Ron Weasley owner of Pigwidgeon
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Ron's rat, Scabbers, already seen in Philosopher's Stone, goes missing, for which he blames Hermione's new cat Crookshanks, and the two have a falling-out.[PoA Ch.11][PoA Ch.12] They eventually make up when Hermione has a nervous breakdown brought by taking too many classes and distress at the fate of the hippogriff Buckbeak. The animal, owned by Hagrid, has been put on trial for injuring Draco and risks execution. Ron offers to help with the preparation of Buckbeak's defence, but this fails to help. Harry, Ron and Hermione go to see Hagrid on the day of the execution where they discover Scabbers hiding in Hagrid's hut.[PoA Ch.15] As they leave, Scabbers struggles free of Ron and runs away. He chases Scabbers to the Whomping Willow where he is grabbed by a large black dog and dragged into a tunnel hidden below the tree.[PoA Ch.16][PoA Ch.17]Harry and Hermione follow the tunnel, which leads to the Shrieking Shack. The dog is actually the animal form of Sirius Black (an Animagus), Harry's godfather and an escaped convict from the wizard prison Azkaban. The school's Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Remus Lupin arrives just after Harry and Hermione. Along with Sirius, Lupin casts a spell on Scabbers, who also turns out to be an Animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew was Sirius's, Lupin's, and Harry's father James Potter's school friend, thought to have been murdered by Sirius.[PoA Ch.16][PoA Ch.16] Pettigrew, who had lived as a rat ever since faking his death, denies everything, but Sirius and Lupin piece together that he has been a servant of Voldemort, and it was he who divulged the secret whereabouts of Harry's parents, leading to their murder. Initially, Ron does not believe Sirius and refuses to turn over Scabbers to him, but he is disgusted when he learns his rat's identity. Pettigrew escapes when the main characters lead him out of the Whomping Willow.[PoA Ch.18][PoA Ch.19][PoA Ch.20] Ron, knocked out by a spell from Pettigrew, is taken to the hospital wing, and is forced to remain there while Harry and Hermione travel back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak.[PoA Ch.21] At the end of the novel, Sirius sends Ron an excitable little owl whom Ginny names Pigwidgeon, but whom Ron refers to as "Pig".[PoA Ch.22]