Peter Pettigrew - Questions and Commentary

[Jenni A.M. Merrifield]

No: HPFGUIDX 101124

  Hi, I'm a newbie to HPfGU, and just thought I'd take a moment to 
introduce myself.  Jenni A.M. Merrifield here (also known 
as "strawberyJAMM" or even just "strawb"), currently living in Mill 
Creek, WA, USA (slightly NE of Seattle), I originally hail from 
Vancouver, BC, Canada.  I've posted a couple of replies to other 
threads, but this is the first thread I'm attempting to start.

  Enough of that, on to the meat of my post... :-)

  I've had two questions about Peter Pettigrew floating through my 
mind that I'd love to know the answer to.  I think only JKR could 
provide the answers and I haven't seen anything from her that would 
help.

1. How did "Scabbers" end up in the hands of the Weasley family?  

  The books indicate that it belonged to Percy before Ron got it, 
but that doesn't seem to jive with him having been with the family 
for 12 years, if you assume that "School Pets" aren't acquired until 
age 11.  After all, Percy is only, what, four or five years older 
than Ron (I don't have my books handy and I can't remember if he was 
in 5th or 6th year in PS/SS).  

  Perhaps "Scabbers" was owned by one of the older brothers before 
Percy got it.  That could help explain the 12 years with the Weasley 
family, assuming that at least one of Ron's older brothers is 12 
years older.

  However, even with that, how did "Scabbers" get himself into a 
position to be purchased by a Wizarding family?  Did he sneak into 
the pet shop and join the other rats in the cages?  Wouldn't the 
store owner notice the sudden occurance of an extra grey rat?

  Needless to say, the whole thing perplexes me.

2. Assuming that Petigrew is, in fact, a "lapsed Gryffindor" (as 
Mike Gray suggests in his essay -- 
http://www.hpfgu.org.uk/faq/pettigrew.html), what caused him to 
lapse?

  That is, if the sorting hat saw a larger share of courage and 
resolve than sly cunning in Peter's soul, what blocked his courage, 
keeping it from coming to the fore?  What made self-preservation and 
betrayal the more attractive route?  

  And it's not like he only betrayed Lily and James after suffering 
through extreme torture.  No, he made a conscious decision to run to 
V. with the information that would betray two of the people he'd 
been friends with throughout school, and *then* he actually went out 
of his way to frame a third.  He didn't have to frame Sirius -- he 
could have done the same disappearing trick but made it look like V. 
had done him in, so people might think he only cracked after being 
tortured.

  Anyway, those are my thoughts, and it's sure nice to meet everyone 
here. :-)

Jenni A. M. Merrifield
-=> strawberryJAMM <=-