Why Does Peter Wait to Tell Voldemort about Animagi?

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 85866

 "Jen Reese"  wrote:
> I find it fascinating that Pettigrew did not tell LV about the 
> illegal animagi until he returns to him in GOF. Sirius says in 
> OOTP, "Voldemort will know all about me being an animagus by now, 
> Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless." (chap. 
> 5, p. 82). 
> 
> Why did Peter wait? 
> 
> In a thought from post 85773, David wonders if Peter was ever a 
true 
> member of the Order. It does seem Pettigrew genuinely joined the 
> Order for at least a short time because Sirius says in POA: "You'd 
> been passing information to him for a year before Lily and James 
> died!" and Peter responds: "He--he was taking over everywhere...Wh--
> what was there to be gained by refusing him?" (US, chap. 19, p. 
> 374). We don't know exactly when the Order was formed, but 
Voldemort 
> was rising throughout the 70's, with MWPP and Lily graduating in 
> 1978. 

Now me:
Plus, Peter is in the picture that Mad-Eye shows to Harry in OoP, 
sitting between Lily and James.  I don't recall if Moody mentions 
exactly when this picture was taken, but it would seem to indicate 
that Peter was a full-fledged member of the Order at that point.  

Jen again:
That would give them 3 years to be in the Order prior to the 
> fateful Halloween night. So it's only presumption, but I don't 
think 
> Peter was a spy the whole time, rather he turned when LV started 
> taking over everywhere, and the Order was being "picked off one by 
> one" as Lupin tells us in OOTP. 

> But this bit about not telling LV about the animagi, that has me 
> questioning Peter's motives in betraying the Potters to LV. If he 
> were indeed a loyal Spy, with true allegiance to Voldemort, he 
would 
> pass on everything he knows to him. I'm wondering now if he wasn't 
> reserving this information as his own last "loophole" and indeed he 
> was able to transform and live as Wormtail for many years until 
> he's 'outed' in the Shrieking Shack. Then his choice is between 
> joining LV and going to Azkaban, and he chooses LV again. 

My feeling about Peter is that he is not true-blue DE material.  I 
think that he was somehow coerced or threatened into giving 
information to Voldemort's crew.  Perhaps he was fingered by a DE who 
knew him at Hogwarts as someone who was not strong enough or brave 
enough to stand on his own, but as a possible weak link in 
Dumbledore's camp who, very conveniently for V-mort, was a close 
friend of James Potter.  

Then suppose Peter is presented with a threat, such as a demand for 
low-level information as a way to keep his Mum safe.  "Okay," Peter 
figures, "what they're asking me is not going to be too threatening 
and doesn't put anyone in the Order in danger, and, if I give them 
this info, Mum is safe and everything is okay." Of course, once he's 
taken a step down that road, the demands escalate.  Peter is afraid 
to refuse handing over information and afraid to admit to his friends 
what he's done.  Then, as the DEs seem to be winning, it becomes that 
much easier for him to go along with their plans.  

Jen:
> Pettigrew seems to crave becoming part of the "inner circle" 
whether 
> it's with the Marauders or LV. Perhaps he thought by helping LV 
back 
> to life, telling him about the illegal animagi, that he would be 
> elevated in LV's circle of DE's. But LV continues to be 
contemptuous 
> of him, and Pettigrew is conspicuously absent in OOTP. 
> To me, Pettigrew is the true wildcard. His motives are so shifty 
and 
> he seems to have true allegiance to no one but himself. And the 
life-
> debt with Harry adds another level of ambiguity to this already 
> shadowy character. What is he going to do next?! I wouldn't be 
> surprised to find out Wormtail has disappeared from Voldemort's 
> service and will turn up at a crucial moment in the coming War.

YOu'd think by know that Peter realizes that he will never rise in 
Voldemort's estimation.  I wonder if that attitude will one day bite 
the Big V right in the butt.  I agree that Peter's main allegiance is 
to himself.  I don't think he necessarily wants others to die, but, 
if the choice is between his own skin and killing someone else on 
Vmort's orders, like Cedric, then kill him Peter will.  

And, since Peter seems to be strongly motivated by his own self-
preservation, why would he necessarily let something like a life-debt 
stand in his way?  Has JKR planted a red herring in all of our 
minds?  We assume that anyone owing this debt will honor it.  Why?  
What happens if someone doesn't honor it?  What punishment falls on 
the head of someone who deliberately ignores paying off the debt when 
they have an opportunity to do so?  I think the only reason Peter 
might do it would be, again, to try to build up some credit with 
someone who might save his (Peter's) neck.  

However, that person is Harry.  Harry may very well be saved in some 
way by Peter, but that doesn't absolve Peter from the debt he owes 
for his part in the deaths of Harry's parents and the wrongful 
imprisonment of Sirius.  I can see Harry saying thank you very much 
to Peter, and then hauling him back to the good guys to face the 
music for his earlier wrongs.  And, I think Peter may realize that in 
the back of his rat brain.  So, does he pay off the life debt?  Or 
does he merely blow it off?

Marianne