Killing Pettigrew: Yea or Nay?

[hogsheadbarmaid]

No: HPFGUIDX 116233


Pippin:
> > Voldebabe is very weak, so weak that he cannot survive in that 
> > form more than a few hours without feeding. Surely all Wormtail 
> > would have to do is wait, and within a few hours Voldebabe 
> > would be too weak to hold a wand. What, or who, compels 
> > Wormtail to stay?
> > 
> > Voldemort says later on in the graveyard that Wormtail returned 
> > to him only out of fear of his old friends. Yet it seems Wormtail 
> > thinks he could  have left, if only Voldemort gave him 
permission. 
> > Why, if his old friends are hunting him...they wouldn't care if 
he 
> > had Voldie's permission, right?
 
> SSSusan:
> Voldebabe [like that term!] *is* weak, and it *would* seem a 
> reasonable option for Wormtail to just run away.  So why doesn't he?
> I see two possibilities.  
> 
> One:  Wormtail is truly committed to Voldy.  
> 
> Two:  Wormtail *is* afraid of all the old DEs and figures they'll 
> hunt him down eventually if he runs.  If he stays & helps resurrect 
> Voldemort, though, he'll (he hopes) be held up as an example to the 
> other DEs and, thus, they wouldn't dare kill him.

barmaid:

Or Three:  Wormtail is truly committed to himself and finds the power 
he has to keep Voldebabe alive, and the position he believes doing 
this will put him in when Voldebabe becomes Voldy-back-in-full-body-
form, very appealing -- even though the things he must do to hold 
that position of power are not so appealing.  Peter has proven that 
he is more than willing to do hard things to be close to power.

One could think "Hey, killing Voldebabe, or allowing him to die -- 
that would make Peter even more powerful.  You know, single handedly 
(no pun intended) bringing down the Dark Lord" But that is way to 
rational a thought for the Peter we know.  First, most people do not 
even believe Voldy is alive at all so why would they believe he 
killed him, and second, Peter P is supposed to be dead -- a martyr 
and a hero already -- coming back from the dead would require way too 
much risk.

No, Peter's most sure road to power is to stand close to power, to 
make himself indispensable to power, to find a spot close enough to 
the light and heat of power to feel like it is his own.

  --barmaid