DD and the rat (was:Re: Minerva McGonagall-/Dumbledore)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 116556


Pippin:
> 
> Whatever you call it, Peter  had to keep it up for a whole year, 
during part of which Albus  Dumbledore, who usually knows 
when people are lying to him, was actively hunting among those 
close to the Potters for the  spy.  We know Peter was close to 
them, since he sat between  them in the picture. Surely DD 
would detect that Peter's  expressions of horror were feigned? 
> 
> Carol again:
> I don't think Dumbledore uses Legilimency except in 
one-on-one conversations where he's looking someone directly 
in the eye. If he suspected Sirius, he wouldn't be paying much 
attention to Peter,anyway. And if Peter told no complicated 
lies--in fact, spent most of his time listening for things he could 
report to Voldemort--there would be no way to catch him in a lie, 
Legilimency or no.<

Pippin:
I imagine that if Dumbledore were looking for a spy, he would 
interview everyone close to the Potters, not just Sirius. Wouldn't 
he want to know whether Peter had seen anything suspicious? 

Harry generally feels as if he is being X-rayed when Dumbledore 
looks at him and asks one of those innocent open-ended "Is 
there anything you want to tell me" questions. I have a hard time 
imagining Peter standing up to that.


> > Carol:
> > >This is a man who, after living as a rat for twelve years, can 
AK  an innocent boy without a second thought.<
> > 
> > Pippin:
 You'll have to explain to me how it was simple for Peter 
 to put aside the bundle in his arms and get his wand out before 
Cedric could stop him.<
 
> Carol responds:
 We only know of three people, if LV counts as a person, being 
present in that graveyard when Cedric was killed: Harry, who 
didn't kill Cedric; Voldemort, who couldn't have done it; and 
Wormtail, who was ordered to do it and did. Unless we bring in a 
complicated conspiracy theory for which I see no canon
> evidence.
> 
> I do think JKR is a bit vague in her details here since the 
characters do seem to have their hands full, and admittedly 
there's an awkward moment where Wormtail would need to shift 
the bundle to his left hand and point the wand (presumably 
already in his hand) with his right. But note that the same thing 
happens with Harry later. He has his wand in one hand, is 
holding onto Cedric with the other, yet somehow grabs
 the portkey to take them both home. Please don't think I'm rude, 
but if anyone needs to do some explaining, it's JKR.

Pippin, before: 
> > Cedric had his wand out already.  He'd just seen Harry 
collapse  at his side. We are reminded in OOP that Cedric was a 
 world-class champion adult wizard who knew quite as much 
 about duelling as Harry, so this is not one of those minor 
 inconsistencies that JKR lets by. This is something we are to 
take note of, a clue slipped into an innocent chapter.   
Somehow Cedric let Wormtail get the drop on him without so 
much as an  "Expelliarmus".  Wormtail, who was always 
hopeless at duelling.   Something's not right.
> 
> Carol responds:
> Cedric is an innocent boy who doesn't know where he is and 
doesn't know he's in danger, except for a vague uneasy feeling 
he presumably shares with Harry. Wormtail is not duelling with 
him; he's simply obeying an order to "Kill the spare," a cruel, cold 
action that speaks volumes for Wormtail's capacity for evil but 
requires no skill in duelling that I can see. (In any case, 
MCGonagall may be wrong in her impression of Peter, who may 
well have exaggerated his own ineptitude at duelling--or have 
been "hopeless" in comparison with James, as no doubt most 
students were.)

Pippin:
The "duel" McGonagall is referring to is Sirius's apparently cold, 
cruel attack on Peter. I disagree that Cedric didn't know he was 
in danger -- he had his wand out and he knew he was either still 
engaged in a tournament in which someone had used an 
Unforgivable Curse on him, or he'd been kidnapped. 

 If Peter was hopeless in comparison with James, he'd be 
hopeless in comparison with Cedric, who was a tri-wizard 
champion and, unlike Harry, had fought his way to the cup 
without  FakeMoody cursing obstacles out of his way. 

Carol:
> I agree that the situation is confusing and that we have an 
inconsistent picture of Peter, but I don't see a need for an 
invisible fourth person (not counting Cedric) to be present. <

Pippin:
Trouble is, to get rid of that invisible fourth person,  we have to 
assume that  JKR accidentally made awkward, unathletic Peter 
as agile as a champion Seeker,  that  she made McGonagall,  
who correctly tells Neville his only problem is lack of confidence,  
totally inaccurate about Peter's lack of ability, and that Peter was 
holding a wand which Harry and Cedric did not see.  


Peter is not shown with a  wand  until after Cedric dies. 
Incidentally, that  wand, which he uses to bind Harry ,is not the 
one which killed Cedric, since the conjured ropes don't appear in 
prior incantatem. 

Pippin