Peter kiling Cedric (Was: JKR's "small thing" in CoS)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 94906

-Jen Snyder wrote:
<snip> It also occured to me that Wormtail uses Voldemort's wand to
kill Cedric, with no appreciable problems, so I guess there probably
isn't any big deal with someone using another's wand...oh, well, the
search for clues continues unabated!

Carol:
Well, yes and no. First, Peter had mastered the AK (which BTW pretty
much eliminates any chance of his redemption IMO) and he was
Voldemort's servant doing Voldemort's will with Voldemort's wand, so
there probably wouldn't have been much conflict. Also, as a plot
device, he had to use the wand in order for Cedric to come out of it,
so the plot need outweighed the need to be consistent with
Ollivander's words in another book. (I can't figure out how the wand
gets into Voldemort's pocket after Peter drops it to grasp his
bleeding arm, but oh, well. I don't know how Harry held onto the cup,
Cedric's arm, and his own wand, either.)

Where was I? Oh, yes. Has anyone besides me noticed that both
Dumbledore and Harry alwasys say that Voldemort murdered Cedric?
Technically, this statement is not quite true. Voldemort, a
baby-shaped monster wrapped in a cloak, gave the order, but Wormtail
pointed the wand and spoke the words that actually killed him. In
other words, he committed murder, orders or no orders. Yet it's as if,
in DD's and Harry's view, Wormtail is only an instrument like the wand
and bears no share of the blame. 

The first and most obvious explanation that I see for Dumbledore's
behavior is that he wants everyone to know that Voldemort is back and
very dangerous, and his message will be more effective (he thinks) if
he states that Voldemort killed Cedric and omits the detail of the
middleman. Another reason, of course, is that the particular DE who
murdered Cedric is supposed to be dead, and the story would come
across as preposterous ("the usual dead man returning to life" or
whatever Fudge says in "Parting of the Ways"). Dumbledore apparently
never reveals all the details of Harry's adventures at the end-of-year
banquet (the basilisk is anything but common knowledge), but he's
especially close-lipped in this instance.

Harry, of course, doesn't want to talk about Cedric because the memory
is too painful, but possibly he also is afraid he won't be believed
(again). And he, too, seems chiefly concerned with convincing everyone
that Voldemort is back.

I understand all this, but I'm still bothered by it. In a (Muggle)
court of law, I suppose, both LV and Wormtail would be guilty, but
still: Voldemort murdered Cedric is a half-truth. Wormtail murdered
Cedric under Voldemort's orders is the full truth. Is anyone besides
me bothered by this? or can you "sort it out" for me so I find it less
disturbing? Anybody?

Carol