bullies? twins, padfoot and prongs

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 118446


<previous discussion snipped>
Claire Durina wrote:
> Lupin was cowardly, James arrogant, Sirius vicious, but Wormtail was
wicked, psycophantic, even sociopathic. He enjoyed watching others in
pain.
> > He wasn't strong enough to do it himself, but he was even more
pleased by Snape's humiliation than the others. 
> 
> 
azriona responded:
> Hold on.  James and Sirius weren't wicked by actually starting the 
> torment?  Lupin wasn't psychophantic by allowing them to do as they 
> wished, thereby silently condoning their actions?  Sirius isn't 
> sociopathic by simply torturing another student simply because he's 
> *bored*?!?
> 
> To say that Peter was psychophantic and sociopathic is stretching
one moment in a lifetime to gargantuan proportions.  
> 

Carol responds:
I think there's truth on both side of this argument, possibly
somewhere between the two extremes. If we believe that Peter was the
traitor as well as the SK, then it certainly did take more talent,
power, and cunning than he is generally credited with to blow off his
own finger, blow up the street killing twelve Muggles, escape into the
sewers, and frame Sirius for the murders in the process. If he could
do that, he could certainly AK Cedric in the graveyard while holding
Babymort, Pippin to the contrary. He also had an advantage not
available to the other (admittedly less motivated DEs) in finding
Vapormort--he could converse with other small animals about the terror
that was possessing their fellow creatures and follow the trail of
corpses.

OTOH, I can't see his looking at another student's exam answers as in
any way defensible. Had he been caught, his test would have received a
zero. His conduct in the Pensieve scene is no better and no worse than
anyone else's. None of the Marauders comes off well in that scene, and
"cowardly," "arrogant," and "vicious" pretty well some up three out of
the four. "Wicked," I think, is a bit strong for Peter, but he
certainly is a sycophant--almost but not quite worthy of Sirius's
obvious contempt. But he was not yet a traitor and a murderer, and we
have to wonder what pushed him in that direction. If it was simple
fear, what was he doing in Gryffindor? Maybe, like Snape, he craved
recognition? Maybe if he had been accepted on equal terms with the
others, he would not have turned against them?

Carol, wondering if "psychophant" is a portmanteau word combining
"sycophant" and "psychopath" (If so, it fits the adult Peter perfectly)