Official Philip Nel Discussion Question #2 - Pettigrew!

[tex23236]

No: HPFGUIDX 37870

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Aberforth's Goat" <Aberforths_Goat at Y...>
wrote:

> Consider the character of Wormtail (aka Peter Pettigrew).  What
> motivates him?  

I have no idea how he got that way, but I think Petigrew's 
motivation is simply a morbid fear of death. He'll do anything, even
search out and reactivate Voldemort,  to avoid death in the short
term.  OTOH, he'll take risks that improve his life expectancy.

> When Harry is upset that he saved Pettigrew's
> life, Dumbledore says, 'Pettigrew owes his life to you...' 
> When Harry says he doesn't want a bond
> with Pettigrew, Dumbledore replies, 'The time may come when you
> will be very glad you saved Pettigrew's life.' 

That bond is where the rubber meets the possum. My guess is
it will screw up the Method by which Voldemort intends to 
gain power.  We haven't seen Voldemort use a pure-play AK
on Harry,  because of the brother wand effect.  We don't know
if Voldemort can now kill Harry with an unblocked AK.  He 
doesn't know, either.  The PI kept us from knowing until a later
book.  I don't expect to find out in Book Five, either.

> (POA, pg 311).
> Does Pettigrew telling Voldemort that his return to power could
> be accomplished without Harry Potter (GoF, pgs 13-14) seem
> motivated by a desire to help Harry or by Pettigrew's cowardice?

My vote is for cowardice.  If Voldemort could gain his power with
the blood of some other enemy, he could have used
blood from Crouch, Sr. or from Moody, both of whom he or 
Wormtail had overpowered in the plot to get Harry.

> What will his role be in the remaining novels?  Will Pettigrew
> remain Voldemort's faithful servant?  

He'll remain his servant, but not faithfull; he'll do what he's told,
to keep from being fed to Nagini for the next few hours, until 
Voldemort wants something else.

> Will he help Harry?  

If it will postpone his own death.

> Are
> these questions complicated further by Sirius Black's suggestion
> in Chapter 19 of POA that other Death Eaters might turn against
> Pettigrew?

Maybe.  I suppose the Death Eaters will have infighting and hatred
like the Old Gang.  

> - Why doesn't Pettigrew want to kill Harry at the beginning of
> GoF?

He wouldn't mind killing him, I suppose; he wants to avoid the
risk of going after him.  Of course, we don't know the nature of 
the Wizard Life-Debt.  We don't know what it would do to 
Wormtail to kill Harry. But it didn't stop him taking Harry's blood.

> - What's in Pettigrew's future? Will he ...
>         Stick to Voldie?
>         Help Harry?
>         Get picked on by the real bad boys?
> 
> 
> My own feelings about the first question: it could well be a bit
> of both. Or it might just be that Pettigrew is starting to get a
> little uneasy about a planned kidnapping that involves keeping
> Barty JR high on polyjuice for an entire school year and rigging
> an international tournament, just to get Harry to touch a portkey

...Not to mention having to nursemaid baby Voldemort over all 
that time, plus milk Nagini at regular intervals.  But it keeps 
him alive, one day at a time.

> As for Pettigrew's future: Caius Marcus once predicted that
> Pettigrew will end up redeeming himself by saving Harry's life -
> and dying in the process. I don't think he's actually written a
> filk to prove it, but all thing being equal (and when it comes to
> bad things happening to Pettigrew, they are) it seems like a good
> prediction.

People have made predictions of Snape taking a bullet for Harry;
may as well do it for Wormtail, too.  However, somebody 
mentioned that the life-debt may prove a short-circuit on the 
bloodof-foe-flesh-of-servant formula. It leaves Voldemort more
vulnerable than he thinks he is.

Tex