The Fateful Night (VERY long)

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 42301

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Richelle Votaw" <rvotaw at i...> wrote:

> You know, I just read through Sirius' account of that night again,
and it
> does give the implication that as soon as he realized what Peter'd
done (and
> what he'd done) he would've gone immediately searching for him. 
What on
> earth would he have done with a baby?  Let's see, baby on one hip,
"I know
> it was you, Peter!"  Let's just put baby Harry right in the face of
danger,
> why don't we!  That wouldn've been very smart. 

I think the idea of going after Pettigrew didn't occur to Sirius until
after he gave up on the idea of taking Harry.  I know he didn't tell
it that way in PoA, but hey, it was thirteen years later, he was
feeling a bit discombobulated, and he was telling a condensed version
of the story.  I can easily see him leaving out all details that
didn't relate to the central point, namely, "It wasn't me, it was
Peter."

Why would Pettigrew want to make off with Harry, anyway?  The attack
on the Potters has failed, Voldemort is gone, he knows Sirius is about
to go after him and the DEs can't be far behind.  What's he going to
do with the baby?  Kill him?  Voldemort tried that, and look what
happened to him.  Use him as a hostage against Sirius?  That could
work, but I don't think Pettigrew was planning on a stand-off with
Sirius, I think he was just planning to run.  And when you're running,
you don't want to be hampered by a hostage who's too small to keep up
with an adult human, too big to be carried by a rat, can't be relied
on to keep quiet, and needs regular diaper changes.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com