That Rat!

There are certain aspects of JK Rowling’s writing that most of her readers are aware of by now. Her deliberate attempt to hoodwink and possibly mislead the reader till the very end. Quirrell was the spluttering, scared, timid teacher until he proved to be the carrier of Voldemort. Snape was the supposed Harry killer, until we found out that he was trying to save Harry. Sirius Black was this villain who betrayed Harry’s parents, until he proved to be the most faithful. Barty Crouch as Mad Eye appeared to be Harry’s well-wisher until he turned out to be a death eater! JK often tries to get the attention off the main events by giving stress on unimportant things.

And this has led me to analyze the rat! Ever since the third book, Peter Pettigrew has been someone we all have detested, hated even, for betraying the Potters and falsely convicting Sirius. We have considered him to a leach, a pest, who deserves to die the most painful death ever! Of all the dark characters in the book, Peter is probably the most unlikable character. We all like Snape, even in his unfair, miserable, sadist attitude, there is something attractive about Snape. Voldemort is a glorified villain. But Peter… he is definitely someone we would all like to think doesn’t exist! Or isn’t too important.

And yet, there is something about Pettigrew that does not fit logic. Every time Peter is mentioned, JK has tried to shove something very different in our face to get the attention away from Peter. And dislike him as we all do, we are happy to get distracted. I thought let me take a look at someone who played such an important role in Harry’s misery from birth till date!

Of what we know about Peter is mainly through half a dozen people. Rosemarta, McGonagall, Fudge, a little of Harry’s interpretation, Remus, Sirius and Voldemort.
And what do these people have to say about Peter?
Rosemarta: “Pettigrew… that fat boy who was always tagging around them at Hogwarts?”
McGonagall: “Hero-worshipped Black and Potter. Never quite in their league talent-wise. Stupid-boy, foolish-boy, he was always hopeless at dueling.
Fudge: It was little Peter Pettigrew, another of Potter’s friends.
Harry: Sirius Black blasting Peter Pettigrew (who resembled Neville Longbottom)
Sirius:
- You always liked big friends who would look after you.
- Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they’d use a weak, talent less thing like you.
Lupin: Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius.
Voldemort:
- Your devotion is nothing more than cowardice.
- Wormtail I need someone with brains.
And of course JK herself has tried her level best to dismiss Peter as someone not that important or useful!

Let’s take Rosemarta’s description first. According to her Peter is a fat boy who is always tagging around Sirius and James. What does that mean? Does that mean that this fat boy can’t be dangerous? No, but the impression we get is, he is utterly useless ball of flesh tagging along James and Sirius.

McGonagall says that he was never quite in the league of James and Sirius. Whatever does the word quite mean? Not on par? Alright, so he wasn’t on par with them, but does that mean he was useless? No… does that mean he didn’t have talent? No… it only means that he was maybe not as good as them. Okay, so he wasn’t good at dueling. But very honestly, Hermione isn’t very skilled at dueling either. She gets flustered, at times frozen, when she is faced with a really nasty curse. Will we call Hermione stupid and foolish?? So why do we conclude that Peter is…

Fudge calls him little Peter… another one of those things we say when we mention someone who is not up to the mark!

Harry listens to the conversation between Rosemarta, McGonagall and Fudge and concludes that he was like Neville Longbottom. Immediately we think he is this scared, stupid fool. Of course, he proves very un-Neville like in the end of book 3, but we, as readers, do not really let go of the Neville like impression do we?

Sirius makes him look like a sucker, ready to milk as much as he can from useful people and not give anything back. Weak and talent less he calls him.

Remus confesses that James and Sirius had to help Peter to become an animagus, which we conclude to mean that he was pretty ill-equipped to do it on his own, or just plain dumb.

Lord Voldemort himself confesses that he knows Peter is staying with him out of cowardice. He also dismisses Peter as a brainless guy! After all the years of Pettigrew's service, why does Voldemort feel the need to say he was brainless?

Alright, now let’s look at a few things objectively.

- I am a rat! Peter needed all the help in the world to become an animagus. But do you think he could have managed it, if he didn’t have some meat of his own?? Do you honestly think someone like Dean or Luna can become an animagus if Harry, Ron and Hermione broke their heads over it? And if they did manage, I would not consider them stupid or talent less to say the least!
- I am the spy! If Peter managed to spy on James and company for Voldemort for over a year before James’s death without getting caught, can he be considered dumb? Can a stupid person manage to remain an undetected spy for so long? Can someone trust you with their life then? Peter managed to hoodwink not just Sirius or James but also Dumbledore, thoroughly!! And that is no work of a stupid, foolish boy!
- I cut my toe! To think on your feet when cornered and come up with a master plan is no easy feat! And yet Peter managed it. He blew off the street, escaped and made sure that Black is arrested! Even Black himself didn’t understand that Peter was alive that long as a rat! Cowardly maybe, but not dumb!
- I am from Gryffindor! If Peter was in Gryffindor, there has to be some qualities of a typical Gryffindor in him. (Although that’s slightly questionable. There are lots of undeserving Gryffindorites too.) I think he was better suited in Slytherin.

All this apart, Peter Pettigrew caused more damage than any of us are ready to acknowledge.
- It was Peter who was a spy for Voldemort when Voldemort was chasing the Potters.
- It was Peter who passed on the information to Voldemort, which led to the murder of the Potters.
- It was Peter who had the sense to flick Voldemort’s wand from Godrics Hollow!
- It was Peter who put Sirius in Azkaban for more than 12 years.
- It was Peter of all the other Death Eaters who found Voldemort.
- It was Peter who found Bertha Jorkins and brought her to Voldemort, allowing him to create a master plan.
- It was Peter who helped perform the act that brought Voldemort back to his body.
- It was Peter who was sent to spy on Snape in HBP.

Has any single person in the Harry Potter series done so many destructive things? Has any other character caused such mayhem? And yet, JK tries to convince us that he is no good???

Well, something is amiss in this whole Peter Pettigrew episode. We all know that he owes his life to Harry and Harry will be repaid for the same… but… that can’t be all. I have a feeling that Peter has a role to play, a major role to play, for that rat is no timid mouse!