Where is Pettigrew?

[antoshachekhonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 91764

KTG  wrote:
> I've been following the Lupin conspiracy thread put forth by Pippin, 
> and I'm afraid to ask a silly question.
> 
> *Where* is Pettigrew?
> 
> Is the last time we see him in the graveyard?  What if he was killed 
> then, and that's why I can't recall him in OOP.
> 
<snip>
Antosha:
Actually, I kept waiting for Wormtail to show up in OotP--no show, unless a) I missed him 
or b) he was present but unnamed, disguised or hidden.

I suppose it's understandable that he's absent, since he seems to be LV's toady, always at 
the Dark Lord's side, from the beginning of GoF. I wonder if it was Peter that LV was 
possessing during all of those perambulations through the DoM? Nah--Peter's capture or 
discovery in the Ministry would be only slightly less disastrous to the Dark Lord's plans 
than that of LV himself. 

And having the sniveling Peter Pettigrew show up for the climactic battle between LV, DD, 
Bellatrix and Harry would have been... sloppy. I mean, what would he have done? Spent a 
lot of time whining and ducking?

I think his absence may also have had to do with the a couple of authorial needs. First of 
all, there was such a flood of baddies at the end of OotP (as at the end of GoF) that JKR 
didn't want to overload us with too many people to remember/dislike. She had a couple of 
DE cannon-fodder types chasing around (red shirts, for those of you whose fandom goes 
back to Star Trek: TOS days), but for the most part the focus is on our old friend Lucius 
Malfoy and his sister-in-law, the really icky Bellatrix Black LeStrange.

I think the other reason that Peter is absent from the fifth book is that he is destined (if I 
may use that term) to play a pivotal role in one or both of the last two books. I'm hoping 
we don't go too far in the Gollum-like direction but I assume that we're going to get some 
sort of resolution of the unfinished business between Peter and Harry, Peter and Remus 
(last remaining Marauders), and Peter and Ron--I mean, come on, the man spent more 
than three years in the boy's pocket; you're going to tell me Ron doesn't feel betrayed?

Antosha, hoping that Wormtail gets what's coming to him sooner, rather than later