Graveyard scene

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 54515

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Anne" <urbana at c...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "finwitch" <finwitch at y...> 
> wrote:
>  > A lost finger simply isn't enough to prove that someone's dead. 
As 
> to 
> > how he lost it - he has cut his *hand* off! Finger is small thing 
> > compared to that. Perhaps, on the day he decided to betray his 
> > friends, he cut that finger off (possibly planted it back by 
magic, 
> > but so he could leave it behind at will) - as one part of him that 
> > was loyal?
> 
> Anne U:
> I thought Pettigrew cut his hand off at the graveyard in GOF -- 
> wasn't "hand of the servant" part of the "potion" for the 
incantation 
> that brought Voldemort's body back?

Annemehr:
I think finwitch's point was that, if he could cut his whole *hand* 
off in the graveyard, why would it be so hard to believe he could cut 
just one finger off when faking his own death?

However, my original musings on this subject were not about whether or 
not he could do it, but about the timing of blowing up the street, 
leaving robes and finger, transforming, and disappearing down the 
sewer so that, to the witnesses, it looked like he died in the blast 
(i.e. no one saw him arranging the evidence).


Anne U:
> 
> I am pretty sure (don't have my POA here, it's at home) that Sirius 
> explained in the Shrieking Shack that Pettigrew cut off his own 
> finger out in the street when he killed the dozen Muggles, then 
> transfigured into a rat so he could escape -- leaving his finger and 
> his wand behind as proof of his "death".
> 
> Anne U
> ("I let you sleep in my BED all those years!" - disgusted Ron, POA)

Annemehr:
Actually, Fudge said (in the Three Broomsticks) that all that was left 
was "a heap of bloodstained robes and a few -- a few fragments --"
Then in the shrieking shack, Lupin said "Didn't you ever hear, Ron? 
The biggest part of Peter they found was his finger."  No mention of a 
wand anywhere.

The original discussion was why Peter used Voldemort's wand in the 
graveyard to kill Cedric -- why didn't he have one of his own?  And I 
was thinking that the reason could *not* be because he left it behind 
since it was not mentioned in the "all that was left" list.  I also 
was thinking that if he still had it, he *could* have taken it with 
him in the pocket of his robes that would transform with him (the 
bloody ones being an extra set).  It seems that he did not do this, 
either, but why not?  My best guess was that the street blasting spell 
was powerful enough to shatter the wand, so there was nothing left.

And now, let's go one step further.  Weren't there at least two 
people's wands he could have stolen on his way to Voldemort?

Peter used Lupin's wand to attack Ron and Crookshanks (which seems to 
imply that he indeed was otherwise wandless), so why didn't he just 
take it with him when he transformed that time?  Maybe he just lost 
his head, I don't know.  Or maybe it had to be in his *pocket* when he 
transformed, because if it was in his hand then when that hand turned 
into a rat's paw he wouldn't be able to hold it anymore.  Maybe he 
didn't have *time* to stuff it into his pocket first, escape being a 
much more immediate priority.

Okay, so how about Bertha Jorkins' wand?  Voldemort said that Peter 
was able to overpower her when they met in Albania, but doesn't give 
any details.  Presumably, Peter did have Voldemort's wand at this 
point and may have used it in subduing her.  He was successful, and 
brought both Voldemort's wand and Bertha Jorkins to Voldemort.  At 
this point, you'd think he'd want to have Bertha's wand, so where is 
it?  The only thing I can guess is that it got lost or broken in 
Peter's struggle with Bertha.  I picture them out in a forest where a 
wand or its pieces would be easily lost if dropped in the nighttime.  
Perhaps he disarmed her with Expelliarmus and it flew off somewhere 
and could not be found.  I do not think that Voldemort would have 
wanted to keep it from him as that involved Peter needing to use 
Voldemort's own wand to do things, and I don't think Voldemort would 
have allowed that if it weren't absolutely neccessary.

So, it seems fairly reasonable that Peter would be without a wand up 
to the end of GoF, and Harry (and therefore we) would be able to 
observe this without knowing the details as to why.

Annemehr