Why Peter turned Traitor.

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 21965

There have been some excellent posts about this, but I think, for me, 
Marriana made an interesting point, when she said that she thought 
that Peter didn't betray the Potters out of fear, but out of self-
interest.

I am not sure I wholly agree with this, but one thing which has 
struck me, is that I do think Pettigrew could have avoided betraying 
them, and I don't think he was intimidated as much as I have 
previously thought.  My main reason for this is that Peter did not 
have to tell Voldemort that he was the secret keeper.  Sirius fully 
expected Voldemort to come after him - he was willing to risk all 
kinds of torture if Voldemort did catch him, in order to keep the 
Potters a secret - and the fact that the secret keeper had changed as 
well.  I am supposing here that secret keepers would be likely to 
reveal their secrets when under that kind of pressure.

Therefore, it does seem to me that Pettigrew made a conscious 
decision to support Voldemort.  He could have hidden the fact he was 
secret keeper - he could have let Voldemort think that it was Sirius 
all along, and therefore keep himself out of the picture.  I know 
there is an argument that Voldemort can tell when someone is lying, 
but can he tell whether someone is lying by omission?  If Pettigrew 
was keeping Voldemort informed, then Voldemort would expect that 
Sirius was the secret keeper - he was to be, afterall, until the very 
last minute.  Pettigrew could have just avoided telling Voldemort 
that this had changed.  

So this leads me to believe that Pettigrew wasn't threatened at this 
stage - but went running off to Voldemort as soon as he could, 
absolutely elated that he was gaining so much kudos with the DEs.

Catherine