[HPforGrownups] Re: Unfortunate!Peter

[charme]

No: HPFGUIDX 118306


From: "Barry Arrowsmith"


> Kneasy:
> Way out of the box?
> There's some out there that think I'm way out of my skull.
> Glad you enjoy them and IMO it's differing opinions that makes life
> entertaining.

charme now:

WRT to your "way out of my skull comment,"  join the club. :)  I think it's 
great, and the way a lot of people on this board choose to look at things: 
the big picture. I'm glad to be a part of this insanity, if that's what 
other people believe it to be :) Thanks for the response, and please see my 
comments below yours....
>
> Kneasy:
> Peter as Lothario - is that your meaning?
> If Peter ever went to the Evans/Dursley establishment (do we know if it
>  happened before Petunia married Vernon?) then I'd have expected him to
> be one of a group. No confirmation of course, that'd make things too
> easy.
>
> There's an interesting aspect to this little aside - why would anyone
> want to  talk to Petunia about Azkaban? Hardly a subject for polite
> conversation over  tea and cakes - unless, as I posted a few weeks ago
> Harry's grandparents died as a result of Voldy/DE action.

charme now:

Yup, Peter as Lothario is exactly what I was getting at, although I'm not 
sure he would have been one of a group - and quite possibly it could have 
been the only time Peter ever visited?  OR one wonders is Petunia hasn't 
been to Hogwarts at some point.... but that's another thread, isn't it? I 
thought Petunia said she heard "that awful boy" telling Lily about the 
Dementors and Azkaban - not that she had a direct conversation with Peter or 
whomever that "awful boy" was.

>.charme:
> I think it was James who told DD about the incident in the Shrieking
> Shack after he'd saved Snape.

> Kneasy:
> I don't  see it that way.
> Snape enters the tunnel, sees a werewolf, gets dragged out by James -
> what would he  do? Scream his head off, I'd imagine, "Werewolf!" It'd
> be round the school  in 5 minutes flat. But it wasn't. Snape has no
> reason to keep  quiet and every reason to tell everybody what he's
> seen. He doesn't. To me that implies there was somebody on the spot to
> tell  him to keep quiet, calm down, let's go to my office. Who  else
> but DD?

charme now:

Ever taken a professional rescue course?  Can't rescue someone who is 
hysterical or combative, puts your own life at risk as the rescuer. 
Errrr.....he (Snape)  might not be able to say anything to anyone if he was 
"stunned." :) I'll leave you to ponder that and just mention that I'm sure 
we'll find out in the next 2 books what really happened....
>
>
<snip> >
>
> Kneasy:
> What DD admits to knowing and what he actually knows are two very
> different things IMO. I just can't envision him locking up a
> student/werewolf in an isolated shack every month and not checking up
> on him, keeping an eye on him. And one very good way of doing so  is to
>  have someone in the Marauders keeping him up to date with what they
> were up to. Peter.
> As for gravitating to the strongest - who's stronger  than DD? No, I
> suspect  that this is Sirius sour grapes; he's second fiddle to  James.
> He accepts it but it doesn't mean he likes it, especially when a
> nonentity like Peter rubs it in by fawning on James and ignoring
> Sirius.

charme now:

I agree with you about DD keeping tabs on his little Whomping Willow 
secret - but I think that watch he has does that quite nicely for him now, 
so why wouldn't we consider he'd have a magical way to do it then? :)  I 
don't think that DD would *need* Peter to do any Marauder spying for him if 
you believe at the time the Marauders were in school DD was considered the 
"strongest." Sirius, by JKR's quotes, loved James and MM says they were 
"like brothers" in  PoA. They treated Peter like a little tag-a-long 
brother, and while we only saw one interaction betwix all of them in OoP; 
there are probably others where Sirius got just as much idol worship as 
James.

> Kneasy:
>>Scabbers vanishes into the sewers. Right. Then what? Where does he >
> > go? Who does he see? Want a suggestion?
> OK - Dumbledore.
> > >
>
> > charme:
> How about another suggestion or two?  Lucius Malfoy or even Fudge, as
> Fudge was the first person on the scene after Peter's suppposed demise.
> I could also think of others Peter could have gone to, so DD isn't the
> only one.
> >
>
> Kneasy:
> At the time Fudge wasn't important in the Ministry. Unless he's a
> secret DE he'd have no reason to hide Peter. If he was a DE then the
> same arguments apply as to Malfoy:  if Peter had gone to either then
> it's unlikely that the DEs later  caught after the Longbottoms were
> tortured would believe Peter to  be dead -  they'd know he wasn't.
> Malfoy has no reason to keep it from them and if he thought that Peter
> had betrayed Voldy  then Peter  would have become a stain on the carpet
> in short order.

charme now:

I'm not so sure someone didn't help him, I just don't believe it was DD.  As 
far as Malfoy is concerned, *Malfoy* is an opportunist and I get the 
distinct feeling from his responses to LV in GoF graveyard scene, he's not 
necessarily "challenged" by LV as some of the other DEs are.  Note as well 
that Avery got a Crucio from LV in that scene - Malfoy didn't. I sense some 
tension there, and am not sure quite what it represents.

However, to your point about Fudge and the question of his DE'ness , this 
goes back to the dicussion of it's not as clear cut as being or not being a 
DE, IMO. It's that gray area of "not really involved" or "on the outside of 
it all looking in." Think about it - a party comes to you for help 
professing that someone tried to kill you, and you know all sides of the 
situation:  the DE's and what they believe, and then what everyone else 
believes. You know it's best if you're not involved, especially since you 
want to be the MoM. So if you're Fudge, you want this person to "disappear" 
since it's in your best interests, and the interests of everybody (remember, 
Fudge, doesn't like complications) to avoid any future "incidents." It's not 
too far fetched - they call it "witness protection" here in the US. :)