Peter the Rat

[bob]

No: HPFGUIDX 167971

Bart:
> If my reading is accurate, is it any wonder that he formed one hell
> of an inferiority complex? That, by the time he became an animagus,
> he ended up as a rat? That this one-time Gryffindor is now a
> snivelling coward?

bob:
If you remember in POA, when they are all in the Shrieking Shack, he was told he always surrounded himself with powerful wizards.  Even though he's a sniveling coward, he's always wanted to be around wizards who could protect him.  In HBP he's protected by Snape from the OOTP, and perhaps even from Voldemort by doing menial tasks for Snape.

bob