Wormtail, not Snape, at Godric's Hollow

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112973

> Ffred said:
> "We know that Peter went with him - firstly because he had to, to
tell Voldemort where it was, secondly because we know that Sirius
found him absent from home and realised what had happened, and thirdly
because JKR indicated that Peter had spirited Voldemort's wand away
afterwards."
> 
> DuffyPoo responded:
> Wormtail didn't have to be with LV when he went to GH, he only had
to tell him, verbally, where the hiding place was.  (DD had only to
write on paper "the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be
found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London" for HP to be able to
get in.  He didn't have to be there in person.)  That Wormtail was
absent from his own hiding place doesn't mean he was at GH, only that
he was now in hiding elsewhere - somewhere that Sirius didn't know. 
Sirius and Hagrid were in the remains of GH moments after the incident
- "before the Muggles started swarmin' around."  The Potters' bodies
were still on the grounds but there is no evidence of Wormtail being
there. <snip>

Carol adds:
While I do think that Wormtail was at Godric's Hollow and that he
salvaged Voldemort's wand before disapparating (not "disappa *rat*
ing," because I don't think he could have retained his own wand and
Voldemort's in rat form), I agree with DuffyPoo that we have no solid
evidence that he did so. I also think, for what it's worth, that he
placed Voldemort's wand in safekeeping, which is how he was able to
return it twelve years later, but used his own wand to cast the spell
that blew off his finger and killed the Muggles. Quite possibly that
wand was destroyed in the explosion or else he left it behind when he
turned into a rat. He certainly didn't have it when he was restored to
human form in the Shrieking Shack. But at this point that's just an
explanation of events that makes sense to me. The only canon behind it
is Wormtail's use of Voldemort's wand at the graveyard in GoF.

Setting aside his presence or absence at Godric's Hollow, my question
is, if Wormtail had disappeared from his own house, as Sirius states
(and I'm not doubting Sirius's word here), how did Sirius know where
to find him after GH (on a street in Muggle London?)? It doesn't make
sense to me. Unless, maybe, Peter's mother lived nearby and that's
where Sirius expected to confront him.

Regarding Snape's possibly being at Godric's Hollow, I don't see why
he would be since he was not the Secret Keeper and as far as we know,
didn't know that Wormtail was. It makes much more sense for
Voldemort's companion, if any, to be Wormtail. Also, Snape tells
Umbridge that he's been teaching at Hogwarts for fourteen years, not
"fourteen years this November," as would be the case if her were hired
after Godric's Hollow. (Compare McGonagall's response, which indicates
that she wasn't hired at the beginning of term.)  If Snape's statement
is an exact time rather than an approximation (and Snape, we know,
appreciates precision), he would have been at Hogwarts when the
Potters were killed at midnight on October 31. (My unprovable
hypothesis is that he woke up with his Dark Mark hurting, watched in
astonishment as it faded almost to nothing, and immediately reported
what had happened to Dumbledore. That would account for the DEs
knowing that something drastic had happened to Voldemort and for
Bellatrix, at least, having some hope that he wasn't wholly destroyed.)

Carol, responding to speculation with counterspeculation