Poor snivelling little Peter WAS Re: Evil!lupin: a rebuttal

[nobodysrib]

No: HPFGUIDX 53460

> > Cathy wrote:  I don't know if Pettigrew will be redeemed or 
> > not.  I see him as a sniveling little coward that hangs out with 
> > the biggest bully around.  He handed over one of his best friends 
> > to Voldemort.  It just doesn't say a lot for his character.

Pip wrote:  

> No, it doesn't. It also doesn't say a lot for the character of one 
> of his best friends that he was ever in a *position* to do this.
> 
> The Fidelius charm asks an awful lot of its Secret Keeper. 
> Basically the Secret Keeper has to be willing to risk death or 
> torture to protect the recipient. <snip> In such cases, it's 
> customary to ask for volunteers. <snip> There is, however, no 
> evidence whatsoever that Peter volunteered to be Secret Keeper. 
> Sirius *never* says that the switch was Peter's 
> plan. Quite the opposite; he blames himself for the idea:
> 
> "James and Lily only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested 
> it ... I thought it was the perfect plan ... a bluff ... Voldemort 
> would be sure to come after me, would never dream they'd use a 
> weak, talentless thing like you ... "[PoA p. 271, Ch. 19]
<snip>
> It's one of the weird things about the Switch. Peter, the spy, the 
> one who *presumably* was eager to betray the Potter's to their 
> death, doesn't seem to have actually suggested it. 

Time for me to jump in:

Peter as the spy...  I've always thought of him in this way, too, 
mostly because "'[Dumbledore] was sure that somebody close to the 
Potters had been keeping You-Know-Who informed of their movements,' 
said Professor McGonagall darkly. 'Indeed, he had suspected for some 
time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a 
lot of information to You-Know-Who,'" US Hardcover PoA page 205.  
This information, in addition to Pettigrew betraying his Secret 
Keeper's promise, led me to believe that Pettigrew was the one 
passing information to Voldemort.

However, Dumbledore had "several" spies.  Why wouldn't Voldemort, too?

Pip: 

> However, there is evidence that Lupin, at least, knew about the 
> Fidelius charm. His words to Sirius Black are: "unless *he* was the 
> one ... unless you switched ... without telling me?" 
> [PoA Ch.16 p. 252].

Me: 

So...  there is another candidate for the betrayal position....

I see this as a possible set of events.  Someone tips off Dumbledore 
that there is a snitch in the inner circle.  Fidelius Charm 
suggested.  Black and Dumbledore both want to be the Secret Keeper.  
Black opts out and suggests Pettigrew.  Pettigrew, up to this point, 
has only had allegiance to his MWPP alliance and was not the one 
who "turned traitor" (do we have canon, btw, that says Pettigrew had 
been an informant for a year?), and now has been asked to risk death 
to save the Potters' lives.  [theory continued momentarily]

Pip wrote: 
> And the nasty thought keeps occurring to me: Peter was the person 
> most likely to be bullied into it [being the Secret Keeper].
<snip> 
> So that's how one of Peter's closest friends saw him. The weak 
> link. The one who wouldn't be suspected because he was so pathetic. 
> The one whose life was less valuable than that of the Potters. 
> 
> Look at it from Peter's point of view. Were his friends *really* 
> loyal to him? Would they put their lives ahead of his in the crunch?
> 
> No. They were quite prepared to say: 'We have a plan. Voldemort is 
> going to only be able to get at the Potters over someone's dead 
> body. And guess what, Peter?'
> 
> This is real loyalty? To ask the friend you know to be weakest to 
> be the strongest? To ask him (of all of you) to possibly face 
> Voldemort when he's known to be the weakest at magic, the weakest 
> in a fight? 

Me, continuing with my theory: 

You know, giving your own life so that another may live is a noble 
sacrifice.  *Asking* someone to do this is...  just plain icky.  I 
mean, even if they think keeping the Potters alive is somehow a key 
to destroying Voldemort, the main reason they want to destroy 
Voldemort is to protect the WW from his evil acts.  (I bet they 
wouldn't be nearly as concerned about him if he never did evil things 
and just sat at home all day nibbling on muffins.)  Indeed, they want 
to protect the *weaker* people in the WW from Voldemort...  people 
just like Pettigrew...  and so, to protect the weak, they ask one of 
those weak people to make a sacrifice...  

