Was the spell a dud? Did Ron mispronounce "daisies? Does that particular spell work only on non-animagical rats? Only Pettigrew's creator knows for certain, but one thing is obvious: Peter, owner of the most abysmal charm quotient in Potterdom, could have used the help. Grown women swoon over Sirius, notwithstanding a certain canine pungency. Draco has inspired his fanfictional admirers to mordant wit and leather trousers. Readers claim kinship with Percy, rationalize Ron and have strange fantasies about Snape. Even Voldemort earns a bit a respect for surviving four thick books without ever bothering to learn from the errors of other Evil Overlords. But Pettigrew doesn't cut muster. No one respects him, no one admires him, no one fears him-and if anyone has ever lusted after him, they've kept very quiet about it.

The Life and Times of Rat

Who is Peter?

Pettigrew, or rather Scabbers, shows up with Ron in chapter six of PS. Except for biting Goyle's finger in the same chapter, he spends most of the following two books sleeping, chewing on sheets and being pushed off chairs on which more significant characters want to sit. In PoA he gains a higher profile. Suffering from the ravages of age and the molestations of Hermione's cat Crookshanks, Scabbers disappears-apparently into Crookshank's jaws-only reappear in the form of Peter Pettigrew: erstwhile marauder, unregistered animagus, dead hero, live rat. At the climax of PoA, Harry convinces Sirius and Remus to spare Pettigrew's life. Shortly afterward, Pettigrew escapes. In GoF he resurfaces in the company of his master Voldemort. He murders Cedric, contributes his own right hand to Voldemort's rebirth and receives glistening, bionic replacement.

As to his appearance, the least said the better. As a human (whether adult or juvenile), Peter is described as pudgy and weak. As a rat, he is fat, lethargic and *gray*. (As a pointed out in a short and rather amusing club discussion in messages 9180, 9189, and 10200.) As a young wizard, he was a hanger-on, outclassed by his friends James, Sirius and Remus; however, he is not entirely inept, since he did succeed in becoming an animagus and showed considerable skill in his showdown with Sirius (10617).

List members have pointed out that Peter is not merely sympathetic to Voldemort but a confirmed Death Eater, bearing the dark mark (3310, 15935). Peg Kerr also chose him as an example of a person unable to understand true charity (4371).

Which house was he in?

This leads to a further question: was Peter a Gryffindor evil enough to betray his best friend, a Slytherin dumb enough to have a best friend called James Potter, or something else?

Jo has given us no conclusive proof - either in canon or in interviews - that *any* of the marauders actually belonged to Gryffindor.[1] However, granted the close parallels between Harry and James (in particular their enmity with Snape and Draco), it is very difficult to imagine James (at least) in any other house.

Also, Jo has said in on-line chats that Lily and Hagrid were "naturally" from Gryffindor. It's hard to imagine how this "naturally" could apply to Lily and Hagrid but not to James - nor for that matter to Remus and Sirius too.

Further, although fans have often speculated that the four friends came from different houses, we have yet to see a close, non-romantic friendship between members of differing houses - particularly if one of the houses is Slytherin. [1] Thus, if at least one of the marauders was in Gryffindor, chances are, they all were.

However, if we assume that Pettigrew was a Gryffindor, what are we to make of his betrayal? According to a group member named Rowena Grunnion-Ffitch [sic], someone of Pettigrew's propensities...

...*can't* be a Gryffindor since their chief characteristic is courage and he has none at all. He does however have cunning, he could be a Slytherin."

Point taken: he could be a Slytherin. However, I think it is more likely that Pettigrew is a Gryffindor, albeit a lapsed one - and that his current excursion from the path of virtue doesn't count against him. For one thing, many members would actually be reassured to know that the Potterverse isn't governed by a sort of inexorable moral apartheid in which eleven year olds sent to a certain school class will spend the rest of their lives behaving according to the virtues of that particular class. Somehow, we have a hard time believing that a person like Jo Rowling could create a world like that.

In any case, it is seems likely that Pettigrew will eventually repent of his follies. One shouldn't forget the passage in PoA where Harry regrets his decision to save Pettigrew's life. Dumbledore disagrees:

"Pettigrew owes his life to you. You have sent Voldemort a deputy who is in your debt.... When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them... and I'm much mistaken if Voldemort wants his servant in the debt of Harry Potter."

"I don't want a connection with Pettigrew!" said Harry. "He betrayed my parents!"

"This is magic at its deepest, its most impenetrable, Harry. But trust me... the time may come when you will be very glad you saved Pettigrew's life."

This leaves a strong impression that Pettigrew will not spend the rest of his life with his head stuck in a black hat. Caius Marcius has gone so far as to predict that Pettigrew will give his life to save Harry (5123). Naturally, Pettigrew's true fans protested vehemently and conclusively disproved this theory - but since they don't exist, Caius Marcius could well be right. [2]

Why did he bite Goyle?

