Killing Pettigrew: Yea or Nay?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 116591


-> Alla:
><snip>
>  
> I love Harry for insisting to bring Pettigrew to justice, but I tend 
> to side with Dzeytoun - so many problems could have been avoided if 
> he was killed right away.

Carol responds:
Are you sure that killing Pettigrew would not have created more
problems rather than less? 

If Sirius had entered the castle accompanied by the kids and the
handcuffed Pettigrew, leaving Lupin behind to turn into a werewolf
without endangering anybody, Pettigrew could have been brought to
justice without escaping. Lupin could have kept his job and Black's
name would have been cleared. The only reason those things didn't
happen is that Lupin turned into a werewolf.

OTOH, if Lupin and Black had killed the unarmed Pettigrew, they would
have been guilty of murder regardless of what Pettigrew had done to
deserve death. And even if they argued that it was justifiable
homicide, who would believe a convicted murderer and a werewolf? The
one person who could testify (under veritaserum) that this murder was
justifiable, and that Sirius was innocent of the earlier crimes he had
been charged with, would be dead.

True, Peter could not have returned to Voldemort if he'd been
murdered, but the consequences for Black and Lupin would have been
horrendous. They would have been convicted of murder and given to the
Dementors, or, in Lupin's case, sent to Azkaban. The only way I can
see to escape that fate would be for Black to become a fugitive again
and for Lupin to join him. And that's not even considering the moral
issues. Either they would have become inured to killing or they would
have lived for the rest of their miserable lives with remorse gnawing
at their hearts.

Carol