Peter Pettigrew

"Your devotion is nothing more than cowardice. You would not be here if you had anywhere else to go."

- Lord Voldemort to Pettigrew

Peter Pettigrew (1960 - April 1998 ), also known as Wormtail, was the wizard who betrayed James and Lily Potter to Lord Voldemort. Peter Pettigrew defected from the Order of the Phoenix to the Death Eaters sometime during the First Wizarding War; after the Dark Lord's fall, he faked his own death and spent years living in his Animagus form as the Weasleys' pet rat, Scabbers. Pettigrew played a key role in Voldemort's rebirth, and continued to serve him during the Second Wizarding War. He met his end in the spring of 1998, when, in a moment of rare mercy, he paused in his attempt to strangle Harry Potter, who reminded him of a life debt. Pettigrew was subsequently strangled to death by the silver hand his master had constructed for him.

Early Life
"Hero-worshiped Black and Potter. Never quite in their league, talent-wise. I was often rather sharp with him... Stupid boy... Foolish boy..."

- Minerva McGonagall on Pettigrew

Pettigrew began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1971 and was sorted into Gryffindor house. He soon became friends with James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black, fellow Gryffindors whom he idolized for their popularity and talent.

He, James and Sirius soon discovered Remus to be a werewolf, but they did not abandon him as a friend as many other wizards would have. Instead, they spent years learning how to become Animagi so that they could accompany Remus during his transformations. Pettigrew's Animagus form was a rat, from which was derived his nickname "Wormtail". The four friends called themselves the Marauders and designed a map to navigate Hogwarts.

Betrayal
"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort!"

- Remus Lupin to Pettigrew, in the Shrieking Shack

After graduating from Hogwarts, Pettigrew and his friends joined the Order of the Phoenix and fought against Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters during the First Wizarding War. At some point, however, Pettigrew began working as a double agent for Voldemort, out of pure fear and the belief that nothing could be gained from opposing him. Despite being considered a low-ranking soldier for his cowardice and lacking skills, Pettigrew was given the Dark Mark and was accepted into the ranks of the Death Eaters. He was then appointed the Secret-Keeper for James and Lily Potter when they went into hiding after a prophecy was made about their infant son, Harry, being the one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord. On Halloween night, Pettigrew betrayed his friends, and Voldemort killed the Potters, but was defeated when his Killing Curse rebounded off Harry and resulted in him losing his physical form. Upon arriving to the wreckage of the Potter's house, Pettigrew deduced what happened and took Voldemort's wand, which was left among the rubble, in fear that the Ministry would discover his treason through inspecting it, and hid it in an undisclosed location.

Apart from Lily Potter and James Potter, Sirius Black was the only one to know Pettigrew was their Secret-Keeper; it had been his idea. Furious and devastated, Sirius pursued Pettigrew, wanting revenge. When he closed in on him, Pettigrew screamed that Sirius had betrayed the Potters for everyone to hear and then blew up the street, killing twelve Muggles and faking his own death by cutting off a finger and leaving it behind as he transformed into a rat and fled. Sirius was arrested for betraying the Potters and killing Pettigrew and the Muggles and imprisoned in Azkaban without a trial.

Pettigrew was unjustly awarded the Order of Merlin for his confrontation with Sirius.

Scabbers


Pettigrew went into hiding as Scabbers the rat, hoping to avoid Voldemort's other supporters, as Voldemort met his downfall on Peter's instructions, making him suspected as a traitor. He came into the possession of Percy Weasley and, later, Ron Weasley. It was clear Scabbers was an extraordinary rat; he was unusually old for a rat of his species, which had a life expectancy of three years, yet the Weasley family owned it for twelve years. He chose to be adopted by a wizard family so he could keep track of what's happening of the wizarding world, so he can rejoin his master when he rises, and bring Harry as a welcome-back gift, so no Death Eater would dare claim him a traitor.

In 1993, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban after seeing a picture of Pettigrew's rat form in a Daily Prophet article about the Weasleys' trip to Egypt. Scabbers began to thin and go bald. Ron thought this was due to Hermione Granger's pet cat Crookshanks constantly harassing it, while Harry thought Scabbers was nearing the end of his lifespan, but it was in fact out of fear that Sirius would find him and get his revenge at last. Eventually, Pettigrew faked his death yet again by making it look like Crookshanks ate him, which led to Ron and Hermione's friendship to nearly shatter, until he was discovered hiding in Hagrid's hut.

