Pettigrew parallels

[Brandgwen G.]

No: HPFGUIDX 5469

Quick note: there's speculation in the last paragraph.

>It's easy and tempting and reassuring when things seem safe, to look back 
>and say, "Oh, I saw it, or I should have known.  Peter Pettigrew, always 
>tagging along, such a sneak--of course he wasn't really one of us."
>
>But he was.  THAT'S why it is so scary.

Scary, yes, but that's not what I find the scariest.  Here, you have four 
friends, two of them very close, two less so.  Then you have information 
suggesting that one of them is a traitor.  What I find scary is that, rather 
than dismiss the information, you pick one of your friends to blame.  That's 
the atmosphere they were living in.  James and Sirius couldn't blame each 
other - they were best friends.  They didn't think highly enough of 
Pettigrew to suspect him.  So they suspected the werewolf (sweet, good 
natured, totally wonderful Lupin!).  The Harry equivalent would be "I can't 
suspect Ron, so it must be Hermione..." (or vice versa).

This really highlights one of the major differences between Harry's friends 
and James' (not to mention Harry and James).  The Maruaders lived in a world 
where people were going Dark Side all the time.  Friendships where not set 
in the same kind of stone and very few people were beyond reproach.  When he 
realised that Sirius and James had made the switch without telling him, 
Lupin wasn't even surprised - it were as if he expected to be suspected.  
This begs the question will Harry's friendships survive the same kind of 
strain?

On the other hand, the Marauders do seem to have had a few issues that 
Harry's lot don't.  Sirius had a pretty sick sense of humour - that Snape 
joke was bloody dangerous.  Lupin has a very impressive guilt complex - in 
the Shreiking Shack, he even blames himself for being bitten as a child.  
Then, of course, you have Peter, who is basically a worm, and James, who, so 
far, seems to be the lone, balanced wonder-boy.  Was their mistrust as much 
a product of themselves as their times?

Of course, they were right to suspect someone.  They just got the wrong guy. 
  If they had been united in trust, rather that divided in mistrust, might 
they have been able to spot Pettigrew's strange behaviour?  Might they have 
correctly picked the spy?

Quick sideline: I know you've already discussed this, but could someone 
please tell me why you're all so convinced these people were Gryffindors?

Now, I do believe in the Pettigrew/Neville parallel.  All of those times, in 
class, when Harry and Ron were paired up, who do you think Hermione was 
with?  It doesn't matter if Neville isn't looking for protection from 
Harry's lot - the Marauders didn't see this in Pettigrew until he showed 
himself as a traitor.  However, this doesn't really mean that Neville is 
like Pettigrew, but rather, that he fills the same position for Harry that 
Pettigrew did for James.  Neville and Pettigrew are both small, overlooked 
wizards - people the Potters might like, but not respect as much as they do 
others.

So, you see Harry following he father's doomed path.  How will he escape the 
same sorry end?  I would hope that Harry can keep trusting his friends.  I 
don't think Ron would ever go bad - he sacrificed himself the the 
Philosophers Stone chess game, his first instinct in the Prisoner of 
Azkaban, when the Grim was charging Harry, was to push Harry aside, then, 
later, he told Sirius that if he wanted to kill Harry he'd have to kill him 
first.  He was sorted into Gryffindor in seconds.  Lets face it - this kid 
IS the Gryffindor dragon.  Hermione values courage and friendship very 
highly (she says so, somewhere in PS) and is Muggle-born and proud of it.  I 
expect that Harry's discovery of Neville's past might signal a turning point 
in Harry's attitude to Neville - he might start looking at him as more of an 
equal.  Perhaps one of the differences between Harry and James, ie. the 
reason Harry can defeat Voldemort, is that Harry's friends trust each other 
and Harry knows enough to respect Neville.

Oh, by the way, I'm new.  Hey everybody!
Gwen.
(who once got sick on election day, literally slept through the whole thing 
and, being Australian, was fined for the privillage!)
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