Peter Pettigrew

## Peter John Pettigrew

**Peter John Pettigrew**, **O.M.** (**First Class**), (born 30 August, 1960), usually referred to as **Wormtail** or **Scabbers** was a wizard and the son of Stefan Pettigrew and his wife, Joan. He began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1971 and was sorted into Gryffindor House after the Sorting Hat pondered over which house he belonged in for over five minutes, a true Hatstall. During his years at Hogwarts, he became one of the Marauders; he was best friends with Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin, and together they created the Marauder's Map.

During the First Wizarding War, Peter was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, but became a spy when he was coerced into joining Lord Voldemort. He was made Secret-Keeper for the Potters when they went into hiding with the use of the Fidelius Charm, and betrayed James, his wife Lily, and their son Harry to Lord Voldemort. After Voldemort's fall, he faked his own death and framed Sirius for betraying James and Lily, as well as for his own murder and those of the twelve Muggles he killed during his escape.

Peter spent twelve years living in his Animagus form as the Weasley family's pet rat, Scabbers. However, his identity was exposed by Sirius and Remus in 1994, and Pettigrew was arrested. After a lengthy trial, he was sentenced to life in Azkaban. However, he subsequently escaped in 1996 when Voldemort orchestrated a mass prison breakout, along with ten other high-security prisoners, which freed him once more.

## Biography

### Early life (1960-1971)

Peter John Pettigrew was born on 30 August, 1960, the son of Stefan and his wife Joan, in Forest Hill, south east London. His father was a half-blood wizard, owing to a muggle grandmother, and his mother was a half-blood witch.

He was the grandson of Wilfrid Pettigrew, a Knight Bus driver, and Keziah Pettigrew (née Goshawk). As a child he had plenty of extended family to play with. His paternal great-grandmother had been a Muggle, but Peter never knew her. All of his other family were witches or wizards.

#### Hogwarts years (1971-1978)

Pettigrew began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1971. During his Sorting ceremony, the Sorting Hat wavered between placing him in Slytherin or Gryffindor. After a deliberation of more than five minutes (making Pettigrew a Hatstall), the Hat decided to sort him into Gryffindor.

He soon became friends with Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin, fellow Gryffindors he idolised for their popularity and talent. Pettigrew took part in James and Sirius' bullying of Severus Snape, a Slytherin boy in the same year as the Marauders, though it is unlikely he would have dared to bully Snape without his friends protecting him.

He, James, and Sirius soon discovered Remus Lupin to be a werewolf, but they did not abandon him 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 his nickname "Wormtail" was derived.

The four friends called themselves the Marauders and designed a map to navigate Hogwarts. Pettigrew's rat form helped him slip through the Whomping Willow's branches and immobilise the tree in order to let himself and the Marauders enter the Shrieking Shack. Professor Minerva McGonagall described Pettigrew as a "stupid and foolish boy" who hero-worshipped Sirius and James. She also stated that Pettigrew was a less than average student and was not capable of fighting with Sirius. She was somewhat harsh with him during their years of student-teacher relationship.

### First Wizarding War (1978-1981)

#### Order Membership and betrayal

**Remus Lupin**: *"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort, didn't you?"*
**Pettigrew**: *"I didn't mean to! The Dark Lord... You've no idea of the weapons he possesses."*
— Argument over Pettigrew's betrayal
After graduating from Hogwarts in 1978, Pettigrew and his friends joined the Order of the Phoenix and fought against Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters during the First Wizarding War. However, by October 1980, Pettigrew began working as a spy for Voldemort, having come to believe that nothing could be gained from opposing him. Despite being considered a low-ranking soldier for his cowardice and general lack of usefulness, Pettigrew was given the Dark Markand accepted into the ranks of the Death Eaters. During his time as a Death Eater nobody, not even Albus Dumbledore, seemed to suspect him of working for Voldemort. It did become apparent eventually to the Order that there was a spy among their ranks.

On 30 September, 1980, Peter's father, Stefan was killed by Death Eaters searching for Order members. Peter was present during the attack and pleaded for his life- in doing so, he offered to become a spy for Voldemort. He was held in captivity for a matter of four days before he was returned to the Order, disheveled, but alive.

After a prophecy was made regarding Harry Potter and the Dark Lord in October, James and Lily Potter took their son and went into hiding. In an attempt at misdirection, they were convinced to select Pettigrew as their Secret-Keeper by Sirius Black. On Hallowe'en night 1981, Pettigrew betrayed his friends, and Voldemort murdered James and Lily, but was unable to do the same to their son when his Killing Curse rebounded, destroying his physical form. Upon arriving at the wreckage of the Potters' house, Pettigrew deduced what had happened, took Voldemort's wand, which was left among the rubble, fearing the Ministry would discover his treason through inspecting it, and hid it in an undisclosed location.