That same year, Remus Lupin, who had been unaware of Pettigrew's duplicity and believed him to be dead, began teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. He began to suspect the truth when he saw Peter's name appear on the Marauder's Map, a charmed parchment created by him and his friends that came into Harry's possession. In June 1994, Pettigrew was unmasked by Sirius and Remus. First, he tried to pin all the blame on Sirius, but as evidence was against him, he tried to plea for mercy from each person in the Shack (other than the unconscious Snape). Regardless, all of them were disgusted by his cowardice, and the fact that he would dare ask them for mercy after deceiving them in so many ways infuriated them even more, and Remus and Sirius planned to kill Pettigrew, but Harry stopped them after Pettigrew claimed that Harry's father never would have killed him, and Harry's own belief that his father wouldn't want his best friends to become killers. Although Harry wanted to hand Pettigrew over to the Dementors and use him to clear Sirius's name at last, this created a life debt between Harry and Pettigrew.

The plan was upset, though, when the full moon rose and Remus transformed into his werewolf form, forcing Sirius to take on his Animagus form, that of a dog, to protect Harry, Ron and Hermione. Pettigrew took advantage of the chaos, transforming into his rat form and fleeing.

The Servant Rejoins his Master
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son. Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master. Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe."

- Pettigrew performing the ritual for Lord Voldemort's rebirth

After his escape from capture at Hogwarts, Pettigrew had no choice but to rejoin his master, or Sirius and Remus would surely kill him. He went to retrieve Voldemort's wand, then traveled to Albania where he learned from the rats there of a dark shadow Voldemort that took them over and killed them.

On his way to his master, Peter ran into Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry witch who was on holiday in Albania, while foolishly stopping at an inn for food. Although she recognized him, Pettigrew was able to lure her into the forest and overpowered her, and then handed her to the Dark Lord. Under torture, Jorkins gave them information that helped Voldemort make plans for an attack on Harry Potter.

Pettigrew milked venom from the snake Nagini to strengthen Voldemort and provide him with a rudimentary body. He carried Voldemort's weak, small body on the long journey back to Britain, where they took up temporary residence in the Riddle House outside of Little Hangleton. Voldemort called Peter by his Marauder name, "Wormtail". Over time, Pettigrew tried unsuccessfully to convince Voldemort to use someone other than Harry Potter to rebuild his body, but Voldemort saw through this as an attempted desertion, and claimed that Pettigrew was regretting of ever returning to Voldemort in the first place. As such, Pettigrew failed to escape his master's clutches. For his next assignment, Pettigrew was sent with Barty Crouch Jr., another Death Eater, to capture former Auror Alastor Moody. While Crouch became Moody's double and set off in his place to Hogwarts, Pettigrew was assigned to watch over the imperiused Barty Crouch Sr. Pettigrew neglected his duty, with the result that Crouch escaped, and nearly sabotaged the plan. However, he was intercepted by Crouch Jr. Pettigrew was then subjected to punishment through the Cruciatus Curse.

He also had an important role in the rebirth of Lord Voldemort. When Harry Potter was delivered to the graveyard of Little Hangleton per Voldemort's plot, Pettigrew killed Cedric Diggory on Voldemort's orders and performed the ritual to restore Voldemort to physical form, reluctantly sacrificing his hand. As a reward for his assistance, Voldemort replaced the hand with a silver one.

Pettigrew was later assigned to "assist" Severus Snape &mdash; which Snape interpreted as Pettigrew being his servant.

Battle of Malfoy Manor
"You’re going to kill me? After I saved your life? You owe me, Wormtail!"

- Harry Potter as Pettigrew attempts to strangle him

Around Easter of 1998, during the height of the Second Wizarding War, Harry, Ron and Hermione were brought to the Manor by a group of Snatchers led by Fenrir Greyback. Bellatrix Lestrange isolated Hermione in order to interrogate and torture her about how the trio obtained Godric Gryffindor's Sword. When they heard a noise from the dungeon below, Pettigrew was sent to investigate.

When he arrived, Pettigrew was tackled by Harry and Ron, who had been freed by Dobby the house-elf. He began to strangle Harry, but Harry reminded him that he owed him a life debt. When Pettigrew hesitated, his brief moment of mercy caused his silver hand to turn on him, strangling and killing him, despite Harry and Ron's best efforts to restrain it.

