Peter and the Finger

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 181986

Susanfullin wrote:
> Anyway, in the movie, I think Peter pointed with his middle finger
just to make us aware that he DIDNT have an index finger. Simple as
that, especially since I dont remember anything in the book about this
'gesture'. 

Carol responds:
Sigh. I was going to stay out of this thread, but I came across the
following passage yesterday in my dozenth rearead of HBP:

"For a moment, Harry thought Gaunt was making an obscene hand gesture,
but then realized that he was showing Ogden the ugly, black-stoned
ring he was wearing on his middle finger, waving it before Ogden's
eyes" (HBP Am. ed. 207). So it appears that both harry and JKR are
quite familiar with this "American" gesture.

As for Peter pointing with his middle finger, which happens in PoA
("Harry saw that he used his middle finger because his index was
missing," PoA Am. ed. 367), I think it's as innocent as "tall man"
(the middle finger) in the children's game, "Where is Thumbkin?" Not
that Wormtail himself is innocent, but his middle finger is. He's
pointing at Sirius Black (and accusing him of murder) as he pleads his
own "innocence" and pleads for help. An obscene gesture under those
circumstance would not have helped his already weak cause.

Carol, who was looking for the reference in DH before she remembered
that it had to occur before he received his sliver hand in the
graveyard scene of GoF