hottakeperson

[hottakeperson]

Hot Take On Peter Pettigrew below. Might be hard to swallow. Open for discussion.

ESSAY #1

On Peter’s Magical Abilities

This isn’t really a headcanon, mostly canon facts with a bit of my conclusions. Here comes a long-ass essay on Peter Pettigrew’s magical and intellectual abilities, accompanied by every single objection I’ve ever witnessed during the years of being in Harry Potter fandom.

There is a lot of misconceptions about Peter Pettigrew that very few people are willing to dispel, because he’s just such a hated character, right?

The two Big Ones TM are: Peter’s reasons for betrayal (that will be covered in my next “essay”) and Peter’s magical skills. He is widely considered to be one of the weakest wizards in the whole Harry Potter series, if not THE weakest one. I will try to prove that it can’t be farther from truth.

1)  First things first, Peter was one of the three youngest Animagi ever. At the age of 15 he pulled off a feat that not many adult wizards were able to do. Along with the registered Animagi and Rita Skeeter, there were 11 known Animagi in the 20th century total.

“But he needed help from James and Sirius, and was the last one to become an Animagus.”

Minerva McGonagall needed tutelage from Dumbledore to become an Animagus. Not from 15-year-old students, she got help from the most powerful wizard alive. Would anyone call McGonagall a weak witch? Doubtful.

Next, Peter being the last one. Before you embark on a serious enterprise, you study the materials and plan the steps. It was common knowledge that the process of becoming an Animagus was extremely dangerous. It could result in agony, it could result in irreversible mutilation or even death. If there is one thing that everyone remembers about Peter, it’s how easily scared he was.  Knowing all this, he ought to have lagged and postponed it as much as possible, until enough peer pressure had built up to finally make him go for it. Furthermore, the standard time for performing the tasks necessary for the first transformation is one month. No matter how talented or skilled you are, it’s one month of carrying a mandrake leaf in your mouth and repeating the incantation at every dawn and dusk. As soon as that term comes to an end, you have to wait for the first electric storm. Electric storms aren’t known for being exactly punctual. They depend on a million things. Taking into account that Peter did all that shit not at the same time with James and Sirius, he could’ve waited for his electric storm for ages, after James and Sirius had already completed the ritual.

“But in the flashback he couldn’t list the traits of a werewolf despite having spent a lot of time next to one, and he tried to crib his friends’ test answers. How talentless does one have to be for that?”

To be quite frank, I really hate when Peter gets compared to Neville, but remember Neville? It was very clear that Neville had anxiety. He’d forget things, lose his rememberall, make a fool of himself in front of the teachers and was overall clumsy. Then, in a critical situation, he showed himself as a talented wizard, and the fandom welcomed that change. Neville overcame his anxiety once he grew up and learned to deal with his inner demons, and voila, turned out he actually had talent in him, it just hadn’t surfaced before! Yes, the reason for Neville’s anxiety gets named and the reason for Peter’s doesn’t (which is food for thought in another essay), but does it really matter if they clearly had the same problem, and that’s what serves as the main reason for comparison of these characters? Anxious people tend to do much better once they are out of school, and here we move on to the next topic.

2) Peter was a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

“But the Marauders always had him in tow, so of course they made him join.”

The Order of the Phoenix was a near-military organization, its members fought in a war. It wasn’t a “participation award” kind of club. They couldn’t afford accepting inept wizards to make them feel better. They needed members who knew how to put up a fight, skilled, powerful members. Dumbledore was the head of the organization, and he was a better judge of people’s abilities than, say, Sirius.

3) When confronted by Black in the street, Peter neutralized Sirius faster than Sirius could neutralize him, framed Sirius for treason and mass murder, faked his own death and escaped. He came up with all of this in mere seconds, under immense pressure. This plan was so good it had worked for 13 years.

