Peter Pettigrew not a "real" DE?: (Was: The Map and the War)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 104011

Chelle wrote:
> 
> I kind of have a theory, but it may be a little quirky.
> Peter isn't 'really' a Death Eater. He wears a robe, but has never
> donned a mask. He told about the Potters, but he told Voldie
> reluctantly. I think he's a Voldie groupie only because he has no
> where else to go. He may have even been under the imperius when he
> blew up all those people as to burn all his bridges.
> The Most Devoted Servant line has been used several times. I dont
> think it pertains to a single person, but whoever is in favor with
> Voldie at the time. (Like the 'favorite kid' most parents seem to have
>  that switches depending on who has not annoyed them lately.)
> I don't think Peter has told Voldie a thing unless directly asked. 

Carol:
Two problems with that theory. First, he has the Dark Mark on his arm
(LV used it to summon he other DEs to the graveyard). Second, he has
no qualms about casting an AK to kill Cedric, which suggests that he
has used Unforgiveable Curses before (not counting whatever he used to
tear up the street and kill twelve Muggles).

I do think he started out reluctantly leaking information, providing
the identities of Order members but holding back the information about
the Marauders being animagi--not out of loyalty to his friends but
because it was *his* big secret as well. (LV knows when people are
*lying* but withholding information that hasn't been requested is a
different matter.) Or maybe Voldemort *did* know it but didn't reveal
it to the DEs for reasons of his own. As someone (Neri?) said some
time ago, Voldemort seems to provide info to his DEs on a "need to
know" basis. Knowledge is power, and LV isn't going to share his
knowledge unless he has a reason for doing so. So just because he
knows something doesn't mean that all or even some of the DEs know it.
(Karkaroff, for example, knew the names of some but not all of his
fellow DEs. If he didn't know who those people were, he certainly
didn't know what jobs they were performing for Voldemort. Knowing that
certain Order members and a fellow DE/spy were animagi could fall into
the same category of information they didn't need to know at that time.) 

In any case, it's clear that Bellatrix and company didn't know that PP
could turn into a rat or he could never have pulled off his supposed
murder by Sirius. It's equally clear that both Bellatrix and Lucius
Malfoy *did* know that Sirius was an animagus in OoP. I'm guessing
that PP revealed his secret when he first returned to Voldemort *in
rat form* and then Voldemort revealed it to a few select DEs.

But back to my original point: whether Peter was an actual DE or
"just" a spy and a traitor before Godric's Hollow, he was certainly a
real DE in GoF.

Carol

Carol