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Peter Pettigrew is a bit of an enigma in the Harry Potter universe. On the surface he's quite embarrassing and repulsive, with his weeping and grovelling -- to Harry and to Voldemort -- and his sheer lack of pride in himself.
But he did turn the Potters over to the Dark Lord. And got away with it for 12 years...
Why did he do it? Well...
He is presented as a hanger-on to James Potter, someone who was deep in James' shadow and happy to be there. Everyone remembers him as the follower, brave enough but not terribly good at anything.
James, in the one flashback we've seen of them interacting, did not treat Peter at all well. Given that he's a teenage boy in that scene, but while teenage boys are quite horrible as a rule, there's being an idiot, and then there is being a *cruel* idiot.
Even though James apparently grew up a bit and 'deflated his head', he still hexed Snape -- when Lily wasn't there to see it -- so is there any reason to believe he treated Peter any better as they moved into young adulthood? I sort of doubt it.
Having Peter in the Order let Sirius and James have an in-built fan-club to oooh and ahh over their daring deeds. Peter might have been relegated to tasks as important as the ones Sirius is given in OotP (sit down, shut up, and let us use your house as a meeting place).
Since people do change quite a bit the first few years after finishing school, Peter probably did grow up too -- and away from James, Sirius, and Remus. After all, James had Lily to involve him, so Peter got even less attention than he had back at Hogwarts.
At loose ends, Peter ... meets different people? People with an apparently reasonable political bent? I can see Peter getting attention from a not-out-in-the-open Death Eater (the DE Rosier is named for a Medival demon that *seduced* people into evil!) that he really likes. Combine with James Potter not having as much time for Peter after his marriage, and it's possible that Peter resented that greatly.
Greatly enough to turn against James Potter?
Something made him betray James. And as no one consider that he could turn on James, it seems that no one paid Peter enough attention to notice how he was feeling or acting. Even is Voldemort terrified him into it as he says, it's quite appalling that the Dark Lord was paying enough attention to find the hooks to Peter's psyche, yet his own friends weren't.
Lord Voldemort, who can be very smooth and charming when he focuses (and when he's not planning some bat-shit plot), is good at getting a handle on people, and then using them as hammers. Peter, overlooked and underappreciated, could have fallen for praise and appreciation; everyone likes to be acknowledged for their good points.
It would have only taken a little work for Voldemort to turn Peter's gratefulness at being in James' special circle into resentfulness that Peter was only on the *fringe* of that circle. Once a person realizes they've been
played -- been made a fool of by people they thought were friends -- it's not a long trip for rage to bubble up.
There is little that tastes worse than a soured friendship. Nothing that can be quite so destructive.
---
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. William Congreve, The Mourning Bride
But he did turn the Potters over to the Dark Lord. And got away with it for 12 years...
Why did he do it? Well...
He is presented as a hanger-on to James Potter, someone who was deep in James' shadow and happy to be there. Everyone remembers him as the follower, brave enough but not terribly good at anything.
James, in the one flashback we've seen of them interacting, did not treat Peter at all well. Given that he's a teenage boy in that scene, but while teenage boys are quite horrible as a rule, there's being an idiot, and then there is being a *cruel* idiot.
Even though James apparently grew up a bit and 'deflated his head', he still hexed Snape -- when Lily wasn't there to see it -- so is there any reason to believe he treated Peter any better as they moved into young adulthood? I sort of doubt it.
Having Peter in the Order let Sirius and James have an in-built fan-club to oooh and ahh over their daring deeds. Peter might have been relegated to tasks as important as the ones Sirius is given in OotP (sit down, shut up, and let us use your house as a meeting place).
Since people do change quite a bit the first few years after finishing school, Peter probably did grow up too -- and away from James, Sirius, and Remus. After all, James had Lily to involve him, so Peter got even less attention than he had back at Hogwarts.
At loose ends, Peter ... meets different people? People with an apparently reasonable political bent? I can see Peter getting attention from a not-out-in-the-open Death Eater (the DE Rosier is named for a Medival demon that *seduced* people into evil!) that he really likes. Combine with James Potter not having as much time for Peter after his marriage, and it's possible that Peter resented that greatly.
Greatly enough to turn against James Potter?
Something made him betray James. And as no one consider that he could turn on James, it seems that no one paid Peter enough attention to notice how he was feeling or acting. Even is Voldemort terrified him into it as he says, it's quite appalling that the Dark Lord was paying enough attention to find the hooks to Peter's psyche, yet his own friends weren't.
Lord Voldemort, who can be very smooth and charming when he focuses (and when he's not planning some bat-shit plot), is good at getting a handle on people, and then using them as hammers. Peter, overlooked and underappreciated, could have fallen for praise and appreciation; everyone likes to be acknowledged for their good points.
It would have only taken a little work for Voldemort to turn Peter's gratefulness at being in James' special circle into resentfulness that Peter was only on the *fringe* of that circle. Once a person realizes they've been
played -- been made a fool of by people they thought were friends -- it's not a long trip for rage to bubble up.
There is little that tastes worse than a soured friendship. Nothing that can be quite so destructive.
