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

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 118442


> Pippin:
> 
> In GoF, there was no mystery that was nicely solved by the 
> existence of two Barty's unless and until you had convinced 
> yourself  that Moody was a fake. <snip>

Neri:
As I wrote upthread, there was such a mystery. It was "what 
was `Barty Crouch' in the map doing in Snape's office". This mystery 
was properly introduced to the readers (Harry, Ron, Hermione and 
Sirius all discussed it. I don't have the books with me so I can't 
pull the exact quotes). Yes, identifying fake!Moody was needed for 
the complete solution, but the `Barty Crouch' mystery was introduced 
to the reader regardless. The mystery of the Two Wormtails was never 
introduced to the reader, nor even hinted.

> Pippin:
> In PoA, there was no mystery that was nicely solved by Scabbers 
> being Peter, unless you were willing to consider that Sirius might 
> be innocent of betraying the secret, and Peter guilty. All the 
> evidence that Peter was Scabbers could have been explained in 
> other, more obvious ways -- until Peter was disenchanted.
> 

Neri:
There were many mysteries and clues in PoA, such as why Scabbers was 
ill, why does Crookshanks chase Scabbers, why does the sneakoscop 
start when Scabbers is around, Scabbers missing a toe and the only 
part left of Peter is his finger, etc. Yes, the solution to these 
mysteries involved Sirius being innocent. However, the proof we had 
to Sirius being guilty was actually very meager. It was only based on 
Fudge's report, and even Fudge wasn't a witness to the killing. Harry 
certainly wasn't a witness and we most certainly didn't have JKR 
saying "Correct!" when asked if Sirius killed the muggles. 

I must add here that personally, when first reading PoA, I knew 
almost from the beginning that Sirius was a dog animagus (the 
name "Sirius Black" was a dead giveaway) and I was sure he was 
innocent. I admit that there wasn't much of a detective work behind 
this. It was in part because the Dementors were so obviously the bad 
guys, so Sirius must have been the good guy, and also the fact that 
the book was called "the prisoner of Azkaban" and not "the murderer 
from Azkaban". Probably it was also my personal liking for dogs ;-) 
but I'm not surprised at all that JKR shares this liking. I also must 
confess that I thought Crookshanks was the other animagus, that I 
missed Lupin being a werewolf and that Scabbers!Peter got me 
completely by surprise. But the clues were there and the mystery 
(especially as I was sure Sirius was innocent) was there. In the case 
of Two Wormtails we have no clues, no mystery and no solution in 
canon. 

> Pippin: 
> Unless one is willing to consider that Lupin might be guilty and 
> Peter innocent of being the spy,  there's little point in two 
> Wormtails, I agree.   All the evidence can be explained in more 
> intuitive ways. But the evidence of Lupin's guilt is there,  and
> can't be entirely ruled out without  invoking Flints.

Neri:
So here we come to the crux of it. The only plus to double!Wormtail 
is that it supports ESE!Lupin. But ESE!Lupin is in itself a theory, 
and not without problems. So instead of supporting a problematic 
theory with more canon you support with a more problematic theory. 
This is not merely going out on a limb, it is going out on a limb of 
a limb of a limb. I think the only reason you are still up there is 
that even gravity can't follow the intricate reasoning ;-)

Neri