Physical Appearance
Pettigrew was an extremely short man (no taller than Harry or Hermione when they were about 13 to 14 years old) with small, watery eyes and a pointed nose. In his youth, his hair was mousy brown, but, by his mid-thirties, it had thinned out, lost its colour, and acquired a large bald patch. He was also described as "fat" in his youth, but when forced to return to his human form in the Shrieking Shack, he looked as though he lost much weight in a short time. Pettigrew spoke with a squeaky voice. In 1981, he cut off the index finger of his right hand as part of a ploy to fake his own death, and, fourteen years later, he severed his entire right hand at the request of Lord Voldemort. Voldemort used magic to give Pettigrew a shining silver, glove-like replacement.

Personality and Traits


Peter Pettigrew was characterized by weakness. Although he was sorted into Gryffindor, he did not appear to be very brave. In his youth, he latched onto James Potter and Sirius Black, more talented and popular students, idolizing them and seeming to live vicariously through their accomplishments — as well as their occasional bullying of others such as Severus Snape. Pettigrew allies himself with the strongest and apparently winning side that would accept him, thus leading him to becoming a Death Eater when the opportunity came.

Pettigrew betrayed his closest friends to Lord Voldemort when his life was threatened, showing an incredible level of both disloyalty and cowardice. Even Voldemort seemed to disdain him for the latter, and treated him as nothing more than a lowly household servant, as did the other Death Eaters. When Lord Voldemort first came to him, Peter defected from the Order of the Phoenix and became a Death Eater out of fear, and when Voldemort fell, Peter did not attempt to find him, nor tried to kill Harry Potter under Albus Dumbledore's watchful eye, until he was sure Voldemort would be revived to protect him. When cornered by Sirius and Remus, Peter begged for mercy without shame, despite having used and betrayed everyone there.

Pettigrew is also greedy and ambitious, as he joined the The Marauders in order to acquire fame and glory. He expected that, if he turned Harry Potter in to the Death Eaters, he would be rewarded instead of punished. He did the same thing with Bertha Jorkins, expecting Voldemort to reward him for capturing a Ministry of Magic employee, despite not knowing her uses. Pettigrew also thought that by severing his hand for reviving Voldemort, he would be rewarded.

However, in spite of others claiming that Pettigrew was a "weak, talentless thing", he was at least cunning enough to escape Sirius after Voldemort's first defeat, frame his former friend for his crimes, and fake his own death, living for years in his Animagus form, as well as manipulating Bertha Jorkins to accompany her to Lord Voldemort, despite not knowing what use she could be. Ironically, Pettigrew's cunning, ambitious nature, disregard for rules (illegally becoming an Animagus and causing mischief with Marauders), and becoming a Dark Wizard, would make him more suitable as a Slytherin. Pettigrew was also willing to sever parts of his body to serve his purposes, such as his finger to fake his death, and his hand to revive Voldemort. This self-mutilation may be one of the few moments that Pettigrew shows the bravery of a Gryffindor, though he may just be desperate and was left with no other options at those moments.

Pettigrew also showed a "tiny, merciful impulse" when he hesitated to hurt Harry Potter in 1998, though he swiftly tried "to undo that moment of weakness", unsuccessfully and to his death. Harry later reflected on how this showed "a bit of regret" on Pettigrew's part.

Magical abilities and skills
Despite Professor McGonagall claiming Pettigrew to be a less than average student, he showed great magical skills and strategies hidden behind his cowardice and weakness.
 * Animagus Transformation: With the help of his friends, Peter became an Animagus at age 15 and could transform himself into a rat.
 * Blasting Curse: In 1981, he used a very powerful blasting curse which blew up a street and killed 12 Muggles simultaneously.
 * Killing Curse: He was able to use the Killing Curse under his master's orders.
 * Wand mastery: He was able to use the Killing Curse, as well as conjure ropes, levitate objects, and light a fire, to their full effects with his master's wand, which he had not won allegiance.
 * Potioneer: He was a skilled Potioneer. In 1994 and 1995, he brewed several complex Dark potions to help Voldemort to regain a body.
 * Nonverbal magic: As an adult, Peter was able to perform magic, such as conjuration, nonverbally. During his escape, he nonverbally Stunned both Ron and Crookshanks before fleeing.
 * Silver Hand: After Peter severed his right hand to revive Voldemort to his physical body, he was given a new silver glove-like hand that has strength superior to that of his former hand. This hand is impervious to the Revulsion Jinx, and possibly other spells. This hand was also designed to strangle its owner for any signs of treason or weakness, which is what led to Pettigrew's demise.

