Harry didn't forgive Peter (WAS: Could the twins turn bad?)

[dicentra_spectabilis_alba]

No: HPFGUIDX 34602

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "blpurdom" <blpurdom at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Eric Oppen" <oppen at c...> wrote:
> 
> Plus, if pranks were a sign of basic inner rottenness, it is 
> doubtful that JKR would have related Sirius' youthful 
indiscretions, 
> which make him look far worse than the twins (Snape could have been 
> killed).  And yet, he's just a peach of a guy now.  If anything, 
> it's folks who carry grudges to the nth degree that consistently 
get 
> painted as evil in the HP books, not pranksters.  Harry clearly is 
> separated from the grudge-holders when he spares the life of the 
man 
> who betrayed his parents; anyone else would have gladly seen him 
> dead if they'd been in his shoes.
> 
Harry's insisitence on sparing Pettigrew is not an act of 
forgiveness.  

"'Harry! gasped Pettigrew, and he flung his arms around Harry's 
knees. 'You--thank you--it's more than I deserve--thank you--'

"'Get off me,' Harry spat, throwing Pettigrew's hands off him in 
disgust. 'I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because--I don't 
reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers--just for you.'"

As his father's faithful friends, he doesn't want Sirius and Remus to 
have blood on their hands.  (He just barely missed being a murderer 
himself that night, if he hadn't "chickened out" when trying to kill 
Sirius.)  I think that if Peter were put on trial and sentenced to 
death, or if Peter were killed by an Auror, Harry wouldn't lose much 
sleep over it.  If the situation were that killing Peter did not 
constitute murder (such as in a War situation), Harry wouldn't have 
stepped in.

--Dicentra, who is glad we can say that Sirius is guilty of nothing