[HPforGrownups] Peter Pettigrew's true role Re: Distance Questions; Secret Keeper

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 7766

Monika Huebner wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> On Mon, 18 Dec 2000 22:00:18 -0600, Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer
> <pennylin at swbell.net> wrote:
>
> >And, now a question of my own for fanfic purposes -- how would the
> >Fidelius charm be performed and who would/would not be present?  Would
> >anyone other than the Potters and Pettigrew have been present?
> >Would/could Sirius Black have been there?  How would it have worked
> >exactly?  For example, would Lily (charms being her specialty from what
> >we know) have performed the charm herself?  Or, would the Potters as the
> >recipients so to speak have needed a 4th person to actually place the
> >charm on themselves & Pettigrew?  We know Dumbledore wasn't there when
> >it was performed as he doesn't know about the switch; neither does
> >Remus.  Does this lead one to the conclusion that only the Potters &
> >Pettigrew were present or is there room for conjecture that Black
> >himself might have been there?  Any thoughts???  PoA is not exactly
> >specific on this point -- any conjecture or theories welcome!
>
> Hm, it's odd, but I always thought that Sirius must have been there.
> The Fidelius Charm is said to be a very complicated spell, so I
> imagined it to have tow distinct parts, one for the Secret Keeper
> himself and one for the person(s) who are supposed to go into hiding.
> If Sirius had actually been the Secret Keeper, he could have put the
> charm on James and Lily, and they could have performed the part that
> should have hidden their secret in him. But I really don't see
> Pettigrew cast such a complicated spell. I know he's not *that*
> stupid, but after all we've heard about him I don't believe he would
> have been able to do it without practising it a lot (and where should
> he have done that?). That leaves Sirius to perform the charm on James
> and Lily, since nobody else knew about the switch. I'm pretty sure he
> was there.
>
> Monika

This is sort of an aside: Peter was a good enough wizard to have learned how
to perform the animagus magic.  You know, many fan fic writers act as if
Peter was merely a tag-a-long, not as good at magic as James, Sirius and
Lupin, not "really" one of the four, almost sort of resented.  I think this
diminishes the fact of his betrayal.  It seems to be a sort of
squeamishness/reluctance to claim Peter as "one of us"--because it's too
scarey to imagine that someone you have totally accepted and considered one
of your team could have betrayed you (sorry, my pronouns got rather out of
control there).  But Sirius, at least, indicates that he accepted Peter
totally as his friend, and accordingly, was devastated when confronted by the
fact that Peter had sold out James and Lily.

You can't have your heart truly broken unless you give it into another's
keeping and have that trust betrayed.

Peg