Two Wormtails was Re: Plot in OotP (wand confusion)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 118386


> > Pippin:
> > 
> > The theory is that Voldemort used the code name Wormtail  
for  his spy Lupin in Voldemort War One, in order to taunt  James 
 and mislead Dumbledore <snip>
> 
> Neri:
> 
> A nice story, but still, you suggest this solution without a riddle.
 Nowhere in the book the mystery is presented (or even hinted, 
IIRC) who Wormtail really is.<

Pippin:

Erm,  of course there's a mystery about who Wormtail really is.
----
"You don't think it more likely he got it *directly from the 
manufacturers*?" [emphasis JKR's].

Harry didn't understand what Snape was talking about. Nor, 
apparently, did Lupin.

"You mean, by Mr. Wormtail or one of these people?" he said.
--PoA ch 14

Wormtail is identified  later in the book when Lupin tells about 
the Animagi. But the mystery which is not solved, and has been 
asked many times on this list, is "What did Snape know about 
the 'manufacturers' that made him question Lupin?"

If the names and their meanings were common knowledge, then 
there's no reason for Snape to be so oblique -- he can just say, 
"It seems Harry has come by one of your old school things. I'd 
like an explanation, Lupin, if you'd be so kind."

If the names aren't common knowledge, then what does Snape 
know, and how does he know it?  I  theorized, long before OOP 
came out, in fact I think it was before my first ESE!Lupin post,  
that Snape had heard the name Wormtail as a DE, and thought it 
was Sirius.  

The pensieve scene in OOP is no help, by the way, since we 
can't tell how much of the Marauder conversation was actually 
audible to Snape.  Harry has to move away from Snape to hear it.

Renee:
>Yes, that was the missing piece of information. But I'm afraid it 
doesn't sound very convincing to me. Dumbledore knows the spy 
is someone close to the Potters, yet it never occurs to him to 
mention the name Wormtail to James, just in case? He doesn't 
even mention it when James declines his offer to become Secret 
Keeper? <

Pippin:
Dumbledore would have been extremely careful about sharing 
information with James if he believed James was trusting the 
wrong people. Dumbledore suspected Sirius, but James trusted 
Sirius and suspected Lupin. Either of them could have used the 
name Wormtail. Nobody suspected Pettigrew, name or no 
name. 

Pippin