How smart is Peter?

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 60942

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sadimae2002" 
<sadimae2002 at y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> I have been thinking about Peter. I don't think he is as weak as we 
> might think. In book three we learn he was able to become an 
Animagus. 
> True he needed help but he was able to master the spell. When he 
went 
> into hiding he was able to kill 13 people with one spell. He also 
was 
> smart enough to hide out at the Weasley's. Who knows what he heard? 
I 
> do not think he was as smart as James and the others. We have many 
> places that others say he is weak. Any thoughts on this?
> 

I don't think Peter is at all weak. Or stupid.  I figure he was at 
least a perfectly adequate student at Hogwarts, if not a good, solid 
student. He happened to hook up with two (or perhaps three) top-notch 
students.  Their scholastic exploits probably overshadowed Peter's.  

Peter also strikes me as the sort of person who is not a leader and 
who is not going to put himself out unless he knows what's in it for 
himself.  So, he may have been perfectly willing to let 
James/Sirius/Remus do the brain work, and coast along, to some 
degree, on their accomplishments. Or he may have been one of those 
kids who needs a lot of practice, but, once they've got it, they're 
fine.  And if Peter's friends had greater natural skills or 
abilities, then of course, he'd seem slow compared to them.

Perhaps this led to a certain blindness on James' and Sirius' parts 
to the exact level of Peter's abilities.  If they came to see 
themselves as always carrying Peter, as giving him extra help because 
he was the weakest intellectual link, they may have eventually come 
to believe that Peter really wasn't very smart. And that blind spot 
cost them dearly later on.

I'd still like to know what initially made Peter turn.  His words in 
the Shrieking Shack seem to imply that it was basic fear - Voldemort 
was taking over!! Was he threatened?  Did he opt for the DEs because 
he really came to believe in them? Or was he gradually sucked in, 
selling bits and pieces of information to the DEs until, at some 
point, he was in so deep he figured his bridges were burned and there 
was no going back?

Marianne