Nel Question # 6. Peter Pettigrew

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 128011


 "phoenixgod2000" wrote: 
> based on the way I read PoA, I think Peter was captured, tortured 
and 
> broken by Voldemort. Someone with as weak an ego as Peter wouldn't 
> last too long under someone who could pick through your brain, use 
> crucio, and who knows what else. 

Potioncat:
What exactly in PoA makes you think that? If Peter was "the" spy, he 
was working for quite some time. If it was torture or threats that 
made him betray his friends, why didn't he tell someone at the time? 
Or why didn't he go to DD afterwards? 

I could buy Imperius as a reason, except again, I would have expected 
him to talk to DD during his many years at Hogwarts.

question and Phoenixgod's answer: 
> >In your opinion, did he owe to his friends to be "more than merely 
> good" or not?
> 
> Yes, because he shouldn't have been in the order if he wasn't able 
to 
> be 'more than merely good'.

Potioncat:
I agree with this. Even within the framework of membership of the 
Order, there is "what is expected" and "above and beyond" It appears 
that Peter fell very far short of the expectations.

And although I snipped Alla's very nice quote about persecution, keep 
in mind that JKR values courage above everything. She would expect 
someone to owe his friends  more than being merely good.
  

Alla's quote from JKR: What's very important for me is when 
Dumbledore 
> > says that you have to choose between what is right and what is 
> easy. 
> > This is the setup for the next three books. All of them are going 
> to 
> > have to choose, because what is easy is often not right."
> > (Entertainment Weekly, September 7, 2000)

Potioncat:
For example, perhaps: Occlumency, both teaching and learning; Staying 
put at 12 GP; Keeping your head down, or not; joining the DA. 


Alla asks: 
> > Is that really all that there is to Peter? Is that the only 
reason 
> > he befriended James, Sirius and Remus?  Is that why he joined 
> > Voldemort?
> Phoenixgod:
 bottom 
> line, I don't think that Peter joined V willingly. I think he was 
> somehow forced or twisted into joining the death eaters.

Potioncat:
You know, I just realised we don't know if there were any other boys 
in Gryffindor that year. Currently we see Ron/Harry, Seamus/Dean, and 
Neville. Neville is friendly with the other four, but not a full part 
of either pair. Who else did Peter have? Was he part of the group 
because there was no other choice?

And if he was the type to shadow a "protector" if you will, was the 
friendship surviving adulthood? If he continued to be something like 
the younger Peter, was there anything in common with the other 3?

I could see LV having a slow subtle influence on Peter, convincing 
him perhaps that the Marauders weren't really his friends. By LV, I 
mean of course, a person of LV's choosing.  

> > Alla, who thinks that attempting to feel some kind of sympathy 
> > towards Peter was the hardest "book related" exercise of her
> > senses she ever did. :-) 

Potioncat, who hopes she isn't sending a reply too late at night to 
make sense.