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What you are about to read is a perfectly logical argument as to why Peter Pettigrew would not have survived at Hogwarts for the events of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to take place as written.
Just kidding, it's a long, possibly unhinged rant.
Let's start with some canon facts that we all know.
- Peter Pettigrew is a rat Animagus, also known as Wormtail or Scabbers, the Weasley family pet rat.
- Pettigrew used his rat form to fake his own death and simultaneously frame Sirius Black for killing him and innocent Muggles.
- Scabbers was Percy’s rat before being given to Ron. Percy received an owl after being made perfect.
- Therefore, Percy had Scabbers as his pet at Hogwarts for four years before he was given to Ron.
- Crookshanks attempted to capture Scabbers while at the Magical Menagerie, before ever meeting Sirius as Padfoot.
- Fred and George obtained the Marauder's Map from Filch’s office during their first year.
- As Scabbers, he still shows up in the Marauder’s Map as Peter Pettigrew, and per Lupin, the map never lies.
Here are some things that we can infer about his existence as Scabbers based on the books:
- Scabbers does not have any sort of cage or enclosure. In fact, when he's mentioned in canon, he's often loose — on Ron's bed, pillows, windowsill, in a pocket, etc. He appears to sleep in Ron's bed with him.
- In the third book, Ron described Scabbers as being “quite old” and that his family has had him “for ages.” Lupin says twelve years, which Ron doesn't dispute.
- Per Voldemort’s villainous monologue in Goblet of Fire, Pettigrew's "filthy little friends told him" where to go in the Albanian forest to find Voldemort. So we can assume that Pettigrew can communicate with other rats while in his Animagus form.
Are you still with me? Willing to accept all the above premises? Good. Time to dig deeper.
EXHIBIT A — Where are all the damn cats?
I'm so serious right now. Where are they? If all students are allowed to bring either a cat, toad, or owl, you had best believe that people would take advantage of this allowance. The only other time that I can recall another student having a cat being mentioned in canon is (unfortunately for Hermione) Millicent Bulstrode.
In various interviews, the author has stated that there are anywhere from 600 to 1,000 students at Hogwarts. In the United Kingdom, approximately 29% of households have cats. If we take an even more conservative percentage and say that only 10% of students opt to bring cats to school with them, that means that there could be between 60 and 100 cats at Hogwarts, or 15-25 cats per House (which is honestly still kind of insane in its own right).
Cats should be all over the place at the castle! They should be in the dormitories, the common rooms, the library, and wandering the grounds — sunning themselves, getting into cat fights, walking across the textbook you need for an essay, and just being the fluffy, loveable assholes that they are.
Are you trying to tell me that in the seven — yes, SEVEN — years that Pettigrew spent at Hogwarts as Scabbers, that not a single cat in Gryffindor House besides Crookshanks attempted to chase/capture/kill/eat Scabbers? That all the cats and Scabbers were confined to the dorms at all times and never the twain shall meet? Seems pretty sus to me.
Scabbers clearly had no issues with escaping the dorms, and cats are liquid and have the uncanny ability to go where they want, despite you being sure that you closed that door. Although Scabbers had the advantage of having human intelligence to get around and avoid predators, all it takes is one lucky pounce.
But Crookshanks was different!, you say. Maybe the other cats didn't care, but he's part-Kneazle and therefore more intelligent and knew Scabbers was a man. Maybe so, but I present to you…
EXHIBIT B — Mrs Norris
Mrs Norris is not a Kneazle and not an Animagus stuck in feline form, despite much speculation in fandom. It's widely known to the Hogwarts student population that the caretaker’s cat is highly intelligent and to be avoided at all costs.
She was able to find and stalk students out after curfew and communicate this to Filch. If anyone could catch a rat wandering the halls at night, it would be Mrs Norris.
And let's not forget another high-profile cat…
EXHIBIT C — Minerva McGonagall
But McGonagall isn't a cat 24/7, you say. Why does she count?
Because if you accept that Pettigrew can speak to other rats while in Animagus form, then McGonagall can talk to other cats. You think she isn't using the 60+ cats at Hogwarts as an informant network? Why would she not?
But what if Peter/Scabbers learned rat language because he spent so long as a rat, not because he's an Animagus?
I suppose that could be a fair question, but then you'd have to assume that he spent a large amount of time being a rat around other rats. A language immersion course, if you will. So I ask you, when? When did he do that? If he was with the Weasleys for twelve years, was he just nipping off every day to find some wild rats to converse with and keep up his daily Rat-lingo streak? Was there a secret rat colony hiding in the Hogwarts walls? He learned it well enough in the months after escaping that he was able to understand that he should travel to FUCKING ALBANIA to find Voldemort's wraith?
Maybe. It's possible, but that sounds like advanced level coursework to me and Scabbers is a very lazy rat so I find that doubtful. Plus, every time he ventured out would be another chance to get eaten by a predator, so I point you back to EXHIBIT A.
Minerva McGonagall has literal decades on Pettigrew; even if she isn't a full-time cat, she's probably picked up enough dialect for Crookshanks or another cat to say “BAD RAT” and be understood. Crookshanks knew right away that something was up and wouldn't have needed to get into any nuances.
Last, but not least, let's talk about…
EXHIBIT D — the Marauder's Map
Okay so this is a little bit less cat-related, but still pretty important. Fred and George may be the class clowns, but they are certainly not slouches in the brains department. Sure, there are 600+ names on the map at any given time, but I REFUSE to believe that they never looked at the Gryffindor dorms and saw that their older brother Percy was constantly sleeping with someone named Peter Pettigrew, and then several years later, that same name showed up in Ron's bed. If they didn't recognize the name and its significance, surely they'd still be concerned for their brothers and question them.
There's a lot that's unexplained about the Map and its creation, but as far as we know, the only animal that shows up on the Map is EXHIBIT B, Mrs Norris, so they can't assume that some precocious child named their familiar Peter Pettigrew.
On to some other small arguments I wanted to include!
Addendum A — Owls of Hogwarts
Don't like my cat argument? Think domesticated cats don't give a fuck about a rat running around? Okay, think about how many owls are at Hogwarts, both personal owls and school owls. They're all hunting outside for food. If Pettigrew goes outside even once (which he does!), then he's definitely getting snatched.
Addendum B — Percy
You expect me to believe that five-year-old Percy — Prissy Percy — found a random rat and wanted to keep it as a pet and that Arthur and Molly allowed it?
Or conversely, Arthur or Molly found the rat and decided to give it to Percy, out of all their children? Yeah, okay.
Therefore, I propose to you that Peter Pettigrew should have died as Scabbers or been discovered as an Animagus far prior to the events occurring in Prisoner of Azkaban. Sorry Sirius fans, this means he'd probably still be in prison, but hey, Harry probably had a pretty normal third year and Cedric didn't die in Goblet of Fire. Silver linings, eh?
