Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
In today’s video, we’re going to be discussing another perplexing “what if” scenario.
That is, what if Peter Pettigrew had never betrayed Lily and James Potter?
Yes, I’m talking about an alternate turn of events where Pettigrew wasn’t…well…a
RAT, figuratively speaking, of course.
So, let’s get into it!
When Peter Pettigrew first came to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it is said
that the Sorting Hat took an entire five minutes before deciding to place him in Gryffindor.
As we are to understand it, the Hat was wavering between Gryffindor and Slytherin, showing
very early on that Pettigrew had inclinations towards the characteristics most seen in students
of the green and silver House.
That later became obvious after Sirius Black revealed Peter to be a traitor and Death Eater
who had framed him for Pettigrew’s crimes, faked his own death, and lived as a rat for
12 years, Peter was actually quite clever, ambitious, and resourceful – the main characteristics
of a Slytherin pupil.
In any case, having been sorted into Gryffindor, he very obviously lacked the qualities of
his fellow House mates – he was not particularly brave or courageous, and being that he was
somewhat of an underdog himself, he never stood up for the “little guy.”
After all, Peter was the somewhat over-looked member of the Gryffindor gang, the Marauders,
a group of friends that consisted of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and, of
course, Peter Pettigrew.
The group bonded after discovering that Lupin was both a wizard AND a werewolf, forming
the Marauders and going to great lengths to all secretly become Animagi.
That is, James, Sirius and Peter each taught themselves how to turn into an animal at will.
Peter’s Animagus form was that of a rodent, which in the end turned out to be quite fitting,
as he was quite the RAT, double-crossing the Order of the Phoenix and defecting to Lord
Voldemort’s service as a spy.
But it makes me wonder, was it this very perception of Peter – that he was rat-like in nature,
not that bright, and referred to by his best mates as “Wormtail” – that led to Pettigrew’s
cowardice and betrayal of those he was closest to?
What’s more, to be in a position where your best mates were idolized for their popularity
– James Potter was a Quidditch star in his own right and Sirius was a handsome “bad
boy” type – it may have been difficult to maintain a sense of self-worth and confidence.
Which brings us to Peter’s choice to become a Death Eater.
It’s said that Pettigrew double-crossed the Order of the Phoenix and all of his closest
friends to follow Voldemort for one simple, cowardly, and selfish reason: he didn’t
believe there was any way to beat the Dark Lord.
So, Wormtail decided to join him before it was too late.
BUT if Peter’s experience at Hogwarts had been just a little bit different, would he
have succumbed to such cowardice, prematurely becoming a Death Eater and giving up the Potters
to Voldemort?
After all, much later on in the series, Pettigrew shows hesitation in strangling Harry, finally
showing some semblance of courage in resisting one of Lord Voldemort’s direct orders: to
kill Harry.
So, he did have the ability to be brave somewhere inside of him.
What if he’d been able to tap into that characteristic decades earlier?
Now, in my opinion, in order for Pettigrew to have demonstrated this type of courage
during Voldemort’s initial rise to power, perhaps it needed to start with the simple
things.
You know, like his best mates NOT referring to him as “Wormtail.”
As we’ve briefly touched on, Pettigrew was clearly the lowest ranking member of the Marauders
when it came to, well, everything.
Professor McGonagall said he wasn’t a very good student, he wasn’t idolized by his
peers as James and Sirius were, he wasn’t particularly good looking by any stretch of
the imagination, and to top it all off, his so-called best friends basically called him
a rat.
I know, I know.
He was an Animagus who could transform into a rodent…but surely there was a more respectable
name they could’ve come up with other than Wormtail?
It just doesn’t sound very flattering if you ask me.
Of course, I’m not saying that it’s James’ fault that Peter betrayed him and his wife.
Obviously, foolish childhood antics like name-calling can’t be used to justify a betrayal that
leads to murder.
BUT what I AM saying is that perhaps if Pettigrew had been given a little bit more respect,
especially amongst his very best friends, he could’ve become a much more courageous
and confident wizard indeed.
So, if Peter had been treated better by the Marauders and had been able to stand up for
himself more often, he wouldn’t have felt the need to go running to sign up to be a
Death Eater at the first sign of danger.
