Unfortunate!Peter

[Sharon]

No: HPFGUIDX 118224



I haven't posted before, so forgive any typographical errors I might 
make.  I have been reading up on recent posts, however, with much 
interest, and look forward to some good Peter discussion, which I 
haven't had in some time.

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Barry Arrowsmith 
<arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
*snip*
> Not a popular lad, is Peter. Not with the characters in the books 
and 
> not with the fans. 

No kidding.  And quite frankly, I can never understand *why*.  I 
mean, Peter's not all that different from Snape, when you think about 
it.  Here's a guy, who everyone believed to be one thing - when in 
fact, he was someone else entirely.  The only difference between 
Snape and Peter was who they spied for.

Or was it?

Kneasy, I have not always believed that Peter was a spy for 
Dumbledore, but over the last year I have come to believe it.  I 
cannot believe that DD, knowing the odds and knowing his resources, 
would have not had more than one spy in place.  And I cannot believe 
that a man who would willingly place an 11-, 12- and 13- year old boy 
in mortal danger would think that the odds of having a single spy 
would be enough upon which to wage a war.


*snip*
> The earliest images we have of him are in the Pensieve memory. It 
is 
> not a comfortable picture. 

No, it isn't.  And while I agree that the Pensieve memory is the one 
we have of Peter *at his youngest* - it is by far not our first 
images of him.  In fact, I would even argue that by the time we see 
Peter in that Pensieve, not only has our individual views of him been 
damanged by both Harry & Sirius' personal opinions, but even Snape 
himself can't give him a fair shake.  

I can't trust that Pensieve.  We forget that we are seeing Peter 
through *Snape's* eyes, and I think most would agree that as far as 
the Marauders are concerned, Snape is hardly an impartial judge.  We 
see James and Co. not as the boys they were, but as the boys they 
were *to Snape*.

And what was Peter to Snape...but nothing?  A tool of the two boys he 
hated most in the world, while the one boy who might have helped him 
sat in the shade and studied for the next exam!

But moving on from that, Peter is absolutely the "forgotten" 
Marauder.  And maybe there's a very good reason for that.  Perhaps 
this is not something he resented, but something he actually craved.  
There are people who don't want to be in the spotlight, who are 
content to remain in the background.  Peter may very well have been 
one of those - and perhaps it was that quality that attracted DD to 
recruiting him as a spy.


> So why did they spend so much time and trouble encouraging him to 
> master the Animagus spell? Why did they tolerate him, what did they 
> need him for? 

The quick answer is "I don't know."  The long answer 
is...well...long.  The short answer is: because they liked him.  
And "like" isn't really something you can explain away.  Why do I 
like my husband, other than the fact that he buys me HP Legos?  I 
don't know.  He's cute maybe.  (And he buys me HP Legos.)  Why did 
James & Co like Peter?  I don't know, maybe he balanced them, and 
they knew they needed the balance he provided.

*snip*
 Peter  was not essential, yet they 
> persisted for years. Why?
> 

I would argue that Peter *was* essential.  (If for no other reason 
than as JKR's plot device.)  What Peter provided the rest of the boys 
changes depending on who you're talking to - but Peter seems to have 
provided the encouragement James and Sirius needed in order to go 
ahead with their plans - whether those plans involved Snivellus' 
underwear or going to the kitchens to steal food.

Or, as you also claim, to run to DD to tell him about The Prank.  No, 
we don't know Peter's role in the Prank.  But really, we don't know 
about Remus' role either, do we?  We don't know that Remus really 
knew that Sirius might send Snape after him.  We don't know when 
James found out about the Prank or how.  We don't know a whole lot 
about the Prank - and the biggest clue that we don't know a lot is 
that JKR herself has said we're going to learn about it.  Now, I 
don't know about you, but before she said that I thought the whole 
Prank issue was pretty much covered, way back in PoA.  And now 
there's apparently *more* to know?

Why do I have the feeling that the more to know deals with Peter's 
role in the entire sordid affair?

> Then there's Moody's photograph. There's Peter, sitting between 
James 
> and Lily. Lots of fans have wondered about this; is it significant? 
Was 
> there unrequited affection (or even requited affection) between 
> James/Peter or between Lily/Peter? Why are James and Lily sitting 
> apart? Not being romantically inclined I've never read much into 
it, 
> but believe you me, others have.

Ugh.  I think it's more interesting that Moody, when presenting the 
photograph to Harry, doesn't actually mention Peter's name.  Here he 
is, pointing out all these people in the photo who Harry's never 
heard of, much less *met*, and then we run into Peter Pettigrew, who 
of course Moody will know that Harry knows fairly well.  I mean, we 
don't even get a "Oh, and there's that really awful Peter Pettigrew, 
I should just scratch his darn-ed face from the photo."

Something there, I tells you.


> 
> 2. Scabbers vanishes into the sewers. Right. Then what? Where does 
he 
> go? Who does he see? Want a suggestion?
> OK - Dumbledore. Neither the  DEs nor the MoM people believe he's 
> alive. Who's left? DD. It's maybe my memory, but unlike just about 
all 
> the adults in the books I  can't remember DD ever saying or hinting 
or 
> commenting in PoA that he believed Peter was dead. If I'm wrong I'm 
> sure someone will correct me.
> 

I don't think you're wrong.  And in fact, I think you're more right 
than you might know.  Dumbledore never once questions the story about 
Peter being SK - he never once degrades Peter in front of Harry - and 
he never once calls him "Wormtail."  DD gives Peter every inch of 
respect there is to give, and even has some interest in his 
whereabouts - going as far as to interupt Harry in GoF about what 
Peter was doing during the cemetary scene.  Why?  Why does DD show 
such interest in Peter?  

Is it perhaps his way of making sure that his little spy is still 
behaving himself?


> I think Peter is/has been paying penance, with the encouragement of 
DD, 
> for some act of foolishness, naivety or stupidity that contributed 
to 
> the deaths of the Potters. > 


Well...I don't know that Peter is paying penance.  What does he have 
to pay penance for, exactly?  (Okay, death of James & Lily, blah blah 
blah.)  I should think that the general hatred of the world and his 
best friends would take care of that.  I rather think that Peter has 
been living for the previous 12 years as a rat and continues to work 
with Voldie because he is A GOOD SPY.  He's still under cover.  
Unlike Snape, he hasn't been outed!  Why on earth would Peter do any 
differently than he has been doing?

--azriona