Pettigrew's effectiveness I(Re: Rats! (Or: A Treatise on Ron and Evil))

[clicketykeys <clicketykeys@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 48245

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "marinafrants <rusalka at i...>" <
rusalka at i...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "clicketykeys 
> <clicketykeys at y...>" <clicketykeys at y...> wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "marinafrants 
> <rusalka at i...>" <
> > > As a young man, he fooled everyone about his loyalties for at 
> least 
> > > a year -- everyone from Dumbledore on down to his closest 
> childhood 
> > > friends. 
> > 
> > I don't think this would have been as difficult as you are making 
> it 
> > out to be. First of all, this is after they'd graduated Hogwarts, 
> so 
> > he wouldn't've been around Dumbledore all that much. 
> 
> Dumbledore wasn't just the Headmaster of Hogwarts, he was also a 
> leader in the fight against Voldemort -- a fight that the Marauders 
> were a part of.  They may not have had as much contact with him as 
> they did when they were students, but they were still working 
> together.  Peter must have had at least some access to Dumbledore 
> and the "old crowd," or he would've been of no value as a spy.

Oh. Somehow I missed the bit about him being a spy. I thought he was 
just a lackey. My bad.
> 
> 
> > Second, one 
> > generally doesn't suspect friends of being eeeeevil without cause. 
> 
> Ah, but why did they not have cause to suspect him, when he was 
> guilty as sin?  Because he successfully concealed his guilt for a 
> long time.  These are people who knew him since he was eleven years 
> old, shared a dorm with him for seven years, let him in on their 
> deepest secrets -- and none of them had a clue what he was really  
> up to.

Because (as I mentioned later) they were accustomed to dismissing him. 
You don't /look/ for your friends to betray you, and so you miss cloes 
that are otherwise there - in fact, you may rationalize away any that 
you DO notice. 

> 
> >And 
> > third, as the 'follower' of the group, described as the weakest 
> > member, it is quite reasonable to guess that either he didn't 
> offer 
> > much input, or when he did, the others were used to less-than-
> stellar 
> > ideas.
> 
> So they underestimated him.  And look where it got them.
> 

*grin* I didn't say they were RIGHT to do that. ;) Clearly he wasn't 
quite as incompetent - or as trustworthy! - as they thought he was.

> > 
> > > When the game fell apart, he framed Sirius with remarkable 
> > > efficiency under very difficult circumstances. 
> > 
> > Yet his plan to do so was fairly simple, and he could have thought 
> it 
> > out ahead of time... it works as a generic getaway plan.
> 
> It *was* a simple plan, and I consider it a great point in its 
> favor.  Simple plans are the ones that *work.* It's the twisty, over-
> complicated plans that come back and bite you on the ass, as many an 
> Evil Overlord has discovered to his dismay.  
> 
> And simple or not, it required Peter to put on a convincing show of 
> innocence in front of witnesses, to slice off his own finger, and to 
> cast a very powerful destructive spell without anyone noticing and 
> with his wand held behind his back -- all while dodging an enraged 
> Sirius Black.  Not exactly a piece of cake.
> 

But he /didn't/ have to act convincingly innocent. It was an 
emotionally charged scene, lots of stuff going on, very chaotic - it 
would be nearly impossible to ask the witnesses to remember how 
natural Pettigrew's panic seemed, and whether the source of it was 
truly from fear of Sirius, or if it was from fear of his plan failing. 
;)

Not that I think he planned it out that well. I think a good bit of it 
was luck. Create confusion, fake death, run away, and pray you don't 
get caught.

> > > When he ran into 
> > > Bertha Jorkins while on his way to Voldemort, he persuaded her 
> to 
> > > accompany him alone to an isolated place, even though she had 
> every 
> > > reason to be suspicious of him.  
> > 
> > Okay. Was looking for my book and I could NOT find where it talks 
> > about him persuading her, though I seem to remember it. D'you have 
> the 
> > reference?
> > 
> 
> I believe Eloise has already responded to this.  (Thanks, Eloise!)

Right. Voldemort's 'persuasion' is not necessarily sweet-talk. 
Voldemort also said he "overpowered" her. It takes absolutely no 
finesse to kosh someone on the head and drag them to your boss - he'll 
know what to do!

Now I'm getting visions of Lenny from Of Mice and Men as Pettigrew. ;)

CK