With his wand behind his back, Peter wrecked a square and turned 12 people into mince with a single spell, Confringo. Now, this is a dueling spell, normally used in dueling competitions. Not real life fights where wizards might aim to kill each other. There are several mentions of using Confringo in life-or-death battles, and the most known are: Harry destroying the flying motorcycle’s side-car during the Battle of the Seven Potters and Hermione Granger trying to kill Nagini. A side-car is not a big deal, and Nagini lived on to the final chapters of the book. Evidence suggests that Confringo doesn’t normally have effects as devastating as when it was used by Peter. One spell, 12 victims and huge collateral damage.

“But he just said the incantation and pointed a wand, that’s easy.”

If that’s easy, why does most of the plot of Harry Potter books revolve around young wizards sweating away for seven years to learn to control and apply their powers when casting spells? Why aren’t they simply given lists of spells to memorize and graduate in a year? Why do inexperienced wizards end up accidentally killing themselves with the destructive magic they fail to control? See Crabbe burning himself to death with Fiendfyre. Why are other wizards in the story considered to be powerful for just shouting spells and pointing wands?

“But McGonagall said Peter was hopeless at dueling, and wasn’t in the rest of Marauders’ league talent-wise. And Sirius called Peter a talentless pathetic thing.”

First, see (1). Second, a character’s bias does not equal narrative truth. Rowling’s books are essentially detective stories that follow the laws of the genre. McGonagall’s and Rosmerta’s words (that fat little boy who worshipped James and Sirius) were supposed to lead us away from any assumptions about Peter other than him being a harmless, logical victim of Black’s crime. So that in the end we get shocked. The Ministry sent DEMENTORS and Hit Wizard Squads (equivalent of muggle S.W.A.T.)  after Sirius. All of this because they thought that Sirius had done what Pettigrew had actually done. We get this picture of Sirius as a terrifying dark wizard, but as soon as the culprit turns out to be Peter, he’s suddenly weak? But the killer seemed so nice and people told stories about him saving puppies! But Peter seemed so weak and people told stories about him being academically unsuccessful!

The Prisoner of Azkaban, chapter 10:

Fudge: “Nobody but trained Hit Wizards from the Magical Law Enforcement Squad would have stood a chance against Black once he was cornered. I was Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes at the time, and I was one of the first on the scene after Black murdered all those people. I — I will never forget it. I still dream about it sometimes. A crater in the middle of the street, so deep it had cracked the sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming.”

Now replace “Black” with “Pettigrew”.

3)  Peter is able to cast Avada Kedavra (with a wand that wasn’t his own, which makes it harder to perform magic AND he didn’t even win the wand’s allegiance).

What does it prove, other than Peter being a filthy murderer once again?

The Goblet of Fire , chapter 14:

Crouch Jr as Alastor Moody:“Avada Kedavra’s a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it — you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I’d get so much as a nosebleed.”

Crouch was insane, his words aren’t reliable.

Despite being a crazy Death Eater, Crouch Jr shares the title of the most effective DADA professor in Harry Potter history, along with Remus Lupin. I also doubt his mental issues prevented him from adequately estimating the features of Avada Kedavra.

4) Peter overpowered a Ministry employee Bertha Jorkins, helped Crouch overpower Moody who was known as the greatest auror of his time, and brewed the very first Polyjuice potion for Crouch.

“Voldemort calls Peter stupid and inept all the time and praises Crouch. Crouch must’ve overpowered Moody alone, and Peter was just a bonus.”

Voldemort is notoriously sadistic. He enjoys causing pain in all forms, mental and physical. He relishes people’s pain. He is also one of the best Legilimens users out there. Having such a rich history with Peter, Voldemort knows his every weak spot, every single one. Not only does he use Cruciatus on Peter liberally, he prods the old wounds, namely inferiority complex. And still, even Voldemort can’t refrain from admitting that Peter tends to have “moments of brilliance”. Peter was the one who found Voldemort when everyone else (the allegedly way more powerful and intelligent Death Eaters) had failed. Peter was the one who conjured a rudimentary body for Voldemort, and brought him back fully with the use of ancient magic even Voldemort doubted would work.

“Big deal, throwing a bone, a drop of blood, and a hand into a potion.”

