[HPforGrownups] Scabbers at the Weasleys (WAS: Some FF: Dumbledore and Scabbers, was Re: Worried about Hermione/others

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 55959

Greicy wrote:

How can Peter Pettigrew 
> not have tried to do something to brainwash Percy or Ron, or any of 
> the Weasleys at that!  Wormtail has proven that he isn't stupid when 
> it comes to be a conniving, greedy person.  If he did what he did to 
> Bertha Jorkins then the possibility that he talked to Percy or Ron in 
> their sleep isn't out of the question, at least not for me.  I think 
> that JKR had Scabbers choose the Weasleys for more than one reason 
> and I'll be waiting.

 
The primary reason for Pettigrew *not* to have tried to brainwash one of the Weasleys is that at that time he believed Voldemort to be vanquished and knew Sirius had been properly framed for Pettigrew's own treachery.  Therefore, there was no reason for him to be proactive for Voldemort.  Moreover, as suggested by Sirius in PoA, Pettigrew needed to hide from Voldemort's old supporters, who believed he had double-crossed Voldemort as well.  He returned to Voldemort at the end of PoA *not* because he was loyal but because he had nowhere else to turn for protection.  

Pettigrew is not, in my view, dumb or untalented -- he's certainly shown resourcefulness and an ability to take advantage of opportunities that arise -- but he does take the path of least resistance.  And the path of least resistance after Voldemort's fall was to live fat and easy for 12 years as a rat in a household that fed him all kinds of information, so that he would always know which way the wind was blowing.  I think he was prepared to live with the Weasleys as a rat for the rest of his life, and when Crookshanks made that impossible, he ran away, not to Voldemort but to Hagrid's hut.

It simply was not in Pettigrew's interest to be performing Dark Magic on the Weasley kids.  What he needed to be doing was to maintain his Animagus disguise, because if he was innocent he would have had had no reason to hide, and therefore if it was discovered that he was alive he would become a suspect himself.  I just don't think he would risk capture by turning into human form to feed propaganda to children whose later roles were far from apparent at the time.  He had very little to gain by it, because he had no idea at the time whether Voldemort would ever come back or whether he would be best served by following the status quo.

Besides, if Pettigrew had been brainwashing Ron, I think he would have reacted a bit differently in the Shrieking Shack to Pettigrew's plea:

"'Ron . . . haven't I been a good friend . . . a good pet?  You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you . . . you're on my side, aren't you?'
But Ron was staring at Pettigrew with the utmost revulsion.
'I let you sleep in my bed!' he said."

He doesn't sound brainwashed to me.

Debbie


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