---
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. William Congreve, The Mourning Bride
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Peter may have been feeling a great deal of resentment- but there is something rather nasty about Peter, as we saw in OOTP. Sirius and James may have been bullies, but it's Peter who laughs the hardest, who applauds the most, who revels in the cruelty being dealt to others. People like that are also the Dark Lord natural allies, as much as anyone else is. There is the future DE, laughing another students pain while basking in the glow- all with without lifting a finger.
And the thing is, one should not overlook Sirius' astonishingly lack of judgement. Sirius' contempt for Peter was so great that he thought Peter to be a weakling, even though this young man was also capable of being smart enough to become an Animagus, and seem enterprising enough to cheat on tests. Sirius only realises in retrospect during prison Peters' faults in character- and even then, he focus on Peter's weakness, instead of Peter malevolent strengths.
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Heh. Looks like there's a lot of future DEs currently attending Hogwarts, then.
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Perhaps the same could be said for Peter, he became what he was due to his friends, the ones who overlooked, ignored and insulted him.
Plus I think Peter has an inner nastiness that he either hid or was overlooked by the group. [Easy to do seeing how they acted.]
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Re: From D_S
I think that might have been part of what got him to turn. Having someone to listen to *him* and to agree with him would be quite Novel for Peter.
I've begun to doubt whether anyone had to turn Peter against James and Sirius (and by connection Remus) rather, I think it might just have been a mattered of getting Peter to act out against them.
And then of course, agaist The Order.
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I agree that there is an element of James (and Sirius) reaping what they sowed with Peter. And I agree with
There's also the question of what was at work on Voldemort's side. He must have had something to offer Peter in order for Peter to join the ranks of the DE's. While I'm not sure at this point how much Voldemort wanted Peter for a minion and how much Peter craved to be a DE, Voldemort had to have some kind of inducement. I surmise that Voldemort preyed upon Peter's weak points and said something to the effect of, "These people aren't your friends. Look how they treated you. I'll treat you better, you'll have respect, power, and beautiful women if you stick with me."
Peter was never a nice boy, nor was he just a hapless, dweeby victim. He had plenty of cruelty in his makeup and James and Sirius were too arrogant to see him as a threat.
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Well said.
And I think what is important to realise, what people seem to be missing:
Even if Sirius did look at him as if he was yesterday's champerpot fillings, even if James did not particularly treat him with respect, Peter really thought it was an okay idea to set a murdering maniac after a young family.
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It really is kinda scary, isn't it? But please notice that James and Lily did beg Sirius not to go ahead with his Grand Plan, probably realising that Peter was not reliable.
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Good point! While it's become a fanon cliche for Lily to somehow know that Peter is going to betray them, both she and James did implore Sirius to not go through with his plan. We can't know for sure at this time whether it was because they had suspicions of Peter's loyalty, but they might well have (and it could as well have been James as Lily) or because they knew Peter wasn't as weak as he seemed, or both. Sirius' arrogance in this regard really drives home the point about pride going before a fall.
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James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him
as Secret-Keeper instead of me...."
Sirius in PoA
Don't see anything about them begging him there. It was Sirius' idea, sure but they went ahead with it and they obviously thought Remus was not to be trusted to know about the change. And Dumbledore and any other Order member which may have helped James. If there's info about James and Lily begging Sirius not to put their lives on Peter's hands in the other books I'd like to be pointed to it since this is the only info I've found on the matter.
I think James and Lily are not blameless in this. They hadn't gotten wind of Peter's hatred either.
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In either case, what you said is true- it really is rather frighteing how no one- not Dumbledore, not Sirius, not even suspicious Moody- even suspected that Peter could be not only capable of betraying the potters, leading to the destruction of a young family, but then going out and killing 12 Muggles to cover his tracks.
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That's the basic theme of my story The Butterfly Road (http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=5189).
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You did a nice job of coming to a resolution. If you were to write more, I'd certainly love it. This is probably (currently) my favorite fic not written by After the Rain. I like this take on teh Marauders. It seems . . more real to me then *deep forever bonds of wonderful comraderia* given the personalities JKR hinted at in OotP
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I was about to comment the same. It is a wonderful thing to have a childhood friend...and sometimes, you get right sick of them and want to slap them and not see them for about 20 years.
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I think that is a big part of it. Peter, I think, wants to be needed. I mean look at what he whines to voldemort. "I am a faithful servant," (emph is in the text)
To me, he's not looking for power from Voldemort, but regonition that he's useful and that Voldemort needs him. I mean he then launches into a recital of everything he's done, which were horrible things, but those are what get him praise (ok damning praise at best).
I think that's also a big reason why he stayed to take care of Voldemort when Voldemort was helpless. Who else can say it was litterally a matter of life or death that they stay at the Dark Lord's side? As badly as Voldemort treated him Peter was needed.
There's a fic call Running Close to the Ground in which Peter is telling Remus that he turned on Voldemort not because he had some divine revelation but for the same reason he turned on James, which was (to put to in far simpler and less elegant terms than the author did) he was tired of being treated like nothing and being expected to die for more important people.