Big deal, being good at potions? Ask the people who had Snape for teacher. Once again, Voldemort himself deemed the task to be complicated.  Would anyone question Voldemort’s competence in magic? Magic is about inherent ability first and foremost, not the set of steps to complete. Otherwise there would be no such things as muggles and squibs.

“Peter just followed Voldemort’s instructions for that potion.”

And all wizards in the story followed instructions of their teachers at some point. Are they all weak? Peter (or anybody, really) clearly had no reason to be interested in THAT potion until he found Voldemort in his incorporeal state, so why would he learn how to make it beforehand? Harry had Snape’s textbook to help him excel at potions in his sixth year, but does that nullify his power overall? Also, everyone forgets that Peter DID graduate Hogwarts. That requires passing N.E.W.T. levels.

5) Other things: Peter took part in creating the incredibly intricate Marauder’s map. He can cast non-verbal spells (N.E.W.T.-level advanced Transfiguration spell Incarcerous on Harry, stunning Ron and Crookshanks (with another wizard’s wand), levitation of Harry), which are also considered advanced magic that requires outstanding abilities.

Peter Pettigrew is a lot of things, but a weak wizard he isn’t.

ESSAY #2

On Peter's Relationship With the Marauders

I’ve been thinking long and hard on Peter’s friendship with James, Sirius and Remus and the reasons it all went awry. It’s not a secret by now that I’m dead sure that the Marauders were awful friends and people (when they were young), but here I will only focus on them being awful friends to Peter.

So what we know (or hear most of all): they were like brothers, they loved him as a brother, he threw it all in their faces when there was a chance to betray them. But what do we get of their actual, real relationship in the flashbacks Harry sees in the 5th book?

The Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 28:

“Wormtail looked anxious; he was chewing his fingernails, staring down at his paper, scuffing the ground with his toes. Every now and then he glanced hopefully at his neighbor’s paper.”

“Wormtail was the only one who didn’t laugh. “I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes, and the tufted tail,” he said anxiously, “but I couldn’t think what else —”

“How thick are you, Wormtail?” said James impatiently. “You run round with a werewolf once a month —”

Here’s where all comparison between Wormtail and Neville should end. You’d never see the Golden Trio treat Neville like that. The Marauders knew about Peter’s problem with studying, and yet they not only offered no support, they mocked him, they insulted him. They made the friend with anxiety and inferiority complex feel even weaker, they were beating him down, because he wouldn’t, he didn’t resist.

“James was still playing with the Snitch, letting it zoom farther and farther away, almost escaping but always grabbed at the last second. Wormtail was watching him with his mouth open. Every time James made a particularly difficult catch, Wormtail gasped and applauded. After five minutes of this, Harry wondered why James didn’t tell Wormtail to get a grip on himself, but James seemed to be enjoying the attention. Harry noticed his father had a habit of rumpling up his hair as though to make sure it did not get too tidy, and also that he kept looking over at the girls by the water’s edge.

“Put that away, will you?” said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a cheer. “Before Wormtail wets himself from excitement.”

Wormtail turned slightly pink but James grinned.”

Peter was head over heels in love with the Marauders, interpret that as you wish, but the fact of his deep affection remains. A small, ugly, fat boy with “no talent”, overtaken by anxiety, found a group where he’d be “accepted”. Of course he’d join on any terms. He’d tolerate the quips, he’d tolerate the unequal treatment, because he was just so enraptured – they weren’t just any group, they were the coolest kids in Hogwarts. A fifteen-year-old cheering like a child for your every move and taking your kicks as part of the deal – what arrogant teenager wouldn’t want someone like that around? James and Sirius sure did.

And they treated that love as a third-grade fun fair prize, right in Peter’s face.

Now, to Wormtail’s participation in bullying Snape. Here I’ll risk looking like a total weeb and reference an anime I don’t even like. Elfen Lied, which also deals with the issue of bullying and its consequences, makes a very good point: “When you’re miserable, you need someone even more miserable than yourself.”

