"Weak" Pettigrew (Re: What Pettigrew did at Godric's Hollow)

mhbobbin mhbobbin at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 1 00:08:58 UTC 2004


No: HPFGUIDX 111736

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, theotokos 
<theotokos_8679 at s...> wrote:
> Jekatiska:
> > Has anyone else noticed how Pettigrew is always described 
as "talentless" and "weak", yet he has managed some quite impressive 
magic? [snip] 

mhbobbin: The contrast between how Pettigrew is described and his 
supposed actions is very strange. McGonagall describes Pettigrew 
as "hopeless at duelling".  Yet he supposedly got the better of a 
more clever wizard, Sirius.  And yet the characters never question 
this contrast. Sirius dismisses Pettigrew getting the better of him 
in that duel by having his wand behind his back.  If Pettigrew has 
his wand behind his back, followed by an explosion, how does Sirius 
know it was Pettigrew?  Why wouldn't Sirius have anticipated that 
Pettigrew would have his wand behind his back? He was, after all, 
corned.

And Sirius never credits that Pettigrew learned how to transform 
into a rat. Sure, his friends helped him. But few wizards, 
apparently, can do this. The rat is not all that he seems. It's hard 
to reconcile poor weak Peter Pettigrew with a wizard who was a 
traitor to one his best friends for about a year--clever enough that 
DD, James, Sirius and Lupin never suspected him; finally delivered 
the Potters to LV; was able to transform into an animal; blew up a 
street in a duel with a more powerful opponent; and eventually finds 
his way to a distant place and locates LV, bringing him back to 
power.  Was Peter just faking it all through school, or did he 
become more clever and powerful after school without his friends 
realizing it. Were they so dismissive of him, so sure of the niche 
they placed him in they didn't realize he was gaining on them?

jekatiska:
He also  killed twelve people with a single curse, which must be 
very advanced dark  magic, judging by the way it is mentioned in 
PoA. "Black killed thirteen  people with a single curse" is always 
emphasizing how extremely dangerous Sirius is supposed to be. And we 
haven't heard of any other incident where so many people would have 
been killed by one curse. Is there more to Peter than meets the 
eye?  
> 
mhbobbin: Which may be why ordinary wizards like Lupin couldn't see 
such a dangerous wizard like Black in Azkaban. Which also brings me 
to the question--what are the alternatives to dementors for guards 
at a prison for dangerous wizards?  IF it's spells, then the danger 
is that the more powerful wizard is the one being spelled into a 
prison by some mediocre civil servant wizard.

> theotokos:
> Maybe it wasn't a curse to kill 12 people but a spell to blow up 
the street giving Wormtail access to the sewers?  The concrete and 
blown gas lines killed the pedestrians as a result.  As the MOM 
originally thought the fault lay with Sirius, it wouldn't have 
occurred to them the street was the focus of the spell, especially 
since Sirius was just standing there laughing instead of trying to 
escape.
>  
mhbobbin: I still think that there was another wizard on the scene, 
possibly Fudge. But the idea that Pettigrew was looking to escape 
and blew up the street to get where he was going--what did he care 
about innocent bystanders--is a plausible explanation.

 It's been written before but I think it's valid to repeat--was the 
Laughter due to a Cheering Charm?  Throughout PoA, the kids are 
learning Cheering Charms--it's said that overstressed Hermione could 
use one, and Harry overdoes one on Ron so that Ron must be taken 
away to quiet down before he can finish the exam. Why learn Cheering 
Charms? Perhaps the mystery of the hysterical laughter in the 
Sirius / Pettigrew duel.  And we haven't seen a Cheering Charm since 
PoA. 

And I still think there must be important backstory to the reasons 
that Remus and Sirius suspected each other of being the Spy. Maybe 
it was just Default--it can't be Peter so it must be  you. But maybe 
Remus--and DD---accepted Sirius' guilt because of what they knew he 
was capable of. And that may bring us right back to the episode in 
school where he tricked Snape in the infamous Whomping Willow 
episode. If that is the case, then what had Remus done that made 
Sirius suspect him of being the Spy? 

mhbobbin





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