The Marauders
During his seven years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Peter has came to admire James Potter and Sirius Black for their high popularity and intellect. Peter then proceeded to ask them to be their friends. They accepted him, but in a slightly patronizing way. Regardless, they were good friends in school. When their fourth friend, Remus Lupin, was discovered to be a werewolf, the three others became Animagus illegally to accompany him. The four of them eventually came to be known as the Marauders.

While James, Sirius, and Remus respected Peter as a true friend and was willing to die for him, Peter himself stuck with them only to live off of their accomplishments and fame, and due to his lack of bravery, would not die for them in anyway. When Lord Voldemort approached him, Peter immediately betrayed the Marauders to the Death Eaters out of fear for his own life. Peter then betrayed James and Lily, who entrusted him to be their Secret-Keeper, as well as framing Sirius for being the traitor, sentencing him to Azkaban to suffer for twelve years.

Sirius, who came to distrust Remus during the First Wizarding War, instead chose Peter to be the Secret-Keeper, indicating he trusted him more than a werewolf. This proved to be a mistake that Sirius would regret for the rest of his life. When Sirius learned the truth, he became obsessed to kill Peter in retribution, and when this treachery was uncovered by Sirius and Remus, they showed no mercy and tried to kill Peter for what he did, only stopped at Harry's request.

Ronald Weasley
When Pettigrew was hiding from the authority as "Scabbers" the rat, he came into the possession of Percy Weasley, who eventually handed him down to his younger brother, Ronald Weasley.

Throughout his ownership of Scabbers, Ron was not especially fond of him at first glance. However, at certain cases, such as when Scabbers bit Gregory Goyle's knuckle, Ron showed affections for the rat. When Scabbers faked his death and framed Crookshanks the cat, Ron was so devastated that he nearly ended his friendship with Hermione Granger.

When Ron discovered Scabbers to be hiding in Rubeus Hagrid's hut, he was overjoyed. However, Scabbers, who was in fear of the wrathful Sirius Black, tried repeatedly to flee, but was prevented by Ron's grasp. Ron absolutely refused to believe Sirius and Remus when they explained Scabbers' true identity, until he saw it with his own eyes that it was the traitorous Peter Pettigrew. Ron took this as a personal insult and was too disgusted to respond to Pettigrew's pleas.

Four years later, when Pettigrew was being strangled by his own silver hand, Ron tried to save him with a Revulsion Jinx, but failed. When Pettigrew died, Ron did not bother to spare a look at the corpse in favour to rescuing Hermione.

Harry Potter
When Harry Potter first heard of the false version of Peter Pettigrew being a hero for challenging the traitor Sirius Black, Harry felt empathy for Pettigrew for his bravery. Also, Harry thought that Hermione and Crookshanks should feel responsible for Scabbers' supposed death. However, when he found out it was all of Pettigrew's elaborate deception, Harry became hateful and disgusted with Pettigrew's treasonous nature.

However, Harry could not stand to see his father's two best friends become murderers, and requested that Pettigrew be sent to Azkaban instead. This formed a life debt between the two, despite Harry not wanting it at all. When this was repaid in the Battle of Malfoy Manor, to which it cost Pettigrew his own life due to a small impulse of mercy, Harry could not help but feel a little sorry for Pettigrew's behalf.

Severus Snape
During their studentship at Hogwarts, Pettigrew enjoyed bullying Snape along with the other Marauders. In fact, Pettigrew only did so because he had the other three backing him up, knowing that they would protect him from Snape. Snape, in turn, despised Pettigrew almost as much as he did the other three.

When Snape found out that Pettigrew was the one who betrayed his beloved Lily Potter to Lord Voldemort, Snape's extreme loathing towards Sirius, who he originally thought was the traitor, turned towards Pettigrew instead. Coupled with the early days of bullying, Snape purposely misinterpreted that when Voldemort assigned Pettigrew to assist Snape, treated him as a lowly household servant instead, and enjoyed humiliating and abusing Pettigrew.