Apart from James and Lily, Sirius Black was the only person who knew that Pettigrew had been their Secret-Keeper. When he realised what Pettigrew had done, as his hiding place was empty with no signs of a struggle, he tracked him down hoping to avenge his friends. When he closed in on him, Pettigrew screamed that Sirius had betrayed the Potters for everyone to hear, and before Black could draw his wand, Pettigrew swiftly pulled out his from his back and then killed twelve Muggles by blowing up the street with a Blasting Curse, which created a crater large enough that the sewer pipes were showing. He then faked his own death by cutting off a finger and leaving it behind as he transformed into a rat and fled.

Sirius was arrested for being a Death Eater, killing Pettigrew and the Muggles, and betraying the Potters, and was imprisoned in Azkaban without a trial. The surviving Muggles who witnessed the event had their memories erased and were given an excuse by the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee that a gas-leak occurred. Pettigrew was unjustly awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class for his confrontation with Sirius, which, along with the finger that they recovered, were "posthumously" given to his mother.  Even the other remaining Marauder, Remus, believed that Sirius betrayed them and killed Pettigrew. As the time passed, due to misconceptions, many believed that Black drew his wand and killed Pettigrew before the other had a chance of even drawing.

### Between the Wars (1981-1995)

**Fred Weasley**: *"Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabbers was. And he's been off-colour for ages, he was wasting away. It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly. One swallow — he probably didn't feel a thing."*
**Ron Weasley**: *"He bit Goyle for us once! Remember, Harry?"*
**Fred Weasley**: *"His finest hour. Let the scar on Goyle's finger stand as a lasting tribute to his memory..."*
— Fred comforting Ron on the perceived death of Scabbers
Pettigrew went into hiding as a rat, hoping to avoid Lord Voldemort's other supporters. As Voldemort had met his downfall on Peter's information, the Death Eaters suspected him of being a traitor; he feared that if they learned of his continued existence, the ones who escaped incarceration (such as Lucius Malfoy and Corban Yaxley) would kill him for leaving their organisation in such a chaotic state. Looking for a wizarding family to take him in, he came into the possession of Percy Weasley and, later, Percy's youngest brother Ron. He was taken good care of while living with the Weasleys and was named "Scabbers".

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 him for twelve. The reason he chose to be adopted by a wizard family was that he could keep track of the news in the wizarding world and could rejoin his master should he return to power. Positioned as he was, he could also bring Harry Potter as a welcome-back gift, so no Death Eater would dare claim him a traitor, but he never took action during his time as Ron's pet, because Voldemort was not strong enough to protect him. Despite once biting Gregory Goyle on the knuckle when he attempted to steal Harry and Ron's food, Ron generally thought that Scabbers was useless, since all Scabbers did was 'eat and sleep.' However, Ron did show his affections for Scabbers as he became quite upset when he thought Scabbers had been eaten by Hermione Granger's cat, Crookshanks.

### Exposure (1993-1994)

#### Escape of Sirius Black (1993)

In 1993, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban after seeing a picture of Pettigrew's rat form in a Daily Prophet article about the Weasley family's trip to Egypt. Soon, Scabbers began to thin and bald. Ron thought at first this was due to the stress of the trip, and then fear of Hermione Granger's new cat Crookshanks, while Harry thought that Scabbers was finally reaching the end of his lifespan. In fact, he had been agitated by the news of Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban, afraid that he would find him and finally avenge the Potters. Eventually, Pettigrew faked his death yet again, by biting himself and leaving blood, allowing Ron to believe that Crookshanks had eaten the rat. This incident almost ruined Ron and Hermione's friendship until they reconciled over helping Rubeus Hagrid appeal his defence of Buckbeak the hippogriff. Hermione later discovered Pettigrew hiding in a milk jug in Hagrid's cabin.

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 through Fred and George Weasley. On 6 June, 1994, Scabbers was found hiding in Hagrid's hut. When Ron attempted to bring him back to the castle, Scabbers tried to escape, but was caught by Ron in the shadow of the Whomping Willow.

There, Ron and Pettigrew were dragged to the Shrieking Shack by Sirius, followed immediately by Ron's friends Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. After heated discussion and the arrival of Professors Lupin and Snape, Pettigrew was unmasked by Sirius and Remus. He initially attempted to redirect the blame to Sirius, but when the truth came out and all the evidence was against him, he appealed for mercy to each person in the Shack (other than Snape, who had been unconscious since before Pettigrew's exposure). Each of them was 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.

Remus and Sirius planned to kill their old friend, but Harry intervened after Pettigrew claimed that Harry's father would have never killed him. This, along with Harry's own belief that his father would not want his best friends to become killers, led him to be merciful. Although Harry had intended to hand Pettigrew over to the Dementors and use him to clear Sirius' name, at last, this created a life debt between Harry and Pettigrew.