And they know Pettigrew is weak, and whether or not he wants to do 
it, they'll be able to convince him he *must* do it...  "Do it, 
Pettigrew.  Voldemort may kill you for it, but if you don't do it 
it's just postponing him killing you.  There's no way to prevent your 
dying by Voldemort's hands..."

Ah, but there is a way!  

If Voldemort had a person on the inside that wasn't Pettigrew [ahem, 
Lupin knew about the Fidelius Charm, ahem], that person could have 
easily told Voldemort...  and so Voldemort, now aware of the Fidelius 
Charm as well as the Secret Keeper's identity, comes to Pettigrew as 
a 'friend': "Peter - you do have another option.  Tell me where they 
are hiding, and I will spare your life.  They do not value you, 
Peter, but I see that your life *is* important.  Your 'friends' say I 
am evil, but, I ask you, is it more evil to wish death to a friend or 
wish death to an enemy?  All you know about my cause has been tainted 
by your 'friends' - tainted by those who wish you dead...  I offer 
you life in exchange for your allegiance.  Yes, Peter, I value your 
life.  In fact, I think it is far more important that you live than 
those silly Potters do..."

And thus Pettigrew, trying to understand how his most trusted friends 
want him to risk death, is offered 'friendship' by another, told by 
another that his life has meaning...  In fact, after living in the 
shadow of MPP for so many years, this may have been the first time 
that he was ever placed higher up on the ladder than his supposed 
friends who don't even care if he dies...

What would you do?

Actually, even if there weren't another informant around (ahem, IMHO 
Voldemort would be *very* interested in having an informant with more 
skill and cunning than Pettigrew... ahem, Evil!Lupin, ahem) this 
theory works, as Pip shows:

Pip wrote:
 
> Why doesn't [Pettigrew] seem to be the one who suggested the 
> Switch? Was he hoping that he might actually be able to keep the 
> Potters alive without seeming to betray Voldemort? Go to Voldemort 
> with the news of the Fidelius, and 'Sirius Black is the Secret 
> Keeper, but he's in hiding, My Lord, I don't know where he is'?

Marianne wrote: 
> I still believe the whole point of the switch wasn't to place Peter 
> in the first line of fire. Or to say that his life was worth less 
> than anyone else's, so let's bully him into taking on this task. 

> Making the switch was to create confusion. Voldemort and his 
> minions were likely to try to find Sirius because he was the 
> logical choice of Secret Keeper.	

Me:

I agree that this was James and Sirius' main intention (creating 
confusion, trying to trick Voldemort, etc.) - but it doesn't change 
the fact that they are asking the "weak link" to risk his life.  
Regardless of J and S's *reasons* for the switch, we have to consider 
Pettigrew's perspective and how this all made him feel.  

It has been my experience that bullies rarely see themselves as 
such.  Rather, they feel that they have the moral high ground and are 
just doing what needs to be done to further their cause.  They feel 
they are more important than other people, and also like to keep the 
company of those who will look up to them and help them accomplish 
their goals.  The toadies may even feel they are somewhat equal - 
until the time comes that the bully must choose between hurting 
him/herself or hurting the toady... or until the time that the bully 
sees the toady must be sacrificed...

Back to Pip:

> So yes, Pettigrew may well have been a snivelling little coward who 
> hung out with the biggest bullies around. But turn that comment 
> around.
> 
> The biggest bullies around ...
> 
> What does *that* say about the character of James, Sirius and 
> Remus? 

Not much, I'm afraid.  Nothing good, at least.  

As for Pettigrew being a sniveling coward...  well, I don't know 
about that.  (I'm not saying that looking out for #1 is a noble 
quality, but...)  We thought it was brave of Neville to stand up to 
his friends in SS when Neville thought he was doing the right thing.  
In fact, Neville was standing in the way of HRH saving the day, but 
from his perspective he was making the "right" choice...  Pettigrew's 
choice also meant that he had to stand up to his friends, and he may 
have even been conned into thinking he was making the "right" 
(not "easy") choice.  Not necessarily a cowardly move.

I can't believe I'm becoming a Pettigrew-sympathizer, but, yes, it 
seems that he was being preyed upon on all fronts, and his allegiance 
went to the one who most valued his life.  He may have even thought 
this was the "right" decision, and it certainly couldn't have been 
that "easy" of a decision...  But when death is striking out all 
around you, your supposed allies are willing to risk your own death, 
and your supposed enemy offers you life... well, it's got to be hard 
to figure out what the most moral decision is when the ones you trust 
and the one you fear treat you in the opposite way that you would 
expect...

- Nobody's Rib