“You’d want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn’t you?” Says Sirius in the Prisoner of Azkaban, and he’s right. Before Voldemort, the Marauders were the biggest bullies in the playground.

Wormtail, with his perfect ability to sense where the wind blows, understood that he could be in Snape’s place if he didn’t go along with the Marauders�� whims. He did not feel nearly powerful enough to confront them, and here we are talking about very regular power of human spirit. He felt, even if subconsciously, that he did not have the same rights and social power as the flagships of the gang, James and Sirius. And he didn’t even need to compromise with his conscience: his moral compass followed James and Sirius. He adored them like a puppy dog adores its masters (which is why I referred to them as Peter’s masters in my previous meta). When you’ve got a personality as weak as Wormtail’s, you absorb the values and opinions of your group like a sponge, all to feel like you belong. That’s how people end up becoming cult members, and Peter’s cult was the Marauders.

Here’s to think on what made Peter seek acceptance and protection so desperately, what made him blind to every single flaw in his “friends” and “benefactors”? What broke him into the cowardly mess we see in throughout the story? This can only be a headcanon, but I suspect child abuse, in or outside the family.

Now, to Peter’s becoming the Secret Keeper.

The Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 19:

“Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it,” Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backward. “I thought it was the perfect plan … a bluff… . Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they’d use a weak, talentless thing like you… . It must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters.”

Let’s now put aside Sirius’ strategy of being oblivious to enemies usually going for the most weak-spirited (some of the Death Eaters were in the same year as the Marauders, they had to know their personalities) and look closer at what he actually thought, even back then, about Peter. A weak, talentless thing. Pardon me referencing my old essay on Peter’s power here, but I’m doing it. So, granted you agree with that one, what do we get? The Marauders, Sirius in particular, cared so little about the man that after spending about 10 years by his side they had no clear sense of what he was capable of as a wizard? Not in some separate field of knowledge only academicians could discern, but in a field of everyday practice? Is that what can be called a close friendship?

On to the next point, they’d planned this bluff while still trusting Peter, meaning, they deemed the man so desperately attached, so wholeheartedly loyal, took him for granted so much, that they didn’t for one second think that he was capable of making an autonomous decision, that he, if captured, could put himself above them, even after all he’d been subjected to in this relationship. That isn’t what you think of separate human beings who are concerned about themselves. They denied Peter even the possibility of that.

According to Pottermore, using Cruciatus on Secret Keepers was common practice. Many people get confused about how Fidelius Charm works. Yes, one cannot divulge the information while subjected to any spell, one has to do it willingly. But the strategy of torture is always: a session of excruciating pain, then some time for the Secret Keeper to decide whether they preferred to spill or whether they preferred another session. We don’t know how many sessions Peter had endured to become a Death Eater and later to divulge the Secret, but it had been a year before he was made the Secret Keeper and a week before the Secret was uttered. Remember, Voldemort’s favourite form of torture wasn’t Cruciatus, it was mind magic. Now think what he’d go for first, when it came to Peter.

And when Peter did face that choice, after his mind had been searched and gutted by Voldemort, after his every hidden sore was pried open and pierced, after he’d had a lesson in his friends’ true feelings, how could he choose anything but what he had chosen? Alone and unloved, worthless in every sense of the word except that one very special thing Voldemort craved, with nothing but his and his mother’s life at stake, what could he have chosen?

And then, after Voldemort’s downfall, he found an illusion of home, an illusion of acceptance as something other, lesser than his own self, he was finally loved, still inferior, but loved, as a small animal in a child’s hands. After almost 13 years, even that was ripped away, and all at once those who called themselves his friends decades ago, those he had let down so much, were after him, and the one person who’d mourned his death minutes ago, was now hating him with burning passion. So Peter returned to Voldemort.

“At the hotel we had separate rooms, but in the middle of the night she came sobbing into mine, and we made it up very gently. You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go.” – V. Nabokov, Lolita

[hottakeperson]

Dude why do so many people in the fandom insist that Buggy has a dad bod? I like a dad bod myself, but dude literally has a six-pack IN CANON. Watch/read more attentively maybe.