Lord Voldemort
During the First Wizarding War, Lord Voldemort, knowing Pettigrew's cowardice and affiliation with the Order of the Phoenix, approached and coerced him into serving the Death Eaters. Although Pettigrew gave many valuable information about the Order, Voldemort still treated him with disdain for his extreme cowardice.

When Voldemort met his first downfall due Pettigrew giving the secret location of the Potter family, Pettigrew did not tried to find his master, instead biding his time until he can turn Harry in to avoid being accused of treason. When his duplicity was uncovered, Pettigrew had no choice but return to a damaged Voldemort, but regretted that decision, as he tried to escape several times. Regardless, Voldemort rewarded Pettigrew with a new silver hand for providing his own for a sacrifice.

However, Voldemort still did not trust nor respect Pettigrew, and enchanted the hand to strangle the man for any attempts of treason. Also, he treated Pettigrew as a lowly servant, and assigned him to serve other Death Eaters as such. Throughout his services, Pettigrew was addressed as "Wormtail" by Voldemort in an offensive way.

Death Eaters
The Death Eaters resented Pettigrew, because it was based on his information that Voldemort met his first downfall at Godric's Hollow. The ones who were imprisoned at Azkaban kept screaming in their sleep about Pettigrew being a traitor towards them. According to Sirius Black, if any of the Death Eaters who evaded imprisonment got wind of Pettigrew was still alive, they would try to kill him. It was this reason that Pettigrew disguised himself as Wormtail for twelve years, to hide himself from their wrath.

When Pettigrew returned to his services as a Death Eater, he was assigned to serve his colleagues, such as Severus Snape and the Malfoy family, as a lowly household servant. Both of them treated him in a lowly manner, and similar to Voldemort, called him "Wormtail" offensively.

Author's Comments
J. K. Rowling has explained Pettigrew's switch of allegiance by saying that he "out of cowardice will stand in the shadow of the strongest person". She also said that James Potter and Sirius Black allowed Pettigrew to be their friend "in a slightly patronizing way" and that he ended up being a better wizard and better at hiding secrets than they ever knew.

Behind the scenes

 * In Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius and Remus said that Wormtail "needed all the help that he could get" while describing how he, Sirius, and James became Animagi. However, he is able to perform the Avada Kedavra curse in Goblet of Fire, which the fake Moody says takes a powerful bit of magic. In addition, the curse he used to kill the Muggles (which Sirius was framed for) caused an explosion that "made a crater so deep that it cracked the sewer below."
 * In Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry notices that Peter is missing an index finger, while in the movie he is missing a ring finger.
 * Wormtail is portrayed by Timothy Spall in the movies starting with Prisoner of Azkaban. His film portrayal makes him appear much older than his canonical age of 33 or 34 years. It is possible that living as a rat took a toll on his health and made him appear older than he really was. In addition, instead of the index finger of his right hand, his left hand's ring finger is missing in the film portrayals Despite this, he still cuts off his right hand in The Goblet of Fire.
 * Wormtail is similar to Grima Wormtongue from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, seeing as how they have similar names and are both the most pathetic servants of the villain(s).
 * It was predicted by many fans that Wormtail would kill Remus Lupin with his silver hand, as Remus is a werewolf. However, J.K. Rowling subsequently mentioned in an interview that, contrary to what is seen in movies, in her view werewolves are not affected by silver. Ironically the Marauder that does die by the silver hand is not Moony, but Wormtail himself.
 * Many fans (and a prediction book) predicted that Wormtail would have some part to play in the destruction of Voldemort (because of his life debt), such as telling Harry how to destroy the Horcrux inside him without dying himself.
 * Wormtail appears in all seven Harry Potter books, although his appearance in Order of the Phoenix is in the Pensieve rather than in person.
 * Wormtail has also appeared in all six of the produced films so far. He will most likely appear in the seventh film.
 * Wormtail is the only known Death Eater that was not in Slytherin. Ironically he was in Gryffindor, something odd considering his cowardice.
 * Ironically, Wormtail's cunning, ambitious nature, disregard for rules, and becoming a Dark Wizard, would make him more suitable as a Slytherin, as the direct opposite of a Gryffindor.
 * Interestingly, in The Philosopher's Stone, despite his being a Death Eater, he bites Gregory Goyle, the son of another Death Eater, on the knuckle during Harry, Ron, and Hermione's first formal meeting with Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film)

Notes and references
Peter Pettigrew Peter Pettigrow Peter Pettigrew Питер Петтигрю