During Harry and Ron's inaugural fight with Draco, Pettigrew bites Goyle's finger. Why? Was Scabbers settling an old score or just working off steam? Or is this a foreshadowing of some harrowing struggle? No one knows. But that hasn't stopped HPfGU members from floating a theory or two:

Hella (24324) suggests a progression of bites: Pettigrew sees Harry for the first time. Conscience bit, he decides to bite Goyle to make up for his lack of resistance so many years back.

Rrishi (24324) - who appears to know things about rats that I don't - thinks Scabbers may just be acting like a rat, defending his territory against intruders.

Monika (8513) - apparently used to an entirely different sort of rat - suggests that Scabbers, who has just been given to Ron by Percy, wants to encourage his new owner to take good care of him.

However, Saitaina's (24280) suggestion takes the cake - or at least it makes Goyle fight for it:

Now here's my question...why did Peter as Scabbers, bite Goyle? He didn't have to. It's not like he ever really did anything as Scabbers beyond sleeping and shaking in a terrified manner. So why bite him at all? Was Goyle about to steal the Cauldron Cake he had been munching on in his sleep?

How did he survive his explosion?

Carole Estes, co-author of A Sirius Affair, once expressed a certain surprise that Pettigrew survived the explosion with which he killed 12 muggles and fooled all of wizardom. The simple answer is that Pettigrew wasn't an idiot. For a more complicated answer (including a fetching diagram) see Milz's response.

Pettigrew and the Mysteries of Magic

Why doesn't he show up on the map?

One of the favorite pursuits of the true HP fan is Flint hunting - or ferreting out those devilish details where Jo's artistic vision went fuzzy. The Marauder's Map is an old favorite among Flint hunters and has consumed enough bandwidth to obliterate whatever earnings Yahoo might otherwise have had this year.

The question is simple: quite a few people used the Marauder's Map without ever noticing that Scabbers had the wrong name hovering over his dot. Why?

Fortunately, Penny has attacked this question in her Mysteries Fantastic Posts; if the gentle reader isn't satisfied with her theories, she'll have to make up her own.

What happens to Pettigrew's clothes when he transforms?

Actually, Animagi don't wear clothing: the most difficult part of becoming one is not the (relatively simple) transformation into an animal form but the skull drudgery involved in creating the illusion of clothing on an otherwise naked wizard. (This also explains why Hogwarts students are hesitant about giving the MoM any details about the coaching so generously provided by Hogwarts staff members.)

Eh? Oh, OK. I've no idea. Go read Penny's Mysteries Fantastic Posts. If you can't find a good theory there, you might as well give up.

Pettigrew and his Admirers

Is there anything else I should know about Pettigrew?

I doubt it - but if you're really excited about Pettigrew, you'll be even more excited when you find out how many posts HPfGU members have lavished on Pettigrew's parallels, both within the canon and in general literature.

Within the canon Peter finds two points of comparison: Neville and Ron. I discussed the first in my Neville FAQ.

The second is a bit more tricky - and, to judge from the occasional shipping wars on the list, an effective, if somewhat hazardous, conversation piece. Fortunately, Neil has covered the question in his Ron FAQ. (In case you want to get the low down from people who really like Ron, have a look at Sugar Quill http://www.sugarquill.com/ - but if you pull any "Ron's-just-like-Pettigrew" stuff on them, don't even think about saying I put you up to it.)

Comparisons outside the canon are a lot safer. Peter obviously makes for a lovely Judas figure. More intriguing are the parallels between Jo's Wormtail and Tolkien's Wormtongue. Amy (11783) and Marvin (11785) offered several interesting thoughts on this relationship. Since Jo read the Lord of the Rings when she was about twenty, it is entirely possible that Pettigrew had an ancestor (or is it descendant?) in Middle Earth.

Where can I find out more about Pettigrew?

To be honest, there isn't much more out there. Pettigrew fans certainly won't find much material on the web - but since they don't exist, they probably won't even look. Steve's Lexicon has a few bits of information (including the deduction that he was born in 1960), but the pickings are generally lean.

Pettigrew has featured prominently in the world of filkdom, raking in such smash hits as Pettigrew, The Way We Gnaw and You're Bad for Me by Caius Marcius and My Master You Know Who by Pippin.

Finally, Dr. Elizabeth Schafer, author of the Beacham's Sourcebooks' Exploring Harry Potter, has subjected Pettigrew to a bit of literary psychoanalysis with the claim that his missing finger symbolizes his trouble making a point (see message 2458).[5]

And if quoting Shafer isn't a good time to stop writing, nothing is.

Footnotes

[1] In fact, she doesn't even call them "Marauders"; but since everyone else does, I will too.

[2] Yes. Hormonally enhanced friendships between houses are common. However, the gates of Slytherin appear - so far - to have blocked out even the feral scent of love.

[3] However, anyone who objects to such bloodthirsty scenarios may prefer my own more peaceable version: 5405.

[4] "A shipper," says the VFAQ, "is someone who favours a particular romantic pairing of character from the books; for example, H/H (Harry/Hermione), R/H (Ron/Hermione)." Occasionally, shippers disagree rather vocally about these pairings. When exacerbated by heavy fanfiction use, these disagreements can prove rather dangerous.

[5] For an extended review of this curious tome, please consult the Lexicon.