He wouldn’t have panicked – instead he would’ve stayed loyal to the Order of the
Phoenix, to his friends, and, ultimately, to the Potters.
In this hypothetical scenario, when James and Lily decided to switch their Secret Keeper
from Sirius to Pettigrew at the last minute, he would’ve been loyal to the end.
In my opinion though, Peter’s end would’ve come that much sooner.
I know many of you don’t like to see the canon disrupted too greatly, and, of course,
neither do I!
So, in this what if instance, I’d like to think that even if Peter Pettigrew had never
gone over to Voldemort, the Dark Lord still would’ve had a spy on the inside of the
Order of the Phoenix.
Who that would’ve been, for this particular instance, doesn’t really matter.
But in any case, he would’ve had a witch or wizard on the inside, someone who he was
able to corrupt in ways that he was not able to do to a more courageous version of Peter.
Through this other non-Wormtail “RAT” – or source, if you prefer – Voldemort
would’ve been able to determine that Pettigrew was indeed the Potters’ Secret Keeper.
After all, it seems likely that it would’ve been one of three wizards – a Marauder,
of course – meaning it would’ve been Sirius, Remus, or Peter.
I really don’t think that it would’ve been all too difficult for Voldemort to narrow
down the list from just three wizards – do you?
And so, determining that it was Pettigrew who held the location of the Potter family,
Voldemort would’ve gone to Wormtail intent on uncovering what he wanted to know.
It’s really not that far-fetched to imagine that – like he did so many times throughout
the Harry Potter series – Voldemort would’ve successfully tortured Peter into telling him
the information he needed and then – killed him.
From there, things could’ve played out very similarly to the actual series.
Voldemort would’ve gone to Godric’s Hollow, murdered Lily and James, attempted to kill
a young Harry, only to fail miserably and be forced into hiding as he regained his strength.
Sirius would’ve arrived at the Potters’ house to find the devastating scene, and gone
to look for Peter.
Upon finding him dead as well, it would’ve looked like Sirius had betrayed the Potters
and killed Pettigrew as a double-crossing Death Eater, and gone to Azkaban for crimes
he didn’t commit.
The only difference here would be that Peter was never a Death Eater, hadn’t betrayed
Lily and James, and had actually died – rather than staged his death.
“Well, there’d be no proof Sirius did these things!”
you might be thinking.
Well, can you honestly say there was much evidence to convict Sirius in the original
scenario?
I rather think not.
This change in events would’ve then impacted the Weasley family – although in no great
way, in my opinion.
As you may recall in the series, Pettigrew stays in his Animagus form for 12 years after
faking his death.
As a rat, he came into the ownership of Percy Weasley and was named Scabbers.
Eventually, he became Ron’s pet rat.
To be perfectly honest though, Scabbers never really contributed much to Ron’s storyline
– other than the fact that he was eventually revealed to be the once-presumed-dead Peter
Pettigrew.
And so, if Pettigrew had truly died the night of Lord Voldemort’s attack on the Potters,
there never would’ve been a pet Scabbers…perhaps they would’ve found some other “normal”
rodent wandering around the Weasley property to take in instead…Honestly, from Ron’s
perspective, I don’t think it really would’ve made much of a difference.
So, all-in-all, if Pettigrew had never betrayed Lily and James Potter, I think it would’ve
meant that he had been treated with a bit more compassion during his time at Hogwarts,
perhaps had a different nickname among the Marauders, and had grown up to be a more courageous
wizard than he was in the actual series.
And I truly believe that that’s all that would’ve been different…hopefully, not
too disappointing of a theory for you all!
What do you think?
Would much have changed if Pettigrew hadn’t broken his oath as the Potters’ Secret Keeper?
Perhaps, there are those of you who believe that Peter could’ve kept Voldemort from
discovering the Potters’ location and Lily and James would’ve lived?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
And, as always, if you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to like it and subscribe to
the channel!
Until next time…
Remember
“IF YOU MADE A BETTER RAT THAN A HUMAN, IT’S NOT MUCH TO BOAST ABOUT, PETER.”