Pettigrew/Wormtail (was Transitions, etc Will the Real...)

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 167867

AmanitaMuscaria:

> I'm interested in how Peter became Voldemort's servant 
> though - do you think he sought Voldemort out after maybe 
> one too many put-down, or that he was befriended and 
> recruited subtly, without knowing who it was he was 
> telling secrets to until it was too late? Or do you 
> think Voldemort just threatened him and he collapsed 
> and told all?

houyhnhnm:

If he sought Voldemort out, I think it would have been 
after one too many deaths of his confederates rather than 
one too many put-downs.  But there may be a back story of 
which we are unaware.  That would be interesting to find 
out in the last book.  How did Peter become one of the 
Marauders in the first place? Sirius didn't seem to have 
a very high opinion of him if the Pensieve scene is anything 
to go by and James hardly seemed to be aware of him, other 
than to take his fawning for granted (Not that Peter seemed 
to mind very much).  Were James and Sirius just being 
kind-hearted to a friendless dorm-mate when they first 
began to include him in their escapades or was there 
some kind of subtle blackmail involved.

How did Peter come to be in the Order? It seems he 
continued to enjoy the patronage of James and Sirius 
after they left school.  

If he was threatened by Voldemort, was it because he 
was close to the Potters.  If he turned traitor about 
a year before the Potters were killed, that would have 
been around the same time Harry was born and Voldemort 
fixed his attention on him the child of the prophecy.  
Then someone must have conveyed Peter's connection to 
the Potters to Voldemort; how else would someone so 
insignificant have come to his attention.  That is a 
role I can more easily imagine for an ESE!Lupin than 
that he was Wormtail's impersonator.

Even if Peter sought out Voldemort because he saw 
the Dark side winning and he was afraid for his own skin, 
there must have been some kind of intermediary.  Surely 
no one appraoches the Dark Lord directly.

As the betrayer of the Potters (without whom there would 
have been no Boy-Who-Lived), Peter's backstory has got 
to be important and we know nothing of it, not even if 
he grew up in the Wizarding World or was Muggle-born.  
I do hope we will find out more in Deathly Hallows.