Did Peter realy kill those Muggles?

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 49653

<< Pippin wondered:
Unless Sirius has X-ray vision, he couldn't have *seen* the wand behind 
Peter's back, so this must be conjecture. Given that Peter is supposedly such 
a weak wizard, could he have had a co-conspirator who blew the street apart 
instead? >>

Peter was already on the run, having inadvertently led Voldemort into a trap. 
First question; What DE would back him up to facilitate his escape? Second 
question; If hew has a trusted confederate who will back him up, why was he 
hiding out with the Weasleys for 12 years as a rat?

And we don't know a number of things about Peter which could throw that 
dismissive evaluation as a "weak wizard" of by a fair amount. And just what 
are the things that we DO know?

We know that at the age of 14-15, he needed all the help he could get to 
manage the animagus transformation. But he DID manage it. Does this sound 
like a weak wizard to you? Never mind that there were others who were 
"stronger". Does becoming an animagus by the age of 15 sound weak?

We know that Rosemerta dismisses him as "that fat little boy who was always 
tagging along". Little fat boys generally seem to be easily dismissable by 
outside observers. They look so harmless. But are they really?

Minerva tells us that he was never quite in Black and Potter's league. But 
then if there are no other consensuses to consider, *everyone* agrees that 
Black and Potter were "exceptinally bright" and "exceptionally talented". If 
Peter had been a couple of years older or younger and not had to deal with 
them in direct competition people might have made a very different evaluation 
of his abilities.

Minerva also tells us that he was hopeless at dueling. Poor reaction time 
when confronted by the unexpected will do that. Hermione tends to freeze 
momentarily when confronted by the unexpected, too. No one has called her a 
"weak witch" so far. 

There is sufficient canon to suggest, if not to confirm that Wormtail was at 
the house in Godric's Hollow the night of Voldemort's defeat. Dumbledore has 
specifically told us that Harry aquired some of Voldemort's power when the 
curse rebounded and destroyed the Dark Lord. Was this only because he was the 
foscus of the rebounding curse? Or was it chiefly because he was the nearest 
living person in range? Was he the *only* living person in range? Not if 
Peter was also there. Could Peter have been carrying additional power that he 
had not had in school, by the time he staged his death and framed Sirius?

Questions, questions. 

(Side note: I think that it was always intended that Sirius take the rap for 
the Potters' deaths. But the original plan was for him to be killed and Peter 
to be a hero, and go on spying.)

-JOdel (who thinks that all of this emphasis on "Peter Pettigrew, magical 
weakling" is a lot of moonshine and misdirection.)