Snape and Pettigrew's obligation to James and Harry respectively

[Cathy Drolet]

No: HPFGUIDX 138992

Schlobin at a... wrote:

> JKR has specifically indicated that 
> Peter Pettigrew owes Harry a special
> debt because Harry saved him. 

Eggplant
>>Actually JKR didn't say that, Dumbledore did in book 3 and we now know
Dumbledore can be disastrously wrong. Certainly Pettigrew's behavior
in book 4 made me doubt Dumbledore's wisdom in this regard; but he
still has a chance in book 7, perhaps he will kill Snape.

CathyD:
JKR may not have actually said that Pettigrew owes Harry a special debt (apart from Dumbledore's statement in POA "Pettigrew owes his life to you. ... When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them......But trust me ... the time may come when you will be very glad you saved Pettigrew's life."), but she certainly doesn't deny it either, as can be seen in several interview quotes:

MA: Does she [Ginny] have a life debt to Harry from book two?
JKR: No, not really. Wormtail is different. 
(Wormtail was not being discussed in this situation it was Ginny Weasley, and if, possibly, Ginny could be a Horcrux.  JKR said that the Diary Horcrux is definitely destroyed and that Ginny is in no way possessed by Voldemort nor is she a Parselmouth.  She is then asked the above question and responds as she does that Ginny doesn't have a life debt but "Wormtail is different."  That clearly indicates, to me, that Wormtail does have a life debt to Harry.)

Catheldral school: Will wormtail ever pay Harry back?
JK Rowling replies -> You'll see... keep reading!
(JKR never said that Wormtail doesn't have anything to pay back, but that we would see if he does pay Harry back if we just keep reading.)

MauraEllen: Did the debt Wormtail has to Harry carry over to Voldemort when he sacrificed his arm to restore his body?
JK Rowling replies -> No. Can't say any more than that!
(Again, she's saying the debt did not carry over to Voldemort.  She is not saying that there was no debt to carry over.)

JKR also says that she uses Dumbledore and Hermione to give information to the reader.  Coinvincing information that can't be passed by anyone else.  Dumbledore, because "well Dumbledore knows pretty much everything anyway" and Hermione because she's  "read it somewhere."  

I somehow doubt that Wormtail will kill Snape.  At the moment, as far as Wormtail knows, he and Snape are on the same side as Death Eaters.  If Wormtail does know the truth, that Snape is spying for Dumbledore not LV, it would hardly be repayment of a debt to Harry to kill a member of the Order of the Phoenix.  Especially one who is so well placed at the moment - deep inside LV's camp - to help both Harry, and the Order, in their defeat of Voldemort and his Death Eaters.  JMO of course.

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