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, 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, 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 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 minion, as did the other Death Eaters. 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.

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.

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 notice that Peter is missing a index finger, while in the movie he misses 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 Goblet of Fire.
 * Wormtail is similar to Grima Wormtongue from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, 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 is the only known Death Eater that was not in Slytherin. Ironically he was in Gryffindor, something odd considering his cowardice.

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