Why Peter Truned Traitor

[meboriqua at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 21956

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
 
> 
> As Dumbledore says in GF, the right decision was not the easy one.  
> Like so many, PP made the easy one--but that doesn't mean he leapt 
up  and volunteered his services; he saw the writing on the wall and 
knew  he could either stick by his friends or go with the winner.  
Little  did he know that he chose the losing side (crosses fingers).>

"The right decision was not the easy one."  That is one of the 
statements that has kept me thinking since I first read GoF (has it 
been a year already?).  It is a very true statement, and makes Peter's 
betrayal all the more confusing.  We know very little of Peter's 
background and not much more about what he thought that led him to do 
what he did to his good friends.

What I do know is that in times of war people do things that are 
completely outside of everyday reality.  Inflicting pain on others is 
something that comes much more easily when many around you are doing 
it.  Slave owners, the Holocaust (sorry - that's all I'll mention of 
it Neil!), Rwanda...  Peter is someone who probably thought he'd get 
away with what he did because it was war, and war means doing what you 
can to survive.  There are many stories of people turning in their own 
family members in times of war because they were under the impression 
that they'd receive money, food, a passport out of the country, 
something that ensured their survival.  I said this before and I'll 
repeat it:  I am sure that Voldie promised Peter all sorts of things 
he couldn't get from his friends and that helped motivate Peter to 
turn them in.  

This does not mean I have any sympathy for Peter, because I do not.  
Maybe, though, this is why I cannot stop thinking about him.  How he 
could send Voldemort to the Potters' home, ESPECIALLY when they were 
the parents of a baby, is beyond me.  I think he is pathetic.  I don't 
think he deserves to die (who does deserve to die?), but I could think 
of some long and unpleasant punishments that are very fitting.  

To get back to the right vs. easy decisions, don't we all grapple with 
that every day?  My best example is that it is the right decision to 
go to the gym, but in December when it is cold and dark, it is so much 
easier to sit on my couch and read GoF for the umpteenth time.  And 
that is only a small decision.  I imagine that when the stakes are 
high, those decisions become even more complicated, questionable, and 
dangerous.  We will see others throughout the HP series make decisions 
that are clearly easy instead of right; Peter will not be the only one 
(my money is on Hagrid, BTW).

Okay, 'nuff rambling.

--jenny from ravenclaw******************