid’s milk jug. Ron realized that Scabbers had become weak, suffered from some disease, or was severely malnourished.
Scabbers’ True Identity Revealed – Peter Pettigrew
Interestingly, when Harry was looking at the Marauders Map one night, he came across the location of an unexpected name on it. Strangely, Harry realized that the map showed Peter Pettigrew in Hogwarts Castle. This data didn’t make sense because Harry had overheard the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, and Madam Rosmerta talking in the Three Broomsticks about how Sirius Black killed Peter Pettigrew.
When Harry tried to see who the map pointed to as Peter Pettigrew was, he reached a dead end, and no one was there. Furthermore, he was caught by Professor Snape for loitering in the corridors at night. Remus Lupin eventually rescued him from Snape, to whom Harry mentioned that he had seen Peter Pettigrew on the map.
The mystery was finally solved when it was revealed that Scabbers, Ron’s pet rat, was Peter Pettigrew himself. He had been living in the Weasley household ever since he had falsely accused Sirius Black of betraying Harry’s parents and had killed thirteen Muggles and also blamed that on Sirius. Furthermore, he had been an Animagus since his Hogwarts days and was called Wormtail when he turned into a rat.
Sirius trapped Scabbers in the Shrieking Shack and explained the truth to Harry, Ron, and Hermione after they had a tussle with the Whomping Willow and finally made it to the Shrieking Shack where Sirius was keeping Ron and Scabbers captive.
It was finally revealed that on the day of the deaths of James Potter and Lily Potter, it was Peter Pettigrew who betrayed their trust and shared their location with Lord Voldemort and that Peter was secretly in the ranks of the Death Eaters.
Were Rats Allowed at Hogwarts?
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was one of the finest magical institutions in the world. Despite being quite welcoming of most things, it still had a lot of rules that needed to be followed. One such rule is believed to be the choice of pet that students can have in the castle. Their acceptance letters, which they received in their first year before joining Hogwarts, clearly mentioned that students might bring an owl, a toad, or a cat as a pet. However, there is no mention of a rat as a pet. However, both Percy and later Ron had got Scabbers to Hogwarts as their pet rat.
According to some Harry Potter fans, Scabbers being allowed at Hogwarts is inconsistent with the requirements for what pets were allowed. However, it is very likely that rather than strictly saying that only an owl, a toad, or a cat could be qualified as pets, the acceptance letter just suggested the most common choices for pets at Hogwarts, and students were allowed to bring other pets as well as long as they were not dangerous. Another example of a pet that is not an owl, a toad, or a cat is Lee Jordan’s pet Tarantula.
FAQs
Who is Scabbers the rat?
Scabbers the rat was Ron Weasley’s pet in the Harry Potter series. He was first the pet of Ron’s elder brother Percy but was later taken by Ron as his pet when he started going to Hogwarts. In Ron’s third year, it was revealed that Scabbers was not an ordinary rat. He was a man named Peter Pettigrew in disguise as a rat, as he was an Animagus, a person capable of transforming into an animal.
What happened to the real Scabbers?
There never was any other rat named Scabbers, who was the pet of the Weasley household. Scabbers, who stayed at the Weasley household after the disappearance of Lord Voldemort, was none other than Peter Pettigrew in disguise. He had always been the Scabbers that the Weasleys had known, and Percy kept him as a pet for his first few years at Hogwarts. Only after Sirius Black told Ron and the others about Peter did they realize that Scabbers was not an average rat.
Why did Peter Pettigrew choose the Weasleys?
Peter Pettigrew chose the Weasleys because they were a wizarding family close to the magical community in several ways. The Weasleys were a big family, as Arthur and Molly had seven children. Arthur worked at the Ministry of Magic and would probably talk about his work and the ongoing events in the magical community with his family. Bill and Charlie worked with the dragons at Gringotts Bank and Romania, respectively, and therefore had links to other sides of the magical community. Also, the Weasleys were one of the few Pure-blooded wizarding families that would have been kind and accepting enough of a rat like Scabbers as a pet.
