Wormtail's reaction

[Athena Appleton]

In the recent chat with World Book Day (or something like that), J.K. Rowling says that when you become an animagus, you don't pick the animal, the animal picks you, and you don't find out what you'll turn into until you actually master it. Then she says how embarrassing it would be if you spent a lot of time and effort learning the magic to transform, only to master it and turn into a warthog.

What do you think Wormtail felt like when he FINALLY mastered the spell and turned into a rat? I mean, turning into a rat is a compliment in no way I can think of. It's a rodent people definately don't want in their homes, and it's an insult to call someone a "rat".

Just wonderin...

[Alice I]

I have thought of that quite a few times, however maybe Rat has a different connotation in the wizarding world.
I mean it was not an uncommon pet as Ron had one that used to belong to Percy.
OK it was Wormtail but the Weasley's obviously didn't know that and the witch in the Magical Menagerie was keen to sell a new rat to Ron to replace Scabbers.

The Rat suited Peter very well for obvious reasons and I'll bet he was less than pleased with his transformation at least at first until they all (The Marauders) figured out how useful it would be to have an animal that could sneak in and touch the knot on the Whomping Willow. I am sure that is how his friends comforted him when it turned out he was a rat.

Now of course that leads me to another question:
If James and Sirius were so smart (described by McGonagall as very gifted and clever students) why didn't they suspect Peter of being the "Rat" that he was, (Pun Intended!) They all suspected each other of being "The Spy" and none of them realized it was Peter.

[Athena Appleton]

Well... I don't know if the person and the animal always share the same qualities... I mean, what about people who turn into an animal that doesn't have a particular connotation, like a duck, or a platypus, or a llama...

maybe they just assumed that he would have been well-suited to be a rat because of his nervous, twitchy behavior...

and no one realized it was peter, but I would imagine they suspected him, too, at least a bit... or at least until they thought Sirius killed him. But then, they were also basing their beliefs about him on the fact that he was a wimpy kid who worshipped James...

[Groo]

i think he would have been pleased in the first place to become an animagus. then there would be some dissapointment for turning out to be a rat.
as for the suspicion, james clearly didnt suspect wormtail,nor did he suspect sirius. so that implies he suspected lupin.

and one more query, snape has to be an accomplished occlumens to spy against Voldy, then how could Wormtail survive in the presence of Dumbledore so long?he doesnt look like he could study occlumency, even if Voldy taught him.

[Athena Appleton]

as for the suspicion, james clearly didnt suspect wormtail,nor did he suspect sirius. so that implies he suspected lupin.

No, I never got that. James and Sirius were the best friends in the Marauders, so for that reason, James trusted Sirius. However, he didn't want to have the secret-keeper be someone that would be an obvious choice, so instead of choosing someone James was particularly close to, or someone who was very competant, James chose Peter, knowing that no one would suspect him of even being the secret-keeper. It was actually more a compliment to Sirius and Lupin that they weren't the ones James went with, since he wasn't going with the people everyone knew he would probably go with.

and one more query, snape has to be an accomplished occlumens to spy against Voldy, then how could Wormtail survive in the presence of Dumbledore so long?he doesnt look like he could study occlumency, even if Voldy taught him.

I think you're asking why didn't Dumbledore just go through the ranks and read the minds of everyone to ferret out the one leaking information to Voldemort...

I don't think anyone would have even suspected Peter of being the one going to Voldemort for a second. He was a little talentless nobody who worshipped the ground James and Sirius walked on. That's what he had always been. I think he was just kind of overlooked in the suspicion because nobody thought he had it in him to go to the Dark side.

[Groo]

In PoA, Fudge states that DD was sure "someone close to the Potters was leaking information to Voldemort and so he himself volunteered to be the Potters' Secret Keeper".

how many people we know were close to the Potters? Sirius,lupin, Peter. And if DD had told this to James, which he obviously would have, James should have been on his guard.

we dont know for sure if hagrid was close enough to know their every detail. The Weasleys certainly werent as they have never mentioned the Potters to Harry.

[Athena Appleton]

Yeah, but I would imagine there were actually quite a few people close to the Potters, and they were all suspect, except for the fact that James seemed to trust Sirius completely, and he made a foolish assumption about Wormtail.

I mean, James and Lily were part of the original Order, and "close to the Potters" could have been almost anyone in the Order, because they were all, apparently, friends. Frank and Alice Longbottom would, I think, be exempt from suspicion, just because they were, at the time, possibly in as much danger as the Potters were (Voldy could have been after either Harry or Neville). But anyone else in the Order could have been suspect.

However, in Prisoner of Azkaban, Lupin and Sirius apologize to each other for each suspecting the other of leaking information to Voldemort, so it really was a situation where no one, not even your best friends, could be trusted...

[harrylover]

It must have been an awful time...imagine that you can´t trust your best friend...wow. Voldemort was really horrible and i hope the situation repeat now he´s back.

[Reverie Revenge]

What do you think Wormtail felt like when he FINALLY mastered the spell and turned into a rat? I mean, turning into a rat is a compliment in no way I can think of. It's a rodent people definately don't want in their homes, and it's an insult to call someone a "rat".

Athena, the fact that animal chooses the wizard is very fascinating!

But I disagree about the part I've quoted. I was of similar opinion till I read really enlightening theories about Peter Pettigrew. I recommend them: http://oshinchan.com/peter/peterfriends.htm

BTW, I find rats cool animals - just yesterday I watched some laborats in a zoo shop - they're nice, entertaining, sociable and intelligent