Odp: [HPforGrownups] Pettigrew vs. Sirius

[Monika Zaboklicka]

No: HPFGUIDX 10784

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Monika Zaboklicka" <monika.zaboklicka at csl.com.pl>
>> In 13-Muggles-at-one-go incident Pettigrew was also faster than Black,
>> contrary to McGonagall's claim that he was always hopeless at dueling. If
>> *that* was hopelessness, guess how poor Black is at it...
>> But perhaps Pettigrew learnt his tricks from Voldemort.
>
>You have to keep in mind Sirius' mental condition at the moment Pettigrew
>threw that curse.  [...] Isn't a symptom of shock a
>decrease in reaction time.

Well, I rather imagine Black full of adrenaline in that scene. Got nothing
to support this, you know, it's just my weird imagination. Anyway, I was
merely pointing out that either McGonagall was wrong saying Pettigrew's
hopeless at dueling, or Peter learnt his tricks from Voldemort. Black was
not his normal self that night, sure, but anyway Pettigrew certainly was not
"hopeless".


>I have a question about that curse[...] Any ideas?

That's what I see in the eyes of my weird imgaination:
Sirius notices Peter in a crowded street when they are some 20 meters from
each other and calls him. Pettigrew turns round, recognizes Sirius, turns
white and shouts that Black betrayed the Potters. Sirius, blind with fury,
reaches for his wand but his hands tremble with anger so much that he can't
take it out of his pocket. Petigrew casts his spell - not Avada Kevadra,
some other spell - huge ball of orange light moves torwards Sirius, it tears
the street open like an eartquake, killing people and speading havoc.
Pettigrew turns into a rat immediately after casting the spell and escapes,
Sirius manages to take his wand out of his pocket at last and anihilates the
ball of light when it's just a couple of feet away from him.

My imagination is pretty weird, I told you ;-)

>> I don't quite believe in Sirius's
>> declaration "we would have died for you!"
>
>Just curious as to why you don't believe this statement.  I think during
the
>time before James and Lily were betrayed, Sirius would have been willing to
>die for any of the Marauders.

Wow, you're right - I didn't explain what I meant, sorry.  I think that
Sirius would rather die then tell Voldemort anything. I  am sure that he'd
hold his tounge even if he'd been questioned about Snape. But he wouldn't do
it *for* Voldemort's victim, he'd do it *against* Voldemort. It's my belief
that James was his "best friend", Remus and Peter were just "friends". I
don't see Sirius as a lad who could truly befriend somebody who
hero-worshippes him.

>Why would he entrust Peter with the job of
>Secret Keeper if he didn't trust Pettigrew.  He might not have believed
>Peter was an exceptional wizard, but he entrusted James and Lily, and
>Harry's lives to him.

Well, let's start with a thesis that for some reason they couldn't ask
Remus - maybe he was away, maybe Sirius or one of the Potters heard rumours
he's cooperating with Voldemort, it doesn't matter. If Remus was
"unavailable", there was little choice - Sirius, Peter and Dumbledore. James
had already refused Dumbledore's offer (I guess he didn't want to bother
him), so there were two possibilities actually - Sirius or Peter. I think
that Sirius's idea was that nobody would think that Potters could choose
"Little Peter" instead of him. He thought that Voldemort would go after him,
leaving Peter safe with Potters' secret. The idea that Pettigrew might
actually *go* to Voldemort obviously didn't cross his head, but that doesn't
mean he trusted Peter with all his heart. Shortly - in my opinion he thought
that Peter wouldn't tell mostly because he wouldn't have been asked, and
that's why he persuaded James to use Pettigrew.

>So are you saying, you think Sirius wasn't that fond of Remus, that's why
he
>sent Snape down to the Shreiking shack?

Well, no. He sent Snape to Shrieking Shack because he didn't like Snape and
didn't care to think what would happen to Remus if Snape was attacked.

> Its always been my impression of
>Black's character that he didn't really think through the consequences of
>this prank.

Personally I doubt that he thought about the consequences at all.

>Its been my impression that pre-Azkaban Sirius was rather arrogant and
>convinced of his own cleverness, not very introspective and not very
>responsible.

I agree. But I think that seemingly intelligent boy of sixteen should do
some thinking before sending a colleague to death or fate not much better
than it.

You can see the difference between James and Sirius in their
>reaction to the prank.  Sirius instigated it (not vey mature) and James
>realized the consequences and risked his life to fix it (much more mature).

That's true. Sirius was very lucky to have a friend like James and must have
known it. No wonder he liked James so much.

Monika