The plan was upset, though, when the full moon rose, and, as Remus had forgotten to take his Wolfsbane Potion after discovering Pettigrew's name on the Marauder's Map, he transformed into an uncontrollable werewolf. Sirius was forced to take on his Animagus form, that of a dog, to protect Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and Peter additionally took advantage of the chaos of Lupin's transformation, and cursed Ron with Remus' wand, transforming into his rat form, and fleeing.

#### Capture (1994)

However, Pettigrew had escaped into the Forbidden Forest, where another pair of children were hiding from their friend Cattermole, another werewolf, who had tried to attack them. One of the kids was Ginny Weasley, who recognised her brother's rat, scooped him up, and before Pettigrew could escape, he became trapped inside Ginny's conjured jar.

After meeting Harry and Hermione again, this time coming from a later point in the evening (this time held captive in a jar and Harry and Hermione having used a Time Turner to go back to the night's previous events), Pettigrew is carried into the inner courtyard by Ginny. Then the children stumbled into the Minister's party, who were arriving by carriage to oversee the execution of Sirius, who was also freed due to Harry and Hermione's time-travelling shenanigans.

Fudge immediately ordered the Aurors (Dawlish and Shacklebolt) to re-capture Black, but Hermione managed, just in the nick of time, to perform a tricky bit of magic which forced Pettigrew back into his human form, just as Sirius was disarmed. Pettigrew, along with Sirius, were then dragged off for questioning in London in front of the kids.

#### Trial (1994)

After over a month of interrogation by the Ministry's best, all the while Pettigrew had been attempting to evade their traps and loopholes, they finally arrested him and granted Sirius a full pardon. Peter Pettigrew was officially convicted on 30 August, 1994, of each crime brought against him, though the trial too took nearly a month.

He was sentenced to life in Azkaban in October of 1994.

#### Azkaban (1994-1996)

Pettigrew did not have to stay in Azkaban for long, however. He subsequently escaped in 1996 when Voldemort orchestrated a mass prison breakout, along with ten other high-security prisoners, which freed him once more.

### Second Wizarding War (1996-1998)

*"Your devotion is nothing more than cowardice. You would not be here if you had anywhere else to go."*
—Lord Voldemort's low regard for Pettigrew
After his Voldemort freed him and his other servants from Azkaban, Pettigrew had no choice but to rejoin his master. Voldemort continued to have very low regard for Pettigrew, and counted him among the others who did not seek him out at his downfall.

## Personality and Traits

**Peter**: *"Sirius: What would you have done? What would you have done???"*
**Sirius Black**: *"I WOULD'VE DIED!!! I would've died rather than betray my friends!"*
— Argument regarding Pettigrew's betrayal of the Potters
Peter Pettigrew was characterised by weakness. Despite having been Sorted into Gryffindor, he did not possess true bravery, possibly proving that the Hat saw potential in him rather than any actual inborn courage, potential that he never lived up to. The Sorting Hat may have mistaken his adoration of James and Sirius for steadfastness, or sensed in him a desire to surround himself with respected individuals and believed that he would make a compatible friend to a Gryffindor; Pettigrew clearly looked up to strong, courageous people and it is possible that the Sorting Hat put him there because he wished to absorb that quality. It is also likely that Pettigrew requested the Sorting Hat to place him in Gryffindor, with his friends, just as Harry Potter would later request not to be placed in Slytherin. Indeed, he underwent a Hatstall when being sorted, being considered between Gryffindor and Slytherin by the Sorting Hat, though the hat ultimately decided that it made the right choice to this day, citing the manner in which Pettigrew died as (what some would call dubious) evidence.

In his youth, he latched onto James Potter and Sirius Black, more talented and popular students, idolising them and living vicariously through their accomplishments, as well as joining them in bullying other students, such as Severus Snape, whom he would not have been likely to cross without James and Sirius to back him up. Due to the huge difference in terms of talent, bravery, and popularity, Peter was more of a hanger-on than an actual equal. However, the three Marauders did love Peter as a friend and brother, which made the eventual betrayal of James especially bitter.

Pettigrew defected from the Order of the Phoenix and betrayed his closest friends to Lord Voldemort when his life was threatened, showing selfishness and disloyalty at the core of his being. Even Voldemort viewed him with disdain; the only reason why he kept him alive was because he occasionally proved to be useful. When Voldemort fell, Peter neither attempted to find him nor tried to murder Harry under Albus Dumbledore's watchful eye, until he was sure Voldemort would be revived to protect him. When cornered by Sirius and Remus, Peter shamelessly begged for mercy, despite having used and betrayed them. But if there was one thing that he feared more than death, it was most likely the Dementor's Kiss; the thought of being left to the Dementors' mercy would've terrified anyone.

Pettigrew was an opportunist, who allied with the side that seemed strongest and appeared to be winning — thus becoming "friends" with James and Sirius in school, and then leading him to become a Death Eater when the opportunity arose. He was loyal only to himself and acted in whatever his best interest was at the moment. He expected that he would be rewarded for leading Voldemort to Harry Potter.

In spite of others claiming that Pettigrew was a "weak, talentless thing", he was at least cunning enough to escape his former friend Sirius after Voldemort's first defeat, frame him for his crimes, and fake his own death while killing twelve people with one curse, living for years in his Animagus form. He originally formulated his plan to return to the Dark Lord without being accused a traitor by his colleague Death Eaters: to turn Harry in as a welcome back present and be honoured above all others; though a well thought out plan and he waited patiently, it was upset when Pettigrew's form was exposed prematurely.

During his time as Scabbers the rat, under the Weasley family's care, Pettigrew was lazy and unmotivated, as all he did was sleep and eat, and only on one occasion did, he bit Goyle's knuckle on his owner's behalf. This could be because Pettigrew enjoyed being pampered and waited hand and foot, believing that as a pet rat he did not have to do much and can relax instead, at least until Sirius' escape from Azkaban prompted him into action.

Pettigrew was one of only two Death Eaters who rarely referred to Voldemort by name, the second being Barty Crouch Jr.

## Magical Abilities and Skills

Despite Professor McGonagall claiming that Peter was less talented than his friends, and Voldemort had later denoted him as a poor wizard, he showed a surprising amount of magical capability when pushed. In fact, from what was known, Peter was actually remarkably skilled in magic and seems to be as magically-skilled as the other three Marauders, and was actually quite adept in the Dark Arts (perhaps the most capable of the four in that aspect).

* **Animagus**: With all the help he could get from his friends, Peter was able to become an Animagus at the early age of fifteen, assuming the shape of a rat. Being unregistered made it an advantage for him to abuse the ability: mainly to hide from the Ministry, the Order of the Phoenix, and Death Eaters after his falsified death. His form also allowed him to communicate with real rats, thus learning of Voldemort's whereabouts. The ability to assume the animal the size of a rat also grants him the ability to access and navigate through places and areas which may otherwise prove either difficult or impossible by larger creatures either to hide, retreat or eavesdrop; he was tasked to reach for the knot that paralyses the Hogwarts Whomping Willow with the use of his size.
* **Dark Arts**: Peter had demonstrated numerous times that he was actually considerably adept in the Dark Arts and a powerful Dark Wizard. In 1981, he was able to cast a potent Blasting Curse that blew up a street and put a 40-foot crater in the ground with his wand behind his back, killing twelve Muggles simultaneously; the explosion was so powerful that all the sewers hundreds of feet deep were completely destroyed.
* **Duelling**: According to Professor McGonagall, Peter had always been "hopeless at duelling" during his years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, he managed to deceptively overtake Sirius in initiatives during their confrontation by blowing up the entire street behind him before (the apparently more adept) Sirius could react properly, as well as make it look like Sirius was the criminal in the same move. As Peter was initially a member of the Order of the Phoenix during the First Wizarding War, he presumably fought in battles against the Voldemort's forces before joining Voldemort's side.
* **Wand versatility**: He was able to use the Killing Curse, as well as non-verbally conjure ropes, levitate objects, and light a fire, each spell cast to their full effects with his master's wand, despite not having won the wand's allegiance. He was also able to briefly use Remus Lupin's wand to stun both Ron Weasley and Crookshanks before escaping.
* **Charms**: Pettigrew was shown to be talented in charm-work. Along with the other three Marauders, Peter helped design the very complex Marauder's Map; the map was extremely "smart" and could see through anything. Pettigrew also performed a powerful Memory Charm, which he used to erase the memory of Jacob's sibling after they discovered his identity, keeping his secret.
* **Transfiguration**: Although he needed all the help he can get from his friends, Peter was able to successfully achieve Animagus Transformation at the age of 15, which shows he possessed a fair amount of talent to accomplish such an advanced level of transfiguration at a remarkably young age even if he did need help.

## Etymology

* In the Bible, Peter is the name of one of Christ's apostles who, on the morning of the crucifixion, denied Christ, although he later repented. Also, the name "Pettigrew" could be derived from the French word "petit" ("small") and the English word "grew," hence "grew small." The name "Pettigrew" could also be a reference to his time as Ron's rat, being the pet that Ron grew. "Petti" could also be a corrupted form of 'petty' meaning "of little importance" or "trivial", showing his lack of talent and - had he not befriended James, Sirius or Remus - easily overlooked.
* Scabbers may derive from the word "scab." A scab is the crusty covering blood forms over a wound as it clots. A scab is also a worker hired to replace others who are on strike. Scab is also slang for a horrible person, which could reflect Peter Pettigrew's true nature.
* Wormtail may be a reference to his animagus form, specifically the rat's